Coffee, sculptures and financial advice. Banks try to make new branches less intimidating

By KEN SWEET
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — After years of closing or mostly neglecting physical bank branches across the U.S., the nation’s largest banks are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on refurbishing old locations or building new ones, and in the process changing the look, feel and purpose of the local bank branch. Many of these branches are larger, airier, and meant to feel more comfortable for those walking in with difficult financial questions. They are a contrast to the marble-clad temples to finance built 50 or 75 years ago and the stale cookie-cutter branches that cluttered suburban malls 20 years ago.