American Banker: PayPal swoops into lending markets that banks abandoned

American Banker, June 12, 2023, PayPal swoops into lending markets that banks abandoned

PayPal and its rivals may be targeting areas previously served by community banks, but large banks have also been deemphasizing branches. Bank branches in general have had a net decline from more than 100,000 in 2009 to about 80,000 in 2022. And Self Financial reports that branches are closing at a rate that will leave fewer than 16,000 branches by 2030 and no branches by 2034.

Branch closures have disproportionately impacted low-income communities. One third of the branches that closed between 2017 and 2021 were in lower-income and majority-minority communities, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.