The credit union and community banking markets have too many branches and are spending more than $1 per transaction just in teller labor costs, according to a new study by scheduling-software firm FMSI.

The study of community banks and credit unions in North America evaluated more than 16 million teller transactions and found that even though the number of branches is down nearly 5% as of June 2014, from the all-time high of 99,550 in 2009, the ratio of population to branches has declined from 9,340 in 1970 to 2,970 in 2014, according to the study.

"This staggering metric is a result from a nearly 300% growth in the number of branches since 1970 while the population growth was nearly half of that," FMSI reported.

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