A bank operates in the role of a bank branch in connection with any site where it operates a retail or customer service branch, where its customers can go to a teller or other staff and interact with the bank. The bank itself should be connected in this role, and only to its public facilities, i.e. not to buildings where it maintains offices but is not open to its customers.

Bank branch involvements do not apply to automated teller machines (ATMs). The branch must include human personnel, although ATMs are usually present in a bank branch.

The bank has the connection to the public branch site where staff interact with customers. A back-office building or a stand-alone cash machine does not meet the same customer-service conditions.