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T H E D E TR O I T J E W I S H N E W S

ATM Wars

as

The electronic
banking fight in
southeast Michigan
is just starting to
heat up.

ALAN ABRAMS
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

f you think the only changes
in the usually-staid world of
Detroit banking have re-
volved around how much to
charge for ATM fees, con-
sider these figures:
• In 1984, there were 49 banks
in Southeast Michigan. Today,
thanks to the latest wave of local
bank consolidation, there are only
17.
• Only 10 are still locally
owned, including niche, commu-
nity, and so-called "boutique
banks."
• Four or five banks/thrifts in
the metro Detroit market have
more than 90 percent of the mar-
ket share, in terms of deposits.
By comparison, Chicago is still
headquarters to 117 banks.
Where once you had bank

branches on virtually every ma-
jor central city corner with tellers
waiting to serve you, today you
have automated teller machines.
And with them come access fees
of up to $2 per use.
The latest battle over ATM
fees stems from the latest round
of surcharges imposed by De-
troit's big banks upon non-cus-
tomers who use their ATMs.
Because small banks can't af-
ford to operate as many ATMs,
they have depended upon the big
banks' ATM networks to give
their customers easy access to
their money, or to perform sim-
ple transactions like making de-
posits.
Suddenly, in April, the big-
bank ATMs began charging the
small banks' customers $1.50 for

a routine withdrawal. The com-
petitive rationale behind the in-
crease (going a step beyond the
often-offered explanation of pure
greed) is to drive customers away
from the small banks, and into
the waiting arms of banks like
Comerica, National Bank of De-
troit and Michigan National.
But apparently many loyal
small bank customers would
rather fight than switch, and
have significantly reduced their
use of big-bank ATMs. Indeed,
Southfield-based Franklin Bank,
N.A. reported usage by its cus-
tomers of the big bank ATMs
may already have dropped by as
much as 20 percent, which rep-
resents thousands of transac-
tions.
Consolidation, with its resul-

tant mergers, closings and lay-
offs, is not just a Michigan phe-
nomenon. Within the last decade,
the number of banks nationally
has gone from 14,000 to 8,500.
However, Detroit is one of the
most concentrated major urban
banking areas in the country. In
Ohio, you could probably get the
same market share with I
banks that you get here with four
or five.
One of the most outspoken op-
ponents of the big banks' policies
is Read Dunn, president and
CEO of Franklin Bank, whose
award-winning, attention-grab-
bing and aggressive radio com-
mercials have not been afraid to
state that the big banks are act-
ing like "pig" banks.
"What's happened in Detroit,

