Survey results make clear exactlyhow fast branches are becoming obsolete.

Three in 10 Americans have not visited a bank or credit unionbranch in the past six months, according to a survey conducted forBankrate.com.

What is dazzling is that there are not significant generationaldifferences, said Greg McBride, Bankrate's chief financialanalyst.

“Among those under age 30, 42% have been to a branchwithin the last 30 days compared to 52% of those over age 50,” hesaid.

A zinger is that among retirees, one in five has not visited abranch in more than a year, per Bankrate.

McBride predicted within five years, the number of consumers whodon't visit a branch within six months will top 50%.

Even Anthony Browne, chief executive of the British Bankers'Association, admitted his lack of branch attendance Sunday in theLondon Telegraph.

“I realise this is a strange confession from the head of theBritish Bankers' Association, but I haven't visited my branch sincelast year – and I'm not alone,” he told the newspaper.

Right now, there is a big rethink happening on the futureviability of branches.

Also ofInterest:

TechnologyTips the Scales Toward Consumers

Brick-and-MortarBranches Can Still Expand Brand Footprint

MarketShare Flex Requires Core Strength

Jim Marous, a financial services marketing expert with New Controlin Cleveland, said, “I called seven of the top ten banks. Every onesaid if they had the choice they would close 80% more branches thanthey would open. There are at least 10,000 branches out there thatshould be closed.”

And yet, added Marous, old habits die hard. Many bankers,especially in community banks and credit unions, cling to theirbranches.

“The customer base is moving much faster into digital money thanthe bankers are,” Marous said.

Don Peppers, a best-selling author and customer service guru,said the future of branches looks a lot like the future of videorental stores a few years ago.

Is the branch vanishing? Nobody believes that, but an increasingnumber of experts point to the death of video stores, bookstores,record shops and, lately, big box appliance stores as harbingers ofwhat is coming to banking.

They believe that in the very near future, not only will therebe fewer branches, they will be much smaller, and they will bedesigned to deliver consultative services such as financialplanning and complex loan origination, rather than old fashionedtransactions such as deposits, cash withdrawals and simple creditcard account originations.

Branch defenders argue that financial relationships are special,and therefore, branches will long endure.

However, others scoff at that notion.

“I'm tired of hearing, 'banking is different,'” Maroussaid.

Marous pointed out that although bankers may like branches,there is not much evidence that consumers do.

“In most you could shoot off a cannon and you wouldn't hurtanybody. That's how empty they are,” Marous said.

Some experts point out that the flight from branches startedyears ago.

“It began with the ATM,” said Peppers, who elaborated that whenATMs became commonplace in the 1970s, many consumers realized theycould do most of their banking without entering a branch and they liked it.

They also like online banking, because it often delivers on thepromise the name suggests: from home, a consumer can do most ofwhat he/she formerly did in a branch.

Smartphones, which in effect put a bank branch in every hand,have accelerated the flight from branches by making banking something that anyonecan do anywhere, 24/7.

“It's about the digitization of money,” Peppers said.

That's the intellectual view that, as money morphs from analog(paper) into digital (bits and bytes), the physical world of money,exemplified by branches, diminishes.

Kirk Ward, a retired 72-year-old loan examiner located in MarcoIsland, Fla., offered a simpler explanation as to why he never goesto branches at his credit unions, the $1.3 billion AssociatedCredit Union, located in Norcross, Ga.

“It's about convenience. That is why branches are closing,” hesaid.

Then there are the economic benefitsto financial institutions in embracing digitalization.

Stephen Ellis, director of the financial services team atChicago investment research firm Morningstar, reporteddigitalization savings are huge.

It's 95% cheaper to process a deposit via Mobile Remote DepositCapture than at a teller window, he said, adding that it's also 65%less expensive to process a mobile or online payment than one madevia paper check.

Simply put, operating branches is very expensive. The digitalDIY channel delivers efficiencies; and, for many consumers, theirpreference for DIY appears to be on the rise.

In the United Kingdom, where cellphones took hold faster than inthe U.S., HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have all warnedtheir customers that significant branch closures are coming.

“Bankers don't want to believe it, but most people do not wantto go into a branch. They want to do this remotely,” saidGreensboro, N.C.-based branding expert Tom Dougherty, CEO ofStealing Share. “Bankers believe in branches because they are stuckin an old model.”

“The writing is on the wall for branches,” Dougherty added.“Even if some still don't see it.”