There is no doubt that the consolidation exercise had some positive impacts on the banking sector. The banking system was transformed from 89 banks to 25 through regulatory merger and acquisition and latter to 24 through market-induced merger and acquisition. Bank branches grew from 2,900 in 2005 to almost 5,500 in mid-2009.
Office entry card swipes are down 50 percent from pre-pandemic levels in large cities, and office vacancy rates are up nationwide, from 12 percent in 2019 to 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. The increases have been larger in urban areas, and particularly in the downtown areas of big coastal cities. We’ll need to see if people continue working from home.