Santander confirms that branch doors will close definitively on September 19th – after a formal warning to pedestrian traffic at points of sale

AN international bank has announced the closure of one of its branches with a warning for the future.

Santander will close one of its Connecticut locations this summer.

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One of Santander’s three branches in West Hartford will permanently close its doors on September 19, according to Patch.com.

The change was confirmed last week in a document sent to federal regulators.

Although the physical store is closed, the bank’s ATM at the Boulevard branch will remain active, a Santander spokesperson confirmed to the channel.

Meanwhile, the remaining services at the Boulevard unit will be transferred to another Santander unit in West Hartford.

Just two miles away is the Farmington Avenue branch, with which the Boulevard branch will merge.

The other remaining Santander site is on Main Street.

Meanwhile, the bank also operates several ATMs in West Hartford inside CVS Pharmacies.

The latest closure comes as usage habits continue to change, reducing the need for physical locations.

Santander confirmed to Patch.com that more customers are using online services rather than in-store.

The closure of the West Hartford location marks the 11th closure of a Santander branch in Connecticut since 2019, for CT Insider.

This is a trend seen across the country, with several banks citing the shift to online services as a reason for closure.

The number of branches open across the Constitutional State has gradually declined since 2018, according to FDIC data.

Banks operating in the state fell 16% between June 30, 2018 and 2023, according to data seen by Hartford Business Journal.

As of June 30, 2018, FDIC data showed that banks in Connecticut had 1,159 active branches, compared to 973 on the same date in 2023.

Santander has been one of the most active banks in terms of eliminating branches across the state, reducing its presence from 32 branches in 2014 to 15 in 2023, according to FDIC data.

This comes as the company “embarks on a global transformation to become a digital bank with branches,” said Santander chief executive Anna Botin at an annual meeting in Madrid in March.

In the first two months of 2024, more than 220 bank branches closed across the country, according to data from the Comptroller of the Currency.

Bank of America, US Bank and Citizens Bank topped the list after closing nearly 100 branches, with 92 closures in just eight weeks.

Although this pace has slowed, mass closures are still ongoing, with US Bank announcing the closure of seven locations in just one week.

Joining the shift was Bank of America with six closures and Chase with two.

The announcement of the 15 closures in Illinois, New Jersey, California and Wisconsin came as each bank filed reports with the OCC in the first week of July.

Last month, TD Bank also confirmed a series of closures across the East Coast, with more closures scheduled through the end of the year.

More than 400 national bank branches have closed so far this year as online banking takes over and companies choose to make savings by closing underperforming branches.

US Sun has reached out to Santander for comment.