A BANK has revealed a double-whammy of branch closures and staff layoffs to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs.
Eagle Bancorp announced it had shuttered two branches to save on rent.
The shock revelation was made in its recent earnings release.
Susan Riel, president and CEO of Eagle Bancorp, said: "We once again thank all of our employees for their commitment in serving the needs of our clients and communities."
However, the release added that "during the second quarter 2023, the Georgetown branch (DC) and Chantilly branch (Virginia) were closed as their leases were expiring."
It said: "The company has implemented an expense reduction plan.
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"In the second quarter, two branches were closed with an annual pre-tax cost savings in rental expense of $408,000.
"Early in the third quarter, the company also implemented a reduction-in-force that along with identified cost savings is expected to generate cost savings of $2.4million in the second half of 2023 plus an additional reduction of $5.8million in 2024."
Eagle Bancorp said it was the third closure so far this year, following the shuttering of a branch in Alexandria, Virginia, in March. This has reduced its branch count to 13, according to the release.
The company is the holding company for EagleBank, which started operations in 1998. The bank is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.
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Ironically, according to its website it was "founded on the realization that banks were largely failing their communities because they were simply not part of them."
STAFF LAYOFF
Riel said: "While earnings stabilized and were higher than the prior quarter, we remain committed to improving results for our shareholders.
"We are also mindful of continuing to remain a highly efficient bank and in the first half of the year we took action to save costs by closing three branches.
"Early in the third quarter, we also made the difficult decision to implement a reduction-in-force along with a strategic review of operating expenses."
It is not clear how many staff were affected by the lay-offs.
The U.S. Sun has contacted the bank for further comment.
However, the branch closures echo similar shuttering elsewhere, with a Santander Bank branch set to close in mid-September.
Its location in in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania will be consolidated with a nearby branch in East Pennsboro Township, according to Penn Live.
The U.S. Sun has recently reported on bank closures across the country like the Bank of America in California.
Another bank chain has revealed that eight of its branches will soon shut.
BANK FAILURES
Along with branch closures, there have been scores of bank failures across the States.
The U.S. Sun recently reported that Georgia, Florida, and Illinois are the three states with the highest number of failures between 2000 and 2023.
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Illinois has had 69 closures and Florida has had 76 in that time, according to a report from MyeListingcom.
Georgia topped the list with 93 bank failures since the start of the millennium.
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