Last year, banks registered the highest volume of business to date per branch thanks in part to the recovery in profitability after the rise in interest rates and, above all, to the increasingly reduced number of branches, which are concentrated in a smaller number of them the activity of the clients.
Each branch in Spain manages an average of 184 million euros per year, a figure 15% higher than that of 2021 and above not only the one before the pandemic, but also the entire historical series to date. The start of interest rate rises has accelerated the trend.
According to Alvarez
The average is lower among the old savings banks, which have a more extensive network of branches than that of traditional banks. CaixaBank moves 169 million euros per branch, Abanca 145 million, Kutxabank 136 million, Unicaja 134 million and Ibercaja 79 million.
At the end of 2022 there were 13,800 bank branches in Spain, 10% less than a year earlier and well below the more than 40,000 that existed before the 2008 crisis. The pandemic and the latest bank concentrations have intensified the reduction of the network , which is now 28% lower than that of the first quarter of 2020.
CaixaBank is by far the bank with the most branches today, with 4,081, compared to Santander’s 1,913 and BBVA’s 1,886. Sabadell has 1,228, compared to 969 for Unicaja and 894 for Ibercaja.
Apart from the reduction in branches, last year there was a strong increase in business encouraged by the rise in interest rates, which has also raised profitability per branch.
At the end of last year, Spanish branches handled 1.17 trillion euros in loans, 1.7% more than a year earlier and 10.3% more than before the start of the pandemic. In deposits, they handled 1.37 trillion euros, 4.5% more than at the end of 2021 and 20% more than before the covid.
“The volume of business per branch continued to increase last year due to the reduction in the number of branches and the increase in the performance of loans and deposits,” Alvarez says in his report.
The cut in the number of branches and face-to-face services is one of the main reasons for concern for users. The Government has reached agreements with banks to improve care in rural areas and for the elderly.
