KeyBank, Huntington and Chase to Temporarily Close Branches to Reduce Spread of Coronavirus

CLEVELAND, Ohio Banks in Greater Cleveland and across the country are closing branches and limiting customers to drive-through or meeting-only service to reduce contact between people.

Huntington Bank announced Wednesday that it will close its drive-thru branches from Thursday. KeyBank will limit customers of its branches to driving or branch service by appointment from Thursday.

JPMorgan Chase and other local and national banks are taking similar steps to reduce pedestrian traffic.

Chase temporarily closes 20% of its branches from Thursday; most branches that will remain open have through partitions or interior glass partitions, or both. Branches that remain open will have reduced hours.

Huntington has the largest branch network in Ohio and Greater Cleveland. KeyBank is Clevelands most important in terms of deposits. Chase is the country's largest bank in terms of deposits.

The moves are aimed at avoiding having customers too close to each other. In the past few days, state and federal health officials have urged people not to be less than six feet from each other as the nation tries to stop the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus. Government officials also recommended that people avoid gatherings of 10 or more people.

KeyBank now obliges all customers to use the driving service or to make an appointment to go to a branch.

Our main goal is to protect our customers, employees and communities, and this decision was not taken lightly, said Cleveland-based Key said in a statement. We will continue to follow the advice of the CDC, state and local authorities for best health practices in our branches and offices.

Key has approximately 100 branches in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area. Customers can check which branches have drive-thru service and which accept in-person appointments by going to key.com or by calling their branch. Customers can continue to use ATMs and do banking online and through the Keys mobile app as usual. For more information, visit key.com/coronavirus

At Huntington, we were still looking for our customers, colleagues and their families, said the Columbus bank in a statement. Our top priority is the safety and well-being of the communities we serve.

In order to comply with current recommendations for public gatherings, our branches located in retailers and branches without an ATM will temporarily close on Thursday, the bank said.

In addition to drive-thru service, customers will also be able to use ATMs and bank via the Huntingtons website and mobile app.

Huntington customers can call 1-800-480-2265 daily from 6:00 a.m. to midnight ET to find the nearest location or get help.

Huntington has approximately 150 branches in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area and approximately 800 branches across the enterprise. Huntington is the second largest bank in Greater Cleveland in terms of deposits, with 14% market share, behind KeyBank, which has 21% market share.

Chase is closing approximately 20% of its sites temporarily from Thursday. This represents approximately 1,000 branches. The remaining 4,000 branches will remain open, but will close two hours earlier in most cases, with business hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The bank said many of the remaining branches had dividing walls to reduce proximity, or that they had drive-thru, or both.

This will help protect our employees as we provide essential services to our customers and the communities we serve, Chase said in a statement.

Chase has approximately 70 branches in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area.

In addition, many Chase employees who normally work in branches, such as financial advisers, small business bankers and mortgage counselors, will be working from home starting Thursday.

It will also help us reduce the number of employees in our branches, said Chase.

Customers can find up-to-date hours at a nearby branch or ATM by going to chase.com/branch. More information is available on: https://www.chase.com/digital/resources/coronavirus

Banks say closings and other new deals will remain in effect until further notice.

This story will be updated.