A majority of small (less than 100 branches) and mid-sized (101-500 branches) retail banks have set up online banking. In an environment where everyone offers call-center support, online banking and branch banking, this raises the challenge of how a bank can distinguish itself and retain its profitable clients.
It does not help that, currently, the credit/mortgage crisis is impacting construction and related small businesses that form a significant source of clients at the small to mid-sized banks.