The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Aug. 29, edition that according to the Canadian Bankers Association, 55 per cent of Canadians are doing most of their banking on-line. The Globe's David Berman writes that mobile banking is taking off too: 31 per cent of Canadians are using their smart phones to check balances, move money, pay bills and deposit cheques, up from just 5 per cent in 2010. According to Cormark Securities analyst Meny Grauman a transaction at a bank branch costs the institution about 50 times what a mobile banking transaction costs. If banks cut their branch footprint by just 10 per cent the savings in rent, salaries and equipment would drive up their earnings by an average of 2.7 per cent, Mr. Grauman estimates. "The cost of operating bank branches is significant," says Ian Cunningham, chief operating officer at Tangerine, a branchless division of Bank of Nova Scotia. "You need to have expertise in all these different locations to provide financial advice and product advice. It's very difficult and expensive to do." United States banks appear to have done this math, and have been cutting branches even as the economy improves and the once-rattled banking sector stabilizes.