Oakhaven Bank to close 40 branches as customers move online
The lender says 82 percent of transactions are now digital
Oakhaven Bank will close forty branches over the next year, about a fifth of its network, as the share of transactions carried out in person falls below one in five.
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Executives at Cobalt Payments said the plan will be rolled out in three stages, beginning with its largest markets. A second stage, covering smaller regional units, is scheduled for the second quarter of next year.
Not every investor is convinced. Shares in Cobalt Payments slipped 2 percent after the announcement, with some analysts questioning whether the projected savings of $310 million a year are achievable on the stated timeline.
The figures are modest by the standards of the largest players but significant for a company of this size. According to its latest filing, Cobalt Payments generated $310 million in revenue over the past twelve months, with margins improving in each of the last three quarters.
Which branches are affected
For Mei-Lin Chao, who founded her first company in 2015 and sold it four years later, the lesson is familiar. "Growth hides mistakes," she said. "When it slows down, you find out which decisions were good and which ones you just got away with."
The deal was approved after the parties agreed to divest two overlapping business lines, a condition regulators had signaled early in the review. Supporters called it a pragmatic compromise; critics said it left the hardest questions about market concentration unanswered.
Cobalt Payments will hold a briefing for analysts next month to walk through the numbers in more detail. Management has promised a first progress update alongside its third-quarter results.