Webster to close 5 branches, open 3

WATERBURY, Conn. – Webster Bank says it is closing five branches and opening three others as it adjusts to evolving customer patterns in the age of mobile banking and other technological changes.
The five branches set to close on April 1 are all in Connecticut, and the new locations include an office in Somerset, Mass.
“Our retail customers’ behavior patterns are changing, and Webster’s delivery of service is adapting with them in order to deliver best-in-class customer service,” James C. Smith, Webster’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. “Increasingly, we are finding that customers are migrating to online banking, ATMs, mobile banking, and point-of-sale, and utilizing multiple branch locations to conduct their banking.”
The closing branches are all located within five miles of another Webster branch. The closings won’t result in any non-managerial job losses. The branch managers can apply for other Webster job openings, the bank said.
No dates have been announced on the branch openings in Somerset, Scarsdale, N.Y., and Greenwich, Conn. “The new facilities will enable Webster to augment its presence and deepen its penetration of these markets,” Smith said.
Webster, the No. 10 bank in Rhode Island by deposits, has about 165 branches in several states, including 13 in Rhode Island.