In the context of the increasing shift of financial services online, do banks still need costly and large numbers of offline branches?

Today, according to the semi-annual report data of listed banks, a financial association reporter's statistics found that the overall number of network points of the six state-owned banks is about 1.056 million, which has still increased by about 700 branches compared to the beginning of the year. Specifically, the number of operating branches of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank of China, and China Construction Bank has continued to decrease in the first half of the year, but the significant increase in the number of Agricultural Bank of China branches has formed an effective offset.

However, according to data from the official website of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, approximately 1,126 sub-branches of commercial banks announced their closure in the first half of this year. This means that despite the expansion of state-owned banks, the steady contraction of bank branches should still be the mainstream trend in the industry.

How many branches do the six state-owned banks have in the first half of 2024? Still more than 0.1 million.

Today, based on the official semi-annual report information, the reporter found the latest data on the branch institutions and bank branches of the six state-owned banks.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China stated that as of the end of June, the bank had 15,453 operating branches, 20,517 self-service banks, 76,918 smart devices, and 51,621 ATMs. The transaction volume of ATMs in the first half of the year was 2,234.4 billion yuan.

Agricultural Bank of China pointed out that as of June 30, 2024, the domestic branch institutions of Agricultural Bank of China totaled 22,863, including the head office, the main business office, 4 specialized institutions of the head office, 4 training institutes, 37 primary branches, 409 secondary branches, 3,315 primary sub-branches, 19,050 grassroots business institutions, and 42 other institutions.

The Agricultural Bank of China also pointed out in the semi-annual report that it will keep the total number of outlets stable, continuously optimize the layout of outlets, promote the relocation of outlets to county areas, integrated urban and rural areas, and key towns, and continuously expand county-level service channels.

Bank of China stated that as of the end of June, there are a total of 10,945 domestic institutions, including 10,280 commercial bank institutions, including 38 first-tier branches, 373 second-tier branches, and 9,868 grassroots branches. There are 546 institutions in Hong Kong, Macau, and other countries and regions.

China Construction Bank pointed out that as of the end of June, the bank has a total of 14,253 operating institutions, of which 14,219 are domestic institutions, including the head office, 2 branch-level specialized institutions, 37 first-tier branches, 362 second-tier branches, 13,794 sub-branches, and 23 branches with fewer than 23 sub-branches. There are 34 overseas institutions.

Compared with other state-owned major banks, the journalist did not find accurate data in the half-year report of Bank of Communications. Bank of Communications only pointed out that with the approval of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the bank provides comprehensive financial services to 27.565 million corporate clients and 195 million retail clients through online service channels such as mobile banking and online banking, as well as more than 2,800 domestic outlets, 23 overseas branches and representative offices.

Postal Savings Bank of China disclosed in the semi-annual report that as of the end of the reporting period, the bank has 39,326 operating outlets. Among the newly opened outlets in the first half of 2024, 56 are county-level outlets, accounting for 78%. The bank has newly established 6 operating outlets in the Xinjiang and Tibet regions, which are key counties supported by the national rural revitalization policy. The bank has completed the renovation of more than 5,200 outlets, with 60 flagship stores opened, promoting the upgrade of outlet brand image.

Based on the above public data, according to the calculations of the Caixin reporter, as of the end of June 2024, the six major state-owned banks have approximately 1.056 million operating outlets.

Compared with the beginning of the year, the overall number of outlets of the six major banks has increased by about 700. Most banks show a contraction trend.

So, compared to the end of 2023, is the overall number of operating outlets of the six major state-owned banks increasing or decreasing?

According to the 2023 annual reports of major banks, under the same statistical dimensions, the six major state-owned banks had a total of approximately 0.1049 million business outlets at the end of last year. This means that compared to the beginning of the year, the six major state-owned banks expanded their business outlets by approximately 700 in the first half of the year against the trend.

According to the 2023 annual report of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, at the end of 2023, the bank had 15,495 business outlets, 21,023 self-service banks, 76,203 intelligent devices, 53,745 ATMs, and a total annual transaction volume of 4,587 billion yuan.

According to the 2023 annual report of Bank of China, at the end of 2023, there were 10,951 domestic institutions in China. The total number of Bank of China's domestic commercial banking institutions (including head offices, primary branches, secondary branches, and grassroots branches) was 10,299, and the total number of other domestic institutions in China was 652. The number of institutions in the Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and other countries and regions of China was 534.

According to the 2023 annual report of Agricultural Bank of China, as of the end of 2023, the bank had more than 0.022 million branches, with county-level branches accounting for 56.4%. The bank continues to tilt its branch resources towards county-level areas, with the proportion of county-level branches increasing by 0.3 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year.

According to the 2023 annual report of China Construction Bank, at the end of 2023, the bank had a total of 14,289 business institutions, including 14,255 domestic institutions, including head offices, 2 specialized branch-level institutions, 37 primary branches, 362 secondary branches, 13,818 branches, and 35 branches below the branch level. There were 34 overseas institutions.

According to the annual report of Bank of Communications, with the approval of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the bank provides comprehensive financial services to 2.6192 million corporate customers and 0.192 billion retail customers through online service channels such as mobile banking, online banking, more than 2,800 domestic branches, 23 overseas branches/subsidiaries, and representative offices.

According to the 2023 annual report of Postal Savings Bank of China, as of the end of the reporting period, the bank had a total of 39,364 business outlets, including 7,685 self-operated outlets and 31,679 proxy outlets. The bank had a total of 134,959 self-service devices, including 50,585 ITMs, accounting for 96.37% of self-service devices without cash-related business functions. There were 70,725 mobile exhibition devices.

By comparing the above data, it can be seen that out of the six major state-owned banks, four banks have reduced their outlets, one bank has remained relatively stable, and one bank has increased its outlet count. Specifically, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China reduced its business outlets by a small number of 42 in the first half of this year. Agricultural Bank of China increased its outlet count by approximately 863 in the first half of the year. Bank of China reduced the total number of domestic institutions by approximately 6 in the first half of the year. China Construction Bank reduced its number of business institutions by approximately 36 in the first half of the year. Bank of Communications' outlet count remained stable in the first half of the year (Note: because the bank did not disclose precise figures). Postal Savings Bank of China reduced its business outlets by approximately 38.