International Journal of Current Science Research and Review ISSN: 2581-8341 Volume 06 Issue 02 February 2023 DOI: 10.47191/ijcsrr/V6-i2-94, Impact Factor: 5.995 IJCSRR @ 2023 www.ijcsrr.org 1742 * Corresponding Author: Dr. Nazar Hammam Volume 06 Issue 02 February 2023 Available at: www.ijcsrr.org Page No. 1742-1751 GIS Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for Locating Bank Branches Dr. Nazar Hammam 1 , Khadar Daahir Abdisalaam 2 , Anwar Sidahmed Mohammed 3 1 Department of geographical information system, university of medical science and technology Khartoum-Sudan. 2 Department of geographical information system, university of medical science and technology Khartoum-Sudan. 3 Remote Sensing and Seismology Authority-National Center for Research- Sudan. ABSTRACT: In banking industry, optimum location of the bank branch plays an important role in ensuring the success of the bank. It is one of the most important decision making processes. This issue is highly important because of the vibrant competition, limited budgets and high customer expectations .This study’s objective is to provide a hybrid model for selecting optimal site location using available data sources and well accepted decision models, specifically Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Geographic Information System (GIS).The process identified the most commonly used criteria for bank branch location consideration through literature review yielding demographics, competition, transportation, access to public facilities. Criteria and sub-criteria weights were quantified through pair-wise comparison using expert judges, via ANP. The database created for the study area (Khartoum Locality) includes data about demographics, competition, transportation, access to public facilities available in the area. With the help of Esri’s ArcGIS software through using the weighted overlay analysis tool we have identified suitable sites of new bank branches .The results showed five optimal locations for new bank branch in Khartoum locality; location near Madani St, location close to Bashir Elnefedi St, location at Firdous East Square 8, and two other sites in Khartoum West (Shajra Avenue). For the conclusion, these results show the efficiency and applicability of the proposed integrated method. KEY WORDS: Bank Branch Location, GIS, Multi criteria Decision Analysis, Site Selection Criteria. INTRODUCTION Recently, banking services have witnessed substantial developments which lead to changes in the organization of banks. Competitive environment of banking industry results in a more convoluted location network of bank branches [1].In addition, growing information technology and widespread usage of online banking makes the decision of bank branch locations a more significant and complicated task for banking professionals [2]. [3] Revealed that bank branches’ location has a great influence on deposit amounts, and subsequently on banking profits .Recent papers such as [4], [5] have studied the impact of the growth of large banks on bank performance and profitability .Location selection is clearly very important for banks because it can be a very costly mistake, specifically if the decision problem is related to locating many branches, resulting in a unnecessary moving cost, lost endeavor, lost competitive advantages and so on as [6] have pointed out, “In the development of competiti ve strategies, prices can be matched, services can be extended and improved, but a retailer’s location advantages ar e difficult to assail or neutralize .The purpose of this study was twofold. One goal was to generate site suitability map for bank branch location in Khartoum city. Another goal was to identify and determine the criteria of bank branch location through literature review and discussion with bank managers. In this study, we focus on generating suitability map and evaluate the present situation for a bank branch in a study area. This study is organized into five sections. The first section discusses previous studies that dealing using GIS In location suitability and discusses background about MCDA (ANP) in suitability analysis. An introduction of the study site, description of the data sets and factors used in the model are provided in Section 2, and illustration of the methodology is provided in Section 3. Section 4 presents the results of the study. Finally, a conclussion and recommendations for future work are presented in the final section. BACKGROUND LITERATURE REVIEW Literature Review A great number of studies have utilized Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Decision Support Systems (DSS), andOptimization problems separately and collectively in location selection problems. For example:[7] Formulated the problem of determining