In-person access to banking services in Spain: a comparison with other countries and other types of services

María Alonso, Eduardo Gutiérrez Chacón, Enrique Moral-Benito, Diana Posada, Patrocinio Tello-Casas and Carlos Trucharte
Additional contact information
María Alonso: Banco de España
Enrique Moral-Benito: Banco de España
Diana Posada: Banco de España
Patrocinio Tello-Casas: Banco de España
Carlos Trucharte: Banco de España

No 2215, Occasional Papers from Banco de España

Abstract: This paper presents a detailed analysis of the distribution of in-person access to banking services in Spain, compared with other European countries and other types of services. In accordance with the results of this diagnostic exercise, three main conclusions may be drawn. First, Spain has more bank branches and ATMs per thousand population than other European countries. This is largely due to differences in population distribution across countries. Indeed, once Spain’s high population dispersion is taken into account, effective coverage of in-person access to banking services in Spain is similar to the euro area average. Second, the population resident in sparsely populated rural inland municipalities (essentially in Castile-Leon, Aragon and Castile-La Mancha) has the lowest coverage in terms of in-person access to banking services, whether through bank branches, ATMs or other alternative arrangements. Third, in this group of municipalities, coverage of in-person access to banking services is relatively similar to that of access to other privately-provided services (such as bars or shops) but lower than that of access to certain quasi-public services (such as health care or pharmacists).

Keywords: access; banking services; rural areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J11 R51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec
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https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicac ... 22/Files/do2215e.pdf First version, January 2023 (application/pdf)
https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicac ... s/22/Fich/do2215.pdf Spanish version (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bde:opaper:2215e

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