UPDATE: This story has been updated with comment from a Fulton Bank official.
EASTON, Pa. - The only bank on the city's South Side is shutting down, officials said Wednesday.
Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said Fulton Bank at 280 Line St. will close. A corporate spokesperson for the bank said the shutdown will occur near the end of April.
- Fulton Bank has two locations in Easton
- The bank at 280 Line St. on South Side is closing, according to Mayor Sal Panto Jr
- Officials hope the bank can find another location in that neighborhood
Panto said he was hopeful the bank would look for a new location on South Side, but the spokesperson says that is not the case.
"We are making these changes to align our services with trends in how customers conduct their banking, including growth in online and mobile banking that is reducing transactions conducted in financial centers across our industry," said Lacey Dean, Fulton Bank's senior vice president for corporate communications.
In his mayor’s report to the city council Wednesday night, Panto said that many small businesses are facing a new reality.
“There’s a paradigm shift that’s occurring where small businesses aren’t profitable enough for people to go into them in neighborhoods,” Panto said during a city council meeting.
He said the city will look into assembling a committee in addition to grant assistance and helping with business plans.
“We are putting together a task force that’s going to look solely at neighborhood services,” Panto said.
“We have a lot of elderly people who can’t get Downtown and that bank closing on the South Side would really hurt the community.”Frank Pintabone, South Side Easton resident
Planning commission member Frank Pintabone addressed the city council about the bank closure. He urged Panto to encourage Fulton Bank to stay on South Side.
“We have a lot of elderly people who can’t get Downtown and that bank closing on the South Side would really hurt the community,” said Pintabone, who lives on South Side.
Fulton Bank also has a location in Downtown Easton, at Fourth and Northampton streets.
Besides South Side, Panto said, a bank is closing on College Hill and there are none in the West Ward.
