The bank has been scrutinized to end financial exclusion in medium-sized municipalities with a population of more than 500, and it has a roadmap that is already showing its first results. For this reason, Last year saw how ATMs or offices were set up in five towns in the province of Alicante with a total population of 3,645.. However, 1,711 residents of the other three municipalities, where face-to-face banking service has not yet reached, are still waiting.
Last summer, the three national banking associations (AEB, CECA and Unacc) submitted a report to the Presidency, led by Joaquín Maudos, professor of Economic Analysis at the University of Valencia, and the Valencian Institute for Economic Research (IVIE). forehead. The aim of this study was to diagnose the accessibility of banking services in the country using the most disaggregated information possible at the municipal level. Through this initiative, populations without in-person access to these services were identified. The following statements were included in the said report: At the end of 2021, around 211,550 people living in 243 municipalities in Spain were affected by this problem.thus, the three employers devised a roadmap with solutions in the form of agreements with offices, ATMs, financial agents or Post Offices.
To verify compliance with these plans, it was decided to task Professor Maudos once again with the first published quarterly monitoring reports on financial inclusion. For this reason, The number of municipalities with a population of more than 500 and without access to banking services fell from 243 to 164 in one year.exclusions increase from 211,550 to 141,992.
In absolute terms, the excluded population fell the most in Castilla y León, with 15,205 in particular, followed by the Community of Valencia with 13,256 and Catalonia with 12,145. According to the provinces, 8,056 people in Cantabria, 7,367 people in Guadalajara and 7,366 people in Valencia are noteworthy.
The province of Alicante ranks eighth in the ranking as the affected population falls by 3,645 people and five municipalities. This is especially Vall de Gallinera, Vall de Laguar, Ràfol d’Almúnia, Sanet y Negrals and Lliber.
But the bank still has work to do, because There are still three towns in Alicante, Gaianes, Murla and Daya Vieja, with more than 500 people affected by financial exclusion.. Together they add 1,711 people.
Banking employers also plan to operate in smaller towns that are affected by the lack of banking services, which in Spain as a whole has 2,987 inhabitants, bringing together a population of 445,950. In this case, other measures such as cash withdrawal in stores or rural postman are added to the proposed solutions for municipalities with a population of more than 500. In any case, the final report still does not refer to the results achieved with these initiatives.
100% of the territory
Reducing financial exclusion is a commitment made by the Spanish banking sector with the Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation, for which the roadmap currently being implemented has been signed. The ultimate goal pursued is to cover 100% of the territory and provide a physical access point to banking services even in municipalities that have never had such a bank before; this mainly affects rural areas.
Municipal plan for 22 small town centers
In line with the actions taken by banking employers, Generalitat also promoted a plan to install ATMs in the Community’s 124 small city centres, 22 of which belong to the province of Alicante. The initiative was made possible thanks to a largely executed agreement with CaixaBank.