Traditionally, when a bank wanted to expand geographically it had to open new branches, thereby incurring high start up and maintenance costs. E-channels, such as the Internet, have made this unnecessary in many circumstances. Now banks with a traditional customer base in one part of the country or world can attract customers from other parts, as most of the financial transaction do not require a physical presence near customers living/working place. In one case study presented in Chapter VIII, a bank based in the southern part of the UK was attracting customers from northern England, where it had no branches.
In many countries banks share their resources such as ATMs or use post offices as their main interaction points, with customers for services such as cash and cheques deposits.
