Where are the local bank start-ups?

• Position: MARKETING NEWS - Brief article

A DECADE AGO, new banks were being formed at an average of 100 annually. However, within the last five years, that rate has fallen to only three a year.

This statistic represents another blow to the future of community banks, which already have been declining in number since the Great Recession, according to a recent article in The Washington Post.

Fewer community banks could prove damaging to small-businesses, many of whom depend on local banks for loans and other financial services.

The problem is that economic conditions combined with low interest rates and increased regulatory compliance costs have left a dismal environment for starting new banks, the newspaper reported.

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