Unfortunately, I think we are headed back to ‘over-regulation” of bank location decisions with the new administration. Specifically, they are prone to using very mechanical rules governing “access to banking” metrics which operate on the theory that “unbanked” individuals are in that status because they lack close physical proximity to a traditional retail bank location. Bank is not a “field of dreams” business where if you build it, “they will come”. In reality, Banks are actually very good at decisions on their retail branches and if they can make money, they will be there quickly. Studies have shown that for most of the “unbanked”, giving them debit cards where balances can be easily tracked on a cheap phone is one of the most cost-effective solutions.
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