James uncovers a great piece of research on relative branch network size.

BankerVision: The mid-size bank hump and the arms race hypothesis

In other words, the more branches a bank has, the less performing each branch is. At least, it seems that’s the case until you get large enough that your multi-market network externalities start to kick in. In the Hirtle typology, large enough is a bank with 501 or more branches. Mid sized is anywhere from 101 to 500. It appears there is some kind of “hump” that occurs as institutions begin to ramp up their service by adding more points of presence.

Relevance to Bankwatch:
So the message must be that if you have a mid size branch network, an option is to downsize it, and focus on electronic channels.