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Spanish population with no access to in-person banking services decreased by 22.4% in 2024

Last year, a total of 334 municipalities, home to 96,573 people, gained in-person financial services, according to the latest report by AEB, CECA, and Unacc, developed by Ivie

The Spanish Banking Association (AEB), CECA and the National Union of Credit Cooperatives (UNACC) have published the Report on Financial Inclusion in Spain 2024, developed by the Ivie, which monitors the progress made in improving accessibility to financial services across  Spain.

According to the information available, by the end of 2024, there were 334 fewer municipalities in Spain without in-person access to banking services (branches, ATMs, financial agents, mobile offices, post offices, and shops with cash back and cash in shop services) compared to the previous year. Of these, 305 are towns with fewer than 500 inhabitants, representing a drop of 11.8% from 2,585 in 2023 to 2,280 at the end of 2024. The remaining 29 are municipalities with more than 500 inhabitants that have also regained access to financial services, one-third of those that existed in 2023. In other words, the number of financially excluded towns with more than 500 inhabitants has dropped from 90 to 61.

In terms of population, this progress toward financial inclusion represents a 22.4% drop in the number of inhabitants without access to banking services, as the 96,573 people residing in these municipalities have seen their accessibility issues resolved.  The data update as of December 31, 2024, indicates that the total population without physical access to banking services or cash points at 336,251 inhabitants, representing 0.69% of the Spanish population, compared to 0.9% the previous year. As a result, 99.3% of the Spanish population now has at least one point of access to banking services in their municipality of residence.

However, an analysis of regional data still reveals significant differences. Castilla y León and Navarra have the highest percentages of population without access to financial services, 7.05% and 4.83%, respectively, compared to 0% in Canary Islands, Madrid, and Murcia. At provincial level, Zamora, with 21.66% of its inhabitants lacking in-person banking services, and Salamanca, with 15.68%, show the most concerning figures.

This report shows that, by the end of 2024, Spanish deposit institutions will have—in addition to their network of 17,411 branches and 30,569 ATMs—an additional 3,702 ATMs, which will help alleviate accessibility issues in municipalities where there are no branches, but ATMs are present. In addition, they operate a network of 4,495 financial agents and mobile branches, serving 1,710 municipalities. Furthermore, agreements signed with the Spanish Postal Service allow access to banking services in 4,679 post offices, while agreements with retailers enable cash withdrawals through cashback at 11,564 locations, and at 2,347 locations within a cash-in-shop network. Therefore, the network of access points provided by banks and their agreements with the Postal Service and retailers totals 81,414 access points. If we include the network of ATMs operated by  private companies, the total number of access points rises to 83,124. With just the network of branches and ATMs in Spain, in relation to the population, the country has the third densest banking access network in the EU-27.