More than 700,000 people In Spain they don’t have face-to-face access to banking services, or branches to carry out procedures or ATMs to withdraw money. This figure is equivalent to 1.5% of the total population by the end of 2021, the people most of whom are concentrated in rural areas or inland cities that are sparsely populated. Despite measures implemented after the 2008 financial crisis, such as mobile branches or public subsidies to install ATMs in municipal offices, the Bank of Spain calculated in 3,389 number of municipalities charting financial exclusion maps in Spain.

Moreover, it has recently become clear that the risk of financial exclusion depends not only on where one lives, but also on the digital capabilities of the population and their adaptation to online banking. That the older population is the most vulnerable and, therefore, those most in need to be able to access cash and carry out face-to-face procedures because they have less digital skills.

To try to overcome this shortcoming, the Spanish Banks in collaboration with financial entities for the possible launch of a pilot program in Spain to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative measures to access face-to-face banking services in rural areas as already implemented in great Britainone of the pioneering countries in Europe alongside Sweden and the Netherlands in the fight against financial exclusion.

Destination, according to the directing entity Pablo Fernandez de Cos In a recent monograph publication, the aim was to go beyond the steps that have been undertaken by major banking employers (AEB, MINT LEAVES And UNACCto ensure financial inclusion in rural settings and accessibility for the elderly by better face-to-face care in offices, extending working hours or establishing priority channels for this population.

The UK pilot program inspired by the Bank of Spain and financial institutions is an independent initiative supported by major banks, consumer associations and associations representing small businesses in the country. Called Community Access to Cash, it was launched in December 2020 for a period of eleven months, but several measures have proven so effective that it’s currently being maintained.

Multi-brand office

Pilot tests are based on various solutions in different locations, including new ones bank hubs which provides basic banking services in offices shared by different entities. Other initiatives such as implementation refund in local shops, which allows withdraw cash when making purchases and which has high penetration in the Netherlands, Ireland and Luxembourg, countries where the major banks have reached deals for does not charge parents a fee to withdraw cash.

From an evaluation carried out in the United Kingdom, it was concluded that the multi-brand branch satisfies the majority of customer needs. Its success allowed the model to spread, in which a group of banks offered basic banking operations in a small, generally rural, town in the same location, allowing them to take advantage of the economies of scale inherent in the traditional banking business.

The UK pilot program is also having a significant impact on low income residents, by offering a free path to cash. Instead, test less successful are more technology-intensive solutions because people who use cash the most are generally less comfortable than other technologies.

Sweden is legally required to install ATMs

Together with England, Sweden And Dutch They are other countries that are at the forefront of the fight against the exclusion of vulnerable groups due to the digitization of banking businesses and branch closures. In Sweden, facing the risk of losing cash, the big banks face it required by law since 2021 to provide cash access points within a radius of 25 kilometers to 99.7% of the population. Finland and the UK are working on similar legislative initiatives.

Until now, shared ATMs and post offices were the most widely used solution in European countries to guarantee access to cash. Multi-brand ATM networks, which allow ATM installation and maintenance costs to be shared among a group of entities for installing them where profitability is not guaranteed, are more established in countries such as Portugal, Finland, Netherlands And Swedeneven for decades.

Some European governments are also using the private sector to cooperate in combating this problem with measures such as using a network of national post offices to offer certain financial services due to their arrangement across the region. One of the best examples is from italian postwhich plans to install ATMs to withdraw cash in 254 small towns that do not yet have a post office.

Only 38% of seniors operate online

According to the Bank of Spain, Spaniards over the age of 65 make about 70% of their payments at physical stores in cash, while 41.7% go at least once a month to withdraw cash at tellers, compared to 13.3% that is observed for the population on a global basis. whole. According to Eurostat, although 65% of the population of Spain used online banking during the first three months of 2021, this percentage has fallen to 38% in the case population is between 65 and 74 years.