The question is simple: how many times a year do you need to go to a bank branch to speak with an advisor? The answer determines how networks of bank branches evolve.

Most recently, on 30 June the curtain fell on the BGL BNP Paribas branch located on Rue du Marché-aux-Herbes, in Luxembourg’s city centre.

“The trend that has been underway for some time, and which has accelerated sharply with the health crisis, is towards greater use of remote solutions for day-to-day transactions and a demand for personalised support for specific needs such as taking out a mortgage or investment advice,” the bank explained to Delano’s sister publication Paperjam.

By the numbers

The bank said that it had informed the clients of the Rue du Marché-aux-Herbes branch about the closure in 2022, pointing them towards the Avenue Monterey branch as an alternative.

With 27 branches spread throughout the country (28 including the Centre Crédit Immobilier Europe), BGL BNP Paribas remains the third-largest banking brand in Luxembourg in terms of branch networks. In first position is BCEE with 44 branches, while ING is--among the main retail banks--the smallest with 13.

Between advanced web-banking solutions and mobile applications, the digitalisation of retail banking is now a reality in Luxembourg. The latest ABBL report on retail banking shows that, between 2021 and 2022, the number of bank branches in the grand duchy fell by 11%, down to 197.

However, with 34 branches per 100,000 inhabitants, the country has good network coverage--six times higher than in the Netherlands, for example, where the figure is five branches per 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2020, Eurostat counted 5,441 banks in the EU, including 129 in Luxembourg. They employed 2.2m people.

This article was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.