For banks across the land, the new normal is conducting in-office business on an appointment-only basis with customers to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Simmons First National Corp. went beyond that by temporarily closing 53 branches throughout its eight-state footprint. The 11 Arkansas closings occurred in Little Rock, five; Pine Bluff, two; and one each in Conway, Hot Springs, North Little Rock and Russellville.
“We tried to balance taking care of our associates, so they weren’t exposed any more than necessary while taking care of our customers,” said George Makris, chairman and CEO of the $21 billion-asset bank holding company. “It’s worked out better than I thought it would.”
The biggest change occurred in Missouri, where 16 Simmons offices went dark — five in St. Louis. Elsewhere, the lender instituted temporary shutdowns in Tennessee, eight; Texas, seven; Oklahoma, six; Colorado and Kansas, two each; and Illinois, one.
The temporary closings were made to safeguard employees who might have health issues that put them at greater risk if they contracted COVID-19. “So far not a single Simmons staffer has tested positive for the virus,” Makris said. “We’ve been very lucky there.”
The move also created a surplus of retail banking personnel that could be deployed in the bank’s remaining 196 offices, with options for rotating personnel between home and branches.
Makris said digital transactions at Simmons haven’t increased as much as branch business has dropped with the curtailment of lobby transactions.
“I’m looking at our branch activity, and there were 40,000 transactions last Monday (March 23),” he said. “This Monday (March 30), there were 28,000.
“I can tell you we’re adding 350 new digital customers every day. We’ve added 8,000 new digital customers since mid-March. Most of those are existing customers opening online service.”
Still, Makris anticipates that there will “probably” be what he termed “permanent adjustments.”
“There had been a growing trend toward more online banking in recent years, especially in urban areas, but the restrictions of the pandemic quarantine are giving that a turbo boost,” he said.
Simmons was already considering a new format for its branches, and the pandemic is forcing that question to the front burner. The basic idea is fewer, larger branches.
“You may have a more full-service location than what we have today with the transactional branches,” Makris said. “The pandemic kind of forced us to say, ‘OK, is this concept what we really follow through with or not?’ ”
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