The bank closes one of every five bank branches in the last ten years in Catalonia


Catalonia has lost in last ten years a total of 4,398 bank branchesone in five of those existing a decade ago, according to a report by the Bank of Spain. The study indicates that of the 4,398 branches closed between 2011 and 2021, 3,213 were located in the province of Barcelonawhere 99 localities with a total of 63,530 people do not have branches or ATMs and, therefore, close and immediate access to cash.

The progressive closure of offices has also led to each branch serve a growing number of people. This rise has been greater in the last 40 years in the four Catalan provinces compared to the state as a whole, since the increase per branch has been 292% in Tarragona; 278% in Girona; 168% in lleidaand 166% in Barcelonawith an average in Catalonia of 185%.

These data and those of the state as a whole reveal that the reduction in the number of bank branches in Spaina phenomenon on the other hand common to different European countries, it is not exclusive to the most unpopulated areaswhere it is already a serious problem of “financial exclusion” for many citizens, but something generalized and that affects the Mediterranean arch and Madrid to a greater extent.

Data from the Bank of Spain reveal that in the last 10 years they have closed in Spain practically 21,000 branches -from the 40,103 in December 2011 to the 19,104 at the end of 2021-, 60% of them based in Catalonia, Madrid, Andalusia and the Valencian Communitywhich represents a reduction of 52.3%, which to a greater or lesser extent has affected all the communities and all the provinces.

If in Catalonia 4,398 branches have ceased to function in the last decade, in Madrid 2,946 closed; in Andalusia, 2,848; and in the Valencian Community2,569.

In relative terms, in Tarragona between 2011 and 2021 67.8% of the bank branches have closed; in Barcelona, ​​66.5%; in Girona, 62.7%; in Castellón, 60.8%; in Valencia, 59.8%; in Valladolid, 57.3%; in Salamanca, 57%; and in Madrid, 56.5%. Also above the average are Palencia (56.4%), Lleida (56.2%), Alicante (56%), Pontevedra (54.5%), Zamora (53.5%), Murcia (53.4 %), Zaragoza (52.7%) and Almería (52.6%). On the contrary, where there have been fewer closures is in Cuenca (16.6%), a total of 39; Albacete (26.9%), Ciudad Real (29.8%), Badajoz (30.4%) and Teruel (30.6%).

This phenomenon, multiplied with the mergers of recent years, began in the last decade of the last century in sparsely populated provinces in the interior of the peninsula, such as Palencia, Ciudad Real, Soria, Ourense, Lleida, Cuenca and Huescawith closures of 5 to 10% of branches, while the number of offices in other places such as Madrid (45.5%), Badajoz (36.7%) or Almería (36.2%) was still growing.

In the first 10 years of this century, closures intensified in the same provinces and spread to all of Catalonia, all of Galicia and almost all of Castilla y Leónamong other territories, although 2.8% more branches were still opened in the country as a whole and the maximum peak was recorded in September 2008, with 46,118.

One office for every 2,477 inhabitants

The closure of branches has meant that each branch serves a growing population: in 1981 -with 10 million fewer inhabitants than now, 27,698 bank branches served an average of 1,363 people each, while in 2021, 19,104 served a average of 2,477 clients, 81.70% more. This rise has been greater in those 40 years in the four Catalan provinces, followed by Alicante (138%), Álava (127%), the Balearic Islands (120%), Palencia (116%), Castellón (111%) and Guadalajara (109%). while in the palms there are a bank branch for every 3,670 inhabitantsin Teruel there are one office for every 828 neighbors.

Parallel to the reduction of bank branches, there has also been a cashiersas was revealed this week during the debate and approval in the Senate of the consideration of a bill which aims to reverse the “constant and persistent” closure of credit institution establishments.

4,115 municipalities without a bank or ATM

As was made clear in that debate, the number of ATMs decreased throughout Spain between 2008 and 2017 by 17.6% -from 61,714 to 50,839-, in a trend “strongly territorialized and that it remains constant in rural areas or areas with low per capita income”. The latest Bank of Spain report on Cash infrastructure and vulnerability in access to cash pointed out that, at the end of 2020, the number of bank branches and ATMs of all kinds in Spain stood at 22,299 and 49,481, respectively, which meant 1.5 cash access points per 1,000 inhabitants of the Spanish territory.

Basin it was the province with the highest number of traditional cash access points per 1,000 inhabitants (2.4) and Cádiz the one with the least, only 1.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, although geographically distributed in a relatively more homogeneous way. On that date, throughout the country, 4,115 municipalitiesmore than half of the total, of which 1,641 correspond to Castilla y León, completely lacked bank offices or ATMs automatic, which excluded 1,187,851 people from this possibility, 2.5% of the total.

By province, this rate rose to 27.8% in Zamora (where 201 municipalities with 47,354 inhabitants did not have cash access points), 21% in Ávila (212 localities with 33,168 residents) and 19.9% ​​in Segovia (160 towns with 30,511 registered).

A situation that will get worse

Although this situation affects to a greater extent the most depopulated provincesalso very close to the big cities happens: in Madrid there are 64 municipalities with 54,978 inhabitants without access to cash, and in Barcelona, ​​the aforementioned 99 localities. Only in the provinces of Cadiz and Santa Cruz de Tenerife every city and town has at least one bank branch or ATM.

Related news

In that report, the Bank of Spain placed approximately 1,300,000 people – a figure maintained in another analysis made public this month – in a situation that can be considered “vulnerable” in this sense and concluded that “the traditional infrastructure of access to cash in Spain is wide and has a generalized coverage, although its geographical distribution is heterogeneous at the regional level”.

He added that “it is likely that the reduction in the number of branches and ATMs will continue in the coming years, given the increase in digitization and the search for greater efficiency by credit institutions”. Likewise, it suggested that “the impulse of alternative solutions to the traditional channels It can be an important complement that guarantees access to cash for the entire population, although, due to their current limitations, they cannot completely replace the range of services provided by these channels”.


Leave a Comment