In a continuing trend of downsizing its real estate, Waterbury-based Webster Bank said Thursday that it will be closing six more branches, as the company continues to shift its focus on electronic, rather than physical infrastructure.
Five of the six branches that will be shuttered are in Connecticut: Wolcott, New Preston, Newton, Southbury and Torrington. The sixth is in Mansfield, Mass.
Earlier this year Webster Bank closed five other Connecticut branches in Morris, Bridgewater, New Britain, New Canaan, and Woodbridge. The bank did also open three new branches this year in locations where it didn’t have a big presence in Greenwich, New York and Massachusetts.
Webster Bank CEO Jim Smith told the Hartford Business Journal earlier this year that the bank has begun to recast its strategy, particularly in retail banking by shifting investment from physical to electronic infrastructure.
Smith told HBJ that Webster will be regionally organizing around a hub and spoke model, which will ultimately mean fewer, smaller branches, situated around larger regional offices.
Even in the branches, most transactions will be automated and the bank will invest over $10 million in technology infrastructure over the next two years.
“Consumers and businesses are conducting more routine banking business over the internet, through ATMs, at point-of-sale, and using their mobile phone,” Anne Slattery, Webster’s executive vice president for retail banking, said in a written statement. “Their visits to our branches are less frequent and more often are focused on addressing customers’ more complex financial needs. This shift in usage trends has led us to optimize our delivery channels so that we are delivering customers the services and products when, where, and how they want them.” Â
