Bank / Credit Union
Fulton Bank to close branches in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
October 2, 2020
After two other banks recently reported having to close branches, a third bank in Pennsylvania's Lancaster county, Fulton Bank, is also closing branches as its customers transition to online banking as opposed to in-branch due to COVID-19.
Fulton Bank will close 21 branch offices system-wide in early January to save $7 million in pre-tax operating expense a year, according to a report in Lancaster Online.
"The consolidations are driven primarily by ongoing trends in consumer banking, including the increasing use of online and mobile banking," a Fulton spokesman said. "The COVID-19 pandemic certainly accelerated the use of remote banking services and technology, but that evolution was already occurring."
The cuts will leave Fulton with 21 branches in the county and 202 across its five-state footprint, with both the county and corporate branch network getting a 9% reduction.
Lancaster-based Fulton is the county's biggest bank by far, with its offices holding slightly more than 28% of all bank deposits.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank said the system-wide action will trigger $11.5 million in pre-tax costs, to be recognized in the third and fourth quarters of this year and the first quarter of 2021.
Northwest and Orrstown banks also recently announced cuts to their Lancaster County branch networks, citing the same reasons as Fulton did for the closures.
