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

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 inperson 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).