•    European banks closed over 9000 branches last year and shed 50,000 staff as customer defections to online and mobile channels surged, according to data from the European Banking Federation cited by Finextra. The number of bank branches in the EU dipped below to 190,000 in 2016, a drop of 4.6 per cent on the previous year, as the importance of widespread bank branch networks continues to reduce. Looking across a wider timescale, European banks have shut more than 48,000 branches since 2008, a contraction of 20 per cent, while staff numbers dropped to 2.80 million last year, from 2.85 million a year earlier and down from 3.26 million in 2008.•    The lowest interest rates in almost a year has seen US homebuyers clamouring to capitalize, with mortgage application volumes up 9.9 per cent since last week, CNBC reports. The Association's seasonally adjusted weekly index is still 19 per cent lower than the same week last year, due to lower refinance volume. The week's results included an adjustment for the Labor Day holiday. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances (US$424,100 or less) decreased to 4.03 per cent from 4.06 per cent, with points increasing to 0.40 from 0.38 (including the origination fee) for 80 per cent loan-to-value ratio loans.