THERE will be an 18% net reduction of retail bank branches across Southeast Asia by 2030 as lenders increasingly move away from branch-based services, estimates Roland Berger. This implies over 11,000 branches closing.
The strategy consultancy firm, in a report last week about the future of retail banking networks, says the bulk of the closures will be in Indonesia (7,055), followed by Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia. It estimates there will be 567 closures in Malaysia within the decade, with the number of physical branches projected to drop by 23% to about 1,900 in 2030 from 2,467 in 2020.
Branch closures are also expected in Singapore and Brunei.
According to the report’s authors Philippe Chassat and Luca Turba, the move away from branch-based services in Southeast Asia is driven not only by technological advancements but also by changes in demographics, the growing pervasiveness of digitalisation, easy access to information and greater financial education.