Truist Opens 100 Branches to Court Wealthy Clients

Truist is investing in its physical bank branches as it targets more affluent clients.

The lender announced Wednesday (Aug. 20) that it will open 100 new branches and renovate 300 more in cities around the country, including Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Miami and Washington, all areas with the potential to cultivate relationships with affluent customers.

“At Truist, we’re creating an experience that is digitally empowering and deeply relational to help our clients achieve financial success,” said Truist Chief Consumer and Small Business Banking Officer Dontá Wilson. “These investments accelerate our ability to provide clients with proactive, AI-driven digital insights and data-informed, tailored advice in our branches, including comprehensive financial planning personalized for Premier Banking clients.”

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Wilson said the bank has spent the last expanding its premier banking team, which caters to more affluent customers, by 50%, with plans for a further 20% expansion in the coming years.

“Physical and human advisory still matters,” he added. “We’re big enough to afford and invest in all the digital technology capabilities. But we also operate in these community-oriented ways that are deeply relational.”

The report added that Truist has identified a large group of potential customers with more than $100,000 of investable assets outside of Truist, but less than $100,000 with the bank, clients Wilson said the premier banking team will work to attract.

Truist isn’t the only lender still banking on a need for brick-and-mortar locations. Bank of America said earlier this year it plans to open 150 new “financial centers,” as it calls its branches, by the end of 2027.

As covered here  last year, both Bank of America and rival JPMorgan Chase have been investing in opening new physical banking locations in recent years.

While both lenders “conceded that local offices won’t supplant the convenience digital banking offers, both also said they recognize physical locations give consumers a place to go when they want to discuss loans or seek financial advice,” PYMNTS wrote.

More recently, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster examined the push between physical and digital banking, noting that banks have spent decades constructing a business model around exclusive access to physical branches and complicated financial products that require human expertise to navigate, in some cases even only delivered in person.

“Friction became a source of stickiness because switching banks became too much of a pain,” Webster wrote, while companies like “Chime and SoFi are capturing younger consumers by meeting them where they are.”