> Branches are not cheap to create or operate, and the large banks concentrate them in densely populated areas with relatively wealthy customers and businesses

> Branches are not cheap to create or operate, and the large banks concentrate them in densely populated areas with relatively wealthy customers and businesses nearby. Community banks are willing to take worse economics to have branches in places where the large banks don’t; this keeps those places tied to the national financial system. > This is a policy aim of the government, both due to the economic impacts and because most residents being banked is core to orderly provision of benefits, taxation, and other government functions. A bank branch is a retail point-of-presence for the SSA getting funds to a pensioner, for the IRS collecting payroll taxes, and for the DEA interdicting fentanyl, staffed and funded by the private sector. From the excellent blog [1] that everyone interested in how the financial system operates should read. [1] https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/community-banking-and-fintech/ https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/community-banking-and...