Univest will relocate or close eight branches
The planned consolidation, part of an optimization initiative, is expected to be completed by June 30.
SOUDERTON » Univest Financial Corp. has announced it will close or relocate eight locations — or 20% of its financial centers. The planned consolidation is expected to be completed by June 30, 2021.
The company said Monday its plans to “optimize” its financial center footprint, could result in estimated pre-tax annualized savings of approximately $2.4 million. The pre-tax one-time costs associated with this plan are estimated to be $1.7 million.
Univest Financial Corp. is the parent company of Univest Bank and Trust Co. and its insurance, investments and equipment financing subsidiaries. This latest announcement is part of the bank’s optimization initiative, launched in 2015. Since then, the bank has consolidated 15 locations while opening 13 new financial centers to expand its operating footprint and improve the customer experience, according to the announcement.
“We believe that it is critical to continue to address the trend in customer preference by serving customers when and how they choose, while also driving efficiencies in operations. We are striving to create a common and consistent customer experience, whether the interaction is in-person, through digital channels or telephonically,” Jeffrey M. Schweitzer, president and CEO of Univest Financial Corp. said in a press release.
Schweitzer acknowledged that COVID-19 has had an impact on customer behavior in terms of transactions at branches — further reducing transaction volume. He said that from 2019 to 2020, transaction volume declined 21%. At the same time, significant investments in and improvements to Univest’s digital capabilities have been made.
The consolidations and relocations will take place in two phases:
PHASE I – JAN. 29, 2021
• Schwenksville, 415 Main St. — will be closed.
• Souderton, 790 Route 113 — lobby access will be permanently closed with the exception of appointment-based access to safe deposit boxes. The night drop and ATM will also remain.
• Warminster, 1040 York Road — lobby access will be closed, while drive-through access, the ATM and night drop will remain. In addition, once renovations are complete, personnel from the bank’s subsidiary, Univest Capital Inc., will relocate from their current location in Bensalem.
• Willow Grove, 1 Fitzwatertown Road — will be closed.
PHASE II – JUNE 30, 2021
• Doylestown, 191 West State St. — the financial center will be closed with staff and operational capability relocated to the bank’s existing Bucks Regional Office.
• Chestnut Hill, 23 West Highland Ave. (Philadelphia) — will be closed.
• Plumsteadville, 5829 Easton
Road — will be closed.
• Perkasie, 545 Constitution Ave. — will be closed.
The company could not say whether there will be job losses associated with the consolidation. Univest currently has just over 900 employees.
“We are making every effort to relocate impacted staff to nearby financial centers in the market,” Schweitzer said in an emailed response to questions.
Univest will send letters to customers of the impacted financial centers, notifying them of the changes at least 90 days in advance.
Among the improvements Univest has made in its digital capabilities is the addition of Secure Chat. Forty-one percent of service center customer contact now occurs through this chat function (more than 2,400 customer chats per month).
The company has also added MyCard rules, which gives customers more control over their debit cards; Money Manage, a personal financial management tool, which launched June 30 and has more than 3,450 customers using the tool; and OpenAnywhere, a digital deposit account opening system.
In addition, Zelle, a person to person payment mechanism similar to Venmo will be added to the bank’s mobile app in November.
Headquartered in Souderton, Univest offers services through a network of more than 50 offices in southeastern Pennsylvania extending to the Lehigh Valley and Lancaster, as well as in New Jersey and Maryland and online at www.univest.net.