Fifth Third Bank closes 3 Greater Cincinnati branches, plans to grow in Southeast markets

Bebe Hodges, Cincinnati Enquirer
Updated ·2 min read

You might need to find a new place to deposit your cash.

Fifth Third Bank confirmed more than two dozen branch closures, including several in Greater Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati-based bank is a dominant financial institution, servicing businesses and communities in 11 states with roughly 1,000 full-service locations, according to their website. In 2018, the institution operated 121 local branches and had nearly $30 billion in local deposits.

However, these numbers are starting to change as Fifth Third is in the midst of closing 29 branches across the Midwest and Southeast this year.

Related: Fifth Third Bank is relocating hundreds of employees. What does this mean for downtown?

The bank has already closed three Greater Cincinnati locations on Jan. 18, including the Hyde Park Bank Mart branch inside the Kroger in Hyde Park Plaza, the Cold Spring branch inside the Kroger at 375 Crossroads Blvd. and the Middletown stand-alone branch at 1010 Central Ave.

Why did these closures happen?

The bank chose to close these branches to allow for others to open in the future. Officials on a recent earnings call stated that Fifth Third will close 29 branches this year to offset costs associated with opening 31 new branches in their "high-growth" Southeast markets. This means that the bank will experience a total net gain of two branches.

The changes also allows for consolidation of branches.

“Increasingly we’re taking two locations that were well-placed 30 or 40 years ago but aren’t in the primary traffic flow today and consolidating them into one new location that is extremely well-located for customers of both branches,” CEO Tim Spence said in a statement. “It allows us to continue to evolve with the places we’ve banked for decades."

Which Fifth Third branch should I go to instead?

As Spence alluded to, there are other Fifth Third branches nearby the three closed locations that customers can visit. Here are the full-service locations customers are being directed to:

  • The Hyde Park Bank Mart branch customers can visit a full-service branch at 2632 Erie Ave. near Hyde Park Square – less than a mile away.

  • Cold Spring branch customers can visit a full-service branch just over 2 miles south at 6801 Alexandria Pike in Alexandria.

  • Middletown branch customers can visit a branch at 915 Elliott Drive in Middletown that’s just under 3 miles away from the closed location.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Fifth Third Bank closing 29 branches, including 3 in Cincinnati area