Combined effect of cyclical factors bubble excess real estate and finance and negative official rates suppressing income) and structural change (increasing digitization of the economy and society) spanish banking to do unprecedented downtime in your network Offices in the last 14 years, only in Europe Holland. Between the peak of September 2008 and the end of last year, credit institutions reduced their branches in Spain 58.5%until 19.104lowest level since September 1976. Looking at it another way, they closed 27,014 storesIt’s like all the offices they opened in March 2018 have disappeared.
All this also led to an unprecedented reduction in its number. employees. Between 2008 and 2020 (last year with official data from the Bank of Spain), the sector destroyed 98,790 employment in the country has reduced the workforce to 179,511 people, 35.4% less and the lowest level since the inspector began measuring in 1981. Also, in 2021, it accelerated as a result of tuning. mergers and the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Top 10 banks cut 12,515 more jobsTo 144,836, however, the overall adjustment of the industry is already close to 40% since 2008.
Catalonia It has been the autonomous community that has suffered a larger office cut since 2008 (71%) as a result of the collapse of most of its ‘caix’. Slightly behind, but also above average, the closures were central. Valencian Community (64%), Madrid (62%), Murcia (60%) and Galicia (58.9%). There were those who were at the opposite extreme. Navarre (42%), Estremadura (38%) and Castile-la-Mancha (37%) due to relatively lower growth of branches during the years of the bubble. For the same reason, the fit was greater. largest municipalities (approximately 56% for those with a population of more than 50,000) than those with a smaller population (approximately 40% for those with a population of less than 5,000).
work in progress
Additionally, the network outage is far from touching the ground. Ten Big Banks Closed other 531 offices (which increases the adjustment from 2008 to 59.7%) only first trimester From 2022, mainly CaixaBank Y Unicaja, after the absorption of Bankia and Liberbank respectively. this costs more of the assets adjusted After years of cutbacks, revenues are increasing thanks to increased efficiency and profitability thanks to interest rate hikes. But the unstoppable spread of its use mobile and digital banking it draws a panorama in which the sector will have fewer and fewer branches.
In fact, Spain continues to offer a rate. office per person Despite the decrease in recent years, it is much higher than other developed countries. Between 2008 and 2020 (deadline with comparable data), from about 100 branches per 100,000 citizens 45.5but still slightly more than twice the average. European Union (22.6) and also much higher than its data United States (29.6). This may indicate that the industry still has room to converge to the global standard, but the country has a population distribution much higher, as the number indicates. employees by branch It is lower than the community average.
completely, financial exclusion It is one of the most criticized aspects of this process, especially in rural areas. As reported by EL PERIÓDICO and this media, a newspaper that forms part of the Prensa Ibérica group, Ministry of Economy and employers A new development work has begun precautionary package To improve the situation in evacuated Spain, which some sources suggest could be presented before August. The main purpose is to provide basic banking services, especially the opportunity to obtain cash, 1.4% of the population Residents of rural municipalities who do not have a bank branch or other physical means of access to the financial system, such as ATMs or what are known as ‘ofibuses’.
excluding 665,000
The percentage of unattended population is low, but implying that it is close. 665,000 Spaniards They suffer the highest levels of financial exclusion, according to end-2021 data from the National Institute of Statistics. 3.3% of the population -1.56 million people- live in cities no bank branchAlbeit with some other mechanisms that the financial industry uses to provide physical access to its most essential services. Both data accessed by this newspaper are statement that the bosses AEB and CECA (banks and former savings banks, respectively) plans to release in the coming days.
Most affected provinces Burgos (313 municipalities without branches in 2020, according to the latest data from the Bank of Spain) and Salamanca (307), in front Guadalajara (247), avilla (215) and Zamora (203). Valladolid, Segovia, Palencia, Cuenca, Zaragoza and Soria have between 180 and 150 affected populations, while León, Navarra, Teruel, Cáceres, Lleida, GironaLa Rioja, Huesca, Barcelona, Tarragona and Valencia between 150 and 100. At the opposite end, Córdoba, Seville, Lugo, Murcia, the Balearic Islands, Cádiz, Pontevedra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas and Jaén have less than 10 municipalities without offices.
Source: Informacion
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