New one ERE tour has accelerated significantly over the past year undertaken by the main Spanish banks office closing process in the province of Alicante since the bursting of the real estate bubble almost two-thirds of branches disappeared This began to be taken into account during the largest expansion of the network.
According to the latest balance sheet of the Bank of Spain, businesses were deregistered between January and December of last year. 124 offices last year in the province, leaving them only at 640, so second largest decrease your delegations all historical serieswas overtaken by the one registered in 2012, when only 179 branches disappeared from the map. At the time, the main reason for the outage was the collapse and intervention by FROB of a large portion of the savings banks, including CAM, which was controlled by Banco Sabadell that year.
It was the beginning of a process of concentration that had just completed its final round – for now – with the definitive integration of the network. popular in Santander and Merger of CaixaBank with Bankia. Two operations last year that monopolized a significant portion of the adjustments. Thus, Santander grew from 94 branches to 59 branches in the state, and the new CaixaBank closed December with 150 branches, compared to 186 branches the two organizations combined a year ago.
But it’s not just them. The other two big banks –BBVA and Sabadell– They also significantly downsized their structure with two Employment Regulatory Files, which meant reducing the number of branches from 94 to 76 in the first and from 160 to 139 in the second. In this case, some adjustments were made. after the merger attempt between the two failed.
commercial offices
While the four major Ibex banks led the cuts, the reality is that they more or less affected the cuts. almost all assetss, with the exception of some rural savings banks in other regions, are taking advantage of the gaps left in the market by their predecessors to poke their heads. Yes, most of the time they do this not with branches to use it, but with commercial offices which, although they look the same, actually belong to a bank and not the bank in question. broker signed an agreement with them. A cheaper way to expand the network.
The question is how much longer networks will continue to shrink. Recent cuts have created a certain dent in the market mood. templatesEvidence of this is that the intervention of staff representatives in the shareholders’ meetings held by Spanish banks these days has increased exponentially and is much harsher. Workers complain that the digitalization of the customer base, which institutions make excuses for taking scissors, is not going fast, as bank managers stress the environment in branches. increasing customer complaints. A few months ago, Valencian retired Carlos San Juan’s campaign with the slogan “I’m big, not stupid” forced the government to issue a warning call to the industry.
low profitability
However, the situation is different in financial markets and shareholders, cost effectiveness The number of Spanish banks, as explained by Joaquín Maudos, Ivie’s assistant manager. “In business life in Spain, 2021 ROE was 6.8%lower than the cost of capital, which is at least 8%. And ROE was negative due to registrations in 2020. Therefore, there is no other choice but to cut costs to increase efficiency, which means lightening the branch network. And there is room, because despite the shutdowns since 2008 we still have one of the busiest networks in the EU,” says the expert.
this raise rate He predicts that while a very rapid rise in the price of money can also backfire as it will increase defaults, the markets will already help organizations when it comes to increasing their income. However, Maudos believes that we are far from this situation and that the increase in interest rates will be moderate.
Regarding possible cases of financial exclusion, Ivie’s deputy director puts the situation in perspective and reminds us that the percentage of municipalities without banks is lower than those with banks. they lack a school and health center. He also insists that it’s a problem public administrations need to solve and cannot fall exclusively on establishments, as Generalitat has done by subsidizing the installation of ATMs in some cities.