BMO Harris Bank is closing nine of its 182 Chicago-area branches in early December, including one in downtown Naperville, reducing the bank’s footprint by 5% in its largest U.S. market.
In addition to the 507 S. Washington St. location, near Aurora Avenue, branches in Aurora, Barrington, Elmhurst, South Holland, Flossmoor, Summit and two in Chicago will close, the bank said.
The closure will reduce the number of Naperville branch locations to five although there are several ATM-only spots in town as well. The company also has an operations center at 1200 E. Warrenville Road in Naperville.
“Our customers are changing how they want to conduct their banking with us, and we continually assess the performance of all of our operations, including our branches, to ensure we are best positioned to meet our customers’ evolving needs,” BMO spokesman Patrick O’Herlihy said in an emailed statement.
The bank also plans to close six locations outside of Illinois in early December. BMO Harris has more than 500 branches in Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Florida and Wisconsin.
The number of bank locations in the U.S. peaked at 99,550 during 2009 — the end of the Great Recession — and has declined annually since, as digital banking gains traction. Last year, banks permanently closed a record 3,324 branches nationwide and opened 1,040, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Closings continue apace this year, with just over 82,000 active bank branches remaining in the U.S. as of May 31, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
There were 3,911 bank branches in Illinois as of June 30, down 4.3% over the previous 12 months after 175 net closures, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
Bank of Montreal, now known as BMO Financial Group, acquired Chicago-based Harris Bank in 1984. Chicago is the largest U.S. market for the Canadian banking giant, with more than a third of its U.S. branches in Chicago and the suburbs.
Dozens of employees work at the nine Chicago-area BMO branches that are closing.
“We are committed to redeploying the majority of impacted employees and will be working actively to do so over the coming weeks and months,” O’Herlihy said. “In cases where this is not possible, we provide appropriate notice and severance to assist in employment transition.”
