What the financial sector is now calling "The Great Consolidation" accelerated during the pandemic, doubling the rate of closures of all types of bank branches to 200 a month.

The fastest closure rate is being recorded for in-store branches, with banks shuttering 17.4 percent of in-store outlets, compared to 3.1 percent for all other branches, according to an S&P Global analysis of newly released data for the fiscal year ended on June 30, 2022.

In-store banking outlets reside in retail stores, including groceries. Banks have been withdrawing their footprint of in-store outlets since 2015; the portion of branches represented by an in-store location has dropped to 3.9 percent from a 2015 level of 5.5 percent.