Bank abruptly closes as customers find note on front door – more than 200 branches have shuttered across the state

A POPULAR bank has abruptly closed a branch, the latest in more than 200 to disappear in a single state.

Customers at Patriot Bank only found out that the institute had closed when they found a note on the door.

More than 200 other banks have closed locations across Connecticut.

The Patriot Bank at 7 Old Tavern Road in Orange, Connecticut closed its doors for good on April 25.

A sign on the building's exterior, coupled with a notice submitted to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, confirmed the closure, according to CT Insider.

The branch opened in 2018 following an acquisition of Orange-based Prime Bank.

But a hard financial year led to the inevitable closure.

In 2023, Patriot recorded a net loss of $4.2 million in its annual report, according to CT Insider.

Compared with net income of $6.2 million in 2022, the bank struggled to stay afloat.

The location in Orange existed among several banks, blocks from Chase, Citizens Bank, Webster Bank, and Wells Fargo, and across the street from a KeyBank branch, reported CT Insider.

Patriot patrons across Connecticut aren't exactly doomed though.

The Stamford-headquartered business still has branches in Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, Norwalk, Stamford, Westport, and Scarsdale, New York.

Patriot recorded about $831 million in deposits in Connecticut as of June 30, 2023, reported CT Insider.

It ranked number 25 among banks operating in the state by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, per CT Insider.

CLOSING TIME

The shutdown of the Patriot branch comes amid a greater trend of bank closures happening across Connecticut.

About 200 branches have closed in Connecticut since the start of 2019, reported CT Insider.

Despite the rise in digital banking, customers are still grappling with a lack of access to in-person banking.

Bank Closing Trends

As online banking became increasingly popular in the pandemic, banks have shut down locations across the country.

It was an especially bad year for banks in 2023, which saw around 1,500 closures over the year.

California was hit the hardest by the wave of closures, losing over 300 locations.

This shift toward digitizing banking has concerned lawmakers in the US.

A large portion of the bank closures have occurred in medium-income and minority-majority communities.

One-third of the bank closures happened in minority neighborhoods, according to a study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

And it's not stopping anytime soon. PNC executives said that the company would digitize nearly 60 percent of its real estate assets.

This would lead to the shut down of 1,000 locations by 2026.

The Wells Fargo location at 388 Whalley Avenue in New Haven is slated to close on May 15.

Wells Fargo has closed 20 locations in the state since 2019.

State Representative Tom Delnicki told CT Insider that legislation studying where branches and ATMs are located in Connecticut could help determine which parts of the state are underserved.

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