2023-12-15 11:10:22
Commitment to rural areas
Rural areas are being increasingly affected by the gap that separates the urban world from towns. It is an issue that affects all services but in the case of the financial sector, the three banking associations (AEB, CECA and Unacc) signed a roadmap in 2022 where they committed to strengthening financial inclusion in the Spanish rural map.
Since then, solutions have been offered to ensure access to financial services in rural Spain. The roadmap proposes different measures depending on the size of the municipality. In addition, the sector has committed to installing 240 new ATMs in rural areas.
Thanks to the effort and commitment of the banking sector, the percentage of the population with financial accessibility difficulties has decreased. Specifically, BBVA has a network of 363 agencies, 73% in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants. In addition, some entities such as BBVA have signed an agreement with Correos to expand financial services in these areas so that their clients can withdraw cash at Correos offices in Spain.
The agreement, signed by Juan Manuel Serrano, president of Correos, and Peio Belauteguigoitia, country manager of BBVA in Spain, aims to expand the entity’s banking service in rural areas. Peio Belausteguigoitia points out that: “At BBVA we continue working to meet the needs of all our clients. The signing of this collaboration protocol aims to expand the functionality of our financial services, through a universal service, such as the postal service, provided by Correos.”
With this measure, BBVA seeks to contribute to ensuring that all citizens, regardless of their place of residence, have access to cash with as little travel as possible. Correos Cash is now available in the BBVA ‘app’, where a QR code is generated with which the money can be withdrawn at any Correos office.
“It cannot be denied that the adoption of technology to interact with the bank is increasing among our clients and that has led us to adapt our commercial capacity to the reality of the market. However, we are aware of the concern that exists around rural Spain and that all people can access banking services regardless of the town or neighborhood where they live,” explains Álvaro Calleja, director of Responsible Business, BBVA in Spain. . “At BBVA we are firmly committed to extending financial services throughout the national territory, including rural areas,” he highlights.
BBVA does not stop there, and, in the coming months, it will make the more than 24,000 postmen that Correos has throughout Spain available to its clients, 6,000 of which are rural, to access cash even more directly.
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