Assessing financial inclusion in Spain
AFi released the report "Financial Inclusion in Spain" in which it highlights the importance of this issue for a sustainable and inclusive economic development, analyzing the situation of the Spanish financial sector in regard to “unpopulated rural Spain” phenomenon, the banking concentration or the impact of digitalization and the covid-19 crisis on the traditional branch business.
- In Spain the degree of financial inclusion is considered practically universal, with more than 95% of the population having bank accounts. The “unpopulated rural Spain" is a challenge for the provision of basic services in general, not just financial services. Banking institutions have developed alternative channels to serve clients in more depopulated municipalities (mobile offices, financial agents, or the agreement signed by Santander with Spanish public postal undertaking).
- The branch network in Spain is the second largest in Europe (in terms of branches per million inhabitants), with a density ratio well above the European average, despite the closure of bank branches since the financial crisis.
- This trend of branch closures, which has also been observed in all European countries, will continue and is due to an irreversible change in the business model. The COVID crisis will deepen this trend due to the increase in operations through digital channels during the pandemic and the need to improve the efficiency and profitability of institutions in a post-Covid world.
- From the point of view of competition and in relation to the concentration of the banking sector, the traditional concentration indicators (based on branch or credit market shares...) are losing their usability, due to the entry of new digital competitors that do not require physical presence to provide their financial services. In terms of banking concentration in Spain, there are still banks coming from former savings banks and credit cooperatives that hold very significant market shares in their territories, especially in less populated areas, which serve as a counterweight to the large national institutions. New digital competitors have great potential to boost competition in these areas.
- To ensure that the digitalization of financial services is a tool that facilitates financial inclusion, it will be necessary to have a strong and, above all, homogeneous regulatory and consumer protection framework (under the principle of “same regulation for the same activity”).
Filter results
Según el IEE, España presenta una presión fiscal empresarial superior a la media de la Unión Europea tanto en porcentaje sobre la recaudación total como en porcentaje del PIB.
AEB, CECA y UNACC proponen medidas para aumentar la capacidad de financiación de la banca en más de 2 billones de euros en la eurozona, de los que más de 250.000 millones corresponderían a España, reforzando la inversión y la financiación de la economía.
Según Boston Consulting Group, la nueva regulación posterior a la crisis financiera global (GFC) reforzó la resiliencia del sector, pero institucionalizó un sesgo orientado a eliminar cualquier riesgo en detrimento del crecimiento económico.
Según Ramón Casilda el acuerdo UE Mercosur permitirá un ahorro arancelario de aproximadamente 4.000 millones de euros anuales, una cifra muy superior a lo esperado en los acuerdos con Canadá y Japón.
Según el economista José Carlos Diez, la banca española tiene un exceso de depósitos y liquidez disponible para atender la demanda de crédito de empresas y familias, y además lo hace con los tipos más bajos de Europa, según el BCE.
Según CEPS, la complejidad regulatoria y supervisora de la UE supone un freno estructural a la integración, inversión y profundidad del mercado, con costes que recaen especialmente en pequeñas empresas nuevos entrantes y modelos de negocio transfronterizos.
Según el BCE, un sistema de pagos eficiente, seguro e integrado reforzaría el papel internacional del euro y aportaría beneficios como menores costes de financiación, menor exposición a fluctuaciones cambiarias y mayor protección frente a sanciones.
According to the IEE, Spain's business tax burden exceeds the European Union average, both as a share of total tax revenues and as a percentage of GDP.
Según el IEA, uno de los debates clave en la UE sobre simplificación de la regulación financiera es si incluir explícitamente la competitividad, eficiencia o crecimiento como objetivos de las autoridades regulatorias, siguiendo el modelo del Reino Unido.
AEB, CECA and UNACC propose measures to increase banks' lending capacity by more than €2 trillion in the euro area, including over €250 billion in Spain, providing additional resources to strengthen banks and finance new investment.
Según el Center for the Governance of Change de IE University, unos mercados financieros más profundos e integrados reforzarían el papel global del euro. Esto requiere, entre otros elementos, sistemas de pago resilientes e interoperables y completar la unión bancaria.
According to Boston Consulting Group, regulation brought in after the GFC strengthened the financial sector’s resilience but institutionalized bias towards removing all risk over economic growth.
According to Ramón Casilda, the EU–Mercosur agreement will generate annual tariff savings of around €4 billion, which is significantly higher than the savings expected under the agreements with Canada and Japan.
Alianzas banca–crédito privado: según Oliver Wyman, los ganadores serán quienes combinen la disciplina de análisis y estructuración bancaria, su capacidad de distribución y acceso a clientes, con el apetito del capital privado por riesgo ilíquido y de largo plazo.
Economist José Carlos Díez notes that Spain’s banking sector has an excess of deposits and sufficient liquidity to meet the credit demand of companies and households, and does so at the lowest interest rates in Europe, according to the ECB.
Lucrezia Reichlin (CEPR): la CBDC no es condición necesaria para la soberanía monetaria. Confundir dinero y pagos puede generar un diagnóstico equivocado y una mala asignación de esfuerzos de política económica.
According to CEPS, regulatory and supervisory complexity acts as a structural constraint on integration, investment and market depth, with costs that weigh most heavily on smaller institutions, new entrants and cross-border business models.
Según el Global Risks Report 2026 del World Economic Forum, la confrontación geoeconómica, la desinformación y la polarización social destacan como los principales riesgos a corto plazo, mientras que los riesgos ambientales dominan el largo plazo.
According to the ECB, an efficient, secure and integrated payment system would strengthen the international role of the euro and deliver benefits such as lower financing costs, reduced exposure to exchange rate fluctuations and greater protection against sanctions.
According to the IEA one key debate in the EU on financial regulation simplification is whether to explicitly include competitiveness, efficiency or contribution to growth as objectives of the regulatory agencies, following the UK example.
According to IE University’s Center for the Governance of Change, deeper and more integrated financial markets would strengthen the euro’s global role. This requires, among other elements, resilient and interoperable payment systems and completing the banking union.
Partnerships between banks and private credit: The winners will be those that combine bank underwriting discipline, distribution, and customer access with private capital’s appetite for long-dated, illiquid risk, according to Oliver Wyman.
Lucrezia Reichlin (CEPR): A CBDC is not a prerequisite for monetary sovereignty. Confusing money with payments can risk misdiagnosing the problem and misaligning economic policy efforts.
According to the World Economic Forum´s Global Risk Report 2026, geoeconomic confrontation, mis- and disinformation and societal polarization make up the top three short-term risks, while environmental risks dominate in the long term.