High-street bank deals ‘bite economy’

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 28/10/04

CONSOLIDATION in the retail banking sector could damage the economy by denying finance in remoter parts of the EU, the World Savings Bank Institute has warned.

The institute was to publish a report on the importance of access to finance today (28 October).

"Access to finance is a utility that generates employment, services and it's vital for the economy," Chris de Noose, chairman of the WSBI Management Committee, told European Voice.

The institute's report found that better access to finance leads to higher levels of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

"When part of the population does not have access to savings banks, their money is not remobilized or reinvested and that obviously has an impact on overall economic growth," de Noose said.

This can even affect the EU, he claimed. While an average 90% of people have access to a personal current account in the EU, in some member states this figure is significantly less.

According to the WSBI only around 70% of Italians have access to a current account. And the institute highlights that availability is decreasing in some areas of the EU, for example in the remoter regions in Germany, as a result of consolidation.

"The problem is that when retail banks consolidate they tend to close outlets and subsidiaries which affects rural areas," de Noose said.

While more 'social' banks like co-operatives are at the moment mitigating the effects of retail bank closures, the WSBI report says, "such mitigation is assured neither in the long-term nor in general as the tendency for more consolidation of banks and pressures to work on a pan-European-scale both intensify".

"Consolidation is a good thing if it is cost effective in areas like the back office," Noose said. "But it should be good for the consumer too. It's an old saying but it's true: 'poverty ends where savings start'," he added.

The WSBI, which represents over a thousand savings and retail banks, will present its 'Access to Finance' findings at a conference in Brussels on 28-29 October, in association with the World Bank.

The European Commission is planning to switch its focus to gaps in the retail financial services sector as part of a follow-up to its Financial Services Action Plan, which was intended to create a pan-European market by 2005.

In a report on the importance of access to finance, published on 28 October 2004, the World Savings Bank Institute warned that consolidation in the retail banking sector could damage the economy by denying finance in remoter parts of the EU.