I would have to add that these banks have grown substantially under National City Bank's ownership during the last decade. Eastern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. There is not going to be much in the way of new branching. Technology is making the bank branch into a buggy whip. There are still plenty of customers who use branches, but the huge investment that a branch requires is hard to justify looking forward 15 years, when customers will be more likely to use the ATM, direct deposit and Internet banking.
Online banking is so small as to be insignificant today.
Yet it will be an important component for the future. Our online system has been up and running 18 months. The Internet is just one leg of banking. The computer doesn't dispense cash so the ATM will continue to be an important access point. National City Bank is doing more and more lending using computers.