The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Aug. 29, edition that Canadian bank branches are under siege as technological innovation creates new competitors. The Globe's David Berman writes that banks are changing the way they interact with their customers as technology, consumer behaviour and tech-savvy new competitors drive what many observers believe are the biggest changes ever seen in the financial services industry. Just as disruptive new technologies sank firms such as Blockbuster and Tower Records, some observers believe similar forces are lining up against the financial sector. The threat is most noticeable at bank branches. Branches are now trying to find their way in a world where most of us bank on-line. Yet banks are investing in them: Old edificies that appear hopelessly out-of-touch with our digital world are slowly being replaced by revamped formats that are borrowing concepts from Apple's retail stores. "We are catching up. The branch format is changing," says Toronto-Dominion Bank's Tim Hockey. Sometime in the future, "there will be fewer branches, and that's partly because consumers will not see as much need to have one close at hand."