South State Bank’s closure of one Wilmington branch is more a sign of changes in banking habits than any sign of the bank’s waning commitment to this market, officials say.

The decision that resulted in the May 18 shuttering of the bank’s branch at 4008 Oleander Drive was influenced by the declining need for branches as electronic banking becomes more popular, said South State Bank’s Regional President Mark Tyler.

“We look at offices and transaction amounts,” especially for branches within three miles from another South State location, he said, noting that online and mobile banking features are increasingly preferred over in-person service, especially for millennials.

“As we grow our deposit and loan base, it’s not uncommon for those one-on-one transaction numbers to come down,” he said. “You can do anything online you can do in the bank.”

The design of bank branches is following function. 

In 2012, when Park Sterling Bank purchased a former bank branch for its new Wilmington office, its remodel decreased the lobby and teller area while increasing space for conference and office space. Regional President David Parker said at the time that with ATMs, drive-thrus and a bump in online banking, more people visit a branch to meet with officials than to make day-to-day transactions. 

And while Park Sterling is increasing its market penetration in Wilmington, it has thus far done so with just one branch.

South State Bank is not alone in eliminating some branches. 

Media outlets have been reporting the slimming trend in bank branches for several years, and that trend has played out locally, mostly as a result of mergers. 

Yadkin Bank, which merged March 1 with NewBridge Bank, announced May 20 that it would close the former NewBridge location at 1001 Military Cutoff Road, consolidating that location with a smaller Yadkin branch scarcely a mile away at the intersection of Eastwood and Military Cutoff roads.

In the recent past, Yadkin had eliminated two other branches, selling its Ogden location in September to Corning Credit Union and its Leland location in December to Select Bank.

South State itself helped fill in its geographic footprint in South Carolina and northern Georgia when it purchased 13 branches and 30 ATM locations in August from Bank of America. Bank of America shed hundreds of branches nationwide in 2015, according to CNN Money.

 “This [purchase of Bank of America branches] allowed us to deepen our presence in three existing markets and enter six new contiguous communities,” officials said in South State’s letter to shareholders.

South State, based in Columbia, South Carolina, is also looking north.

“We do plan to become a bigger player in the state of North Carolina,” CEO John Windley said in an April interview. “We’re focused primarily on organic growth and want to become a larger player in the existing communities we serve, increasing our market share and becoming more significant in the commercial realm. We’ve always been a strong retail bank.”

Windley emphasized the importance to banks of maintaining and maximizing personal relationships with customers, even as branches see less traffic and log fewer teller transactions.

As South State’s vice president of digital banking and customer experience manager, Carmen Nagle works to personalize those electronic services.

“My role, as we launch new products, is to think from customer experience,” she said. “Right now, we’re going through the process of loans online – boat and car loans through our website.”

Nagle said she looks at the loan form to ensure it makes sense, and she tries to anticipate questions from the prospective borrower.

While there has been news of problems related to online security and identity theft, Tyler said millennials especially seem to have confidence in the security of those online and mobile transactions. “Security is layered into these products,” he said.