Bank of America (BAC) said Monday it will open 165 branches by the end of 2026, the latest big US lender to announce more brick-and-mortar locations following a decade of industry retrenchment.

Rival JPMorgan Chase (JPM), which currently has the largest US bank branch network in the country, earlier this year pledged to open 500 new locations by 2027.

Large regional bank PNC Financial Services Group (PNC) also has announced plans to open 100 new locations while renovating more than 1,000 locations. Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank (FITB) is another regional lender expanding its footprint.

The reason some banks are making new bets on physical branches is that they now view the locations as ways to grab new wealth management and small-business customers without making acquisitions of rivals that might not pass muster with antitrust regulators, according to some industry observers.

The goal is to remake branches into places where customers go to get financial advice instead of just cashing checks.

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Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told investors at a Barclays conference earlier this month that its branch investments are just one part of "cementing" customer relationships across its massive franchises.

"It's one of the reasons why our fundamental growth rate outstrips the industry," Moynihan said.

The new expansion for Bank of America is notable because of how dramatically it downsized its branch network following the 2007-2009 financial crisis, which forced the lender to cut costs around the country.

It has closed more than 1,000 branches since 2014, according to the company. Many of those were outside of the major US metropolitan areas, as Bank of America focused on bigger population centers.

In June of last year, Bank of America said it was planning to expand into nine new markets. These included Louisville, Ky., Birmingham, Ala., New Orleans, Boise, Idaho, Milwaukee, Wisc., and Omaha, Neb.

It's on track to open 40 new locations this year. On Monday, the bank opened its branch in Louisville.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our presence in the Bluegrass state,” said Felicia Lewis, an executive in Bank of America’s southeast division.

Since 2014, Bank of America has also invested $5 billion in its brick-and-mortar network partly to renovate and redesign more than 3,000 locations with the goal of making more space for customer meetings with financial advisers and other specialists.

Bank of America said 95% of its interactions with customers currently take place online but that customers have still placed nearly 10 million appointments at one of its financial centers, and 20% of those appointments have focused on consulting with a financial adviser about investing.