It's fair to say that banks are still in cost-cutting mode. CNNMoney notes that at most banks, the two biggest sources of expenses are employees and real estate. We've seen a lot of head count action obviously. American Express, now a bank, has announced it will layoff 4,000 more employees, on top of the 7,000 laid off last year.

Are we in for a wave of branch network consolidations? One consultant tells the news service that some large lenders could easily shutter 15 percent of their retail branches without sacrificing any of their deposit base. It's probably true that many big banks overextended their branch networks in recent years. I'm sure this has been considered. We may see more branches cut back to their essentials with a minimum of human staffing. 

For more:
- here's the article

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