The number of large municipalities without banking services decreased by 32.5% in 2022

Madrid, March 8 (EFECOM).- The number of municipalities with more than 500 inhabitants that lack any form of physical access to banking services decreased by 32.5% over the past year, benefiting nearly 70,000 people. These are the data compiled by Joaquín Maudos, professor of economic analysis at the University of Valencia, who was tasked with monitoring the advances of banking to combat financial exclusion, which EFE has accessed. While 2022 began with 243 municipalities with over 500 inhabitants (with a total population of 211,550) without a bank office, ATM, or any other means to access cash, a year later this number has decreased by 79 municipalities (with 69,558 inhabitants), leaving 164 municipalities (141,992 inhabitants) still in those circumstances. In a report presented last summer by the aforementioned professor, it was noted that at the end of 2021 approximately 657,500 people – 1.4% of the population – living in a total of 3,230 Spanish municipalities had no physical access to financial services. 243 municipalities with over 500 inhabitants without banking services were identified, where 211,550 inhabitants resided, representing 0.45% of the national total, and the three banking associations – AEB, CECA, and Unacc – publicly committed together with the government to improve this situation. The associations designed a roadmap to “rescue” that financially excluded population, with access points to banking services in the form of offices, ATMs, financial agents, or agreements with post office offices. To assess the degree of compliance with these plans, AEB, CECA, and Unacc decided to once again commission Professor Maudos to prepare quarterly reports on financial inclusion, and EFE has accessed the first of these, which focuses on municipalities with more than 500 inhabitants. According to information provided by the associations for the preparation of this study, an office was opened in one of the municipalities without banking services, and in another 26 the banking entities installed ATMs. In the rest, access was facilitated through post office offices, “ofibuses” or ATMs from non-banking companies. In absolute terms, it is in Castilla y León where the population without physical access to banking services decreased the most (15,205 fewer inhabitants), followed by the Comunitat Valenciana (13,256) and Catalonia (12,145). By provinces, significant declines are noted in Cantabria (8,056), Guadalajara (7,367), Valencia (7,336), and Palencia (5,483).