Arcadi España, Minister of Finance and Economic Model, made a presentation to the European Commission this Tuesday. a pilot plan to facilitate access to financial services for the elderly by installing ATMs in neighborhoods of major cities“to alleviate the state of exclusion in some parts of our geography.”
That’s why the Valencia chief financial officer detailed that an initiative will be launched that will mean both “and”. Locations of ATMs in public buildings, health centers or other places transferred by municipalitiesLike the “ofibus” of financial institutions or the “start-up” of office buses to provide the necessary insurance for all citizens “wherever they live in the Community of Valencia”.
He wants to give generalitat one step ahead of the plan against financial exclusion This has already been implemented in the inner municipalities of the Community where ATMs are installed, and now we are focusing on neighborhoods in midsize and large cities where the process of office reduction directly affects seniors,” explained the consultant.
The Head of the Treasury made these points clear after his working meeting with the cabinet of the European Commission Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Association to make progress in the implementation of measures to guarantee access. to banking services.
“We are faced with a situation that is occurring not only in the Valencian Community, but throughout Spain – the minister added – for example Closing of bank branches and accelerating digitalizationGeneralitat is working to reduce the hassle of seniors in day-to-day operations such as consulting pensions or managing receipts”.
Services in the neighborhoods
At the meeting, Arcadi Spain explained to the community technicians and technicians that it has found that the reduction in bank branches in recent months is not limited to municipalities or less populated areas. It takes place in the neighborhoods of the Community’s major cities, such as Valencia, Alicante, Castellón de la Plana or Elche..
“These are the neighborhoods. 12,000 to 15,000 people livean aging population, where in most cases bank branches are drastically constrained without increasing the number of those that continue to provide services,” the head of the Treasury explained in detail.
“People residing in these neighborhoods have to travel long distances to access a basic service and access to face-to-face care is also difficult, which is very important when it comes to vulnerable groups,” the minister explained. Therefore, with this new project, we want to combat financial exclusion so that citizens can personally access and customize a basic service in their daily life, such as relations with banking institutions.”
iai@connectat program
Arcadi Spain has handed over to the European Commission the actions taken by Generalitat to face the financial exclusion of citizens of the Valencian Community.
The Finance Minister thus revealed the ‘iai@ connectat’ program. Digital skills training for people over 65“It is designed to offer one-to-one and free hands-on workshops where advice is provided to enable them to safely and securely perform banking and management transactions while surfing the Internet, and benefit from the blessings of the digital age. ”
These courses started in 2022 as a pilot project in the towns of Bejís, Orihuela, Burjassot and Carcaixent. and in 2023, Generalitat will allocate more than 100.00 euros to run more than 200 courses to offer digital counseling to older people residing in one of the 542 municipalities of the Community of Valencia.
These workshops offer helpful advice and training, especially on cybersecurity, banking practices and the use of the GVA+Salut app, as well as the precautions to be taken to avoid possible virtual frauds.