Banking: Webster to close branches, open new ones
Webster Bank, a subsidiary of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE: WBS), said that it will be closing five branches and opening three new locations in 2011 in response to changing customer usage patterns and as part of ongoing efforts to optimize its branch system to better serve customer needs.
"Our retail customers' behaviour patterns are changing, and Webster's delivery of service is adapting with them in order to deliver best-in-class customer service," said James C. Smith, chairman, president, and CEO of Webster. "Increasingly, we are finding that customers are migrating to on-line banking, ATMs, mobile banking, and point-of-sale, and utilizing multiple branch locations to conduct their banking."
As part of the realignment, Webster plans to close on 1 April, 2011 the following five of its 136 branches in Connecticut; all five are within five miles of a Webster branch offering extended hours:
- Morris: 5 Watertown Road
- Bridgewater: 10 Kruskyville Road
- New Britain, South Main: 435 S. Main St.
- New Canaan: 215 Elm Street
- Woodbridge: 176 Amity Road
Webster will announce the opening of three new b ranches in Scarsdale, New York.; Greenwich, Connecticut.; and Somerset, Massachusetts ., at a later date. "The new branches will enable Webster to augment its presence and deepen its penetration of these markets," Smith stated.
The branch closures will not result in any non-managerial job losses and affected branch managers will be eligible to apply for open positions within Webster.
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