Close to 10 per cent of the branches operated by banks and other authorised deposit-taking institutions have disappeared over the past two years. The loss of ATMs is even bigger, at more than 16 per cent over the same period.According to the latest APRA report on ADI points of presence, the number of branches fell from 5816 in 2017 to 5609 last year and 5314 in the latest survey.The number of ATMs in service has fallen from 13,815 in 2017 to 12,639 last year and 11,560 in the latest survey.Curiously, the number of payment terminals rose from 801,502 in 2017 to 836,649 last year and then fell back to 803,188 in the latest survey.Despite its recent declaration that it intends to be a better communicator, APRA provided absolutely no commentary on what is driving these trends. Just a spreadsheet, greatly slimmed down from the once absurdly detailed report of earlier years.