LAS VEGAS — The moderator of a Money2020 panel consisting ofmobile-oriented banking startups asked them a blunt question:Is branch banking dead?

On a scale of one to five, five being dead, Alpesh Chokshi, who heads Bluebird for American Express, said hisanswer was five.

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Another panelist at the Monday session said four. A third saidsix. Only Steve Streit, CEO of prepaid card Green Dot whose company also runsGoBank, said his answer was two and one-half, meaning that Streitsees at least some life for traditional branches.

Chokshi meantime chafed at another question, what's the ROI ofmobile banking? He said, “What's the ROI of air or water? You needthe mobile channel, in the way you need air and water.”

As for why American Express launched Bluebird – essentially a prepaid card with check-writingoptions – Chokshi said, “There is nothing in our brand values thatsays we are only for the affluent. The prepaid model lets us servecustomers we couldn't serve before. “

He added that, in his estimate, “a traditional bank has a coststructure two and one-half times higher than ours as a mobileproduct. The inefficiencies in the current banking model areenormous.”

Streit, too, sang the praises of mobile, pointing to researchthat suggests a typical person touches his or her cellphone 200times daily. “Mobile is different from online banking,” he added.“With mobile you always have your bank with you.”

That, suggested Streit, is why he thinks mobile will eclipse theusage numbers claimed by online banking.

Chokshi added, “Two and one-half billion people do not have bankaccounts. But they do have mobile phones. Digital accounts are safeand secure compared to cash. We are looking to expand Bluebird intoperhaps South Africa and Mexico – you will see us enterinternational markets next year.”

Streit added that although he thinks “branches will around along time,” his goal with GoBank – which has one branch in Provo, Utah – “is to make itinto all the bank a customer needs.”