BUFFALO, N.Y. — First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG) on Friday announced that it will close 17 branches and two offsite drive-thru locations across its four-state footprint in January.
The closures include one Central New York branch in Vestal and two other upstate offices in Rochester and Amsterdam, respectively.
First Niagara, which is the fourth largest Central New York bank ranked by deposit market share, says it needs fewer branch offices as more customers seek mobile and online-banking services. It now has more than 200,000 mobile and 500,000 online-banking customers, respectively.
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“Across the financial services industry branch traffic, and the number of transactions handled per branch, are declining and self-service transactions are increasing. First Niagara is no different,” Mark Rendulic, First Niagara’s executive vice president of consumer financial services, said in a news release.
“A majority of customers prefer online, mobile and ATMs for simple transactions — and their use of these technologies is growing. Branches remain a critical part of our business; as customers value personal interaction for life-changing investments and more complex banking transactions. As customer preferences continue to change, we are committed to evolving our branch network and our in-branch services to keep pace with their needs.” he added.
Following the closures, First Niagara will continue to operate more than 390 branches across its four-state footprint.
Customers of the branches to be shuttered will receive a written notice, sent 90 days in advance of the closing date, the banking company said in the release. Customer accounts will be automatically moved to another First Niagara branch, usually within three miles of the closing branch
First Niagara said employees who work in the closing branches either will transition to new, customer-facing roles or will have an opportunity to apply for any of the more than 200 open positions in the banking company. First Niagara did not say how many people currently work in the closing branches.
