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Date Published: 26/01/2022

ARCHIVED - Protest over the closure of more bank branches in Murcia

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Cartagena has appealed to the government to maintain access to financial services in the Region of Murcia

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Protest over the closure of more bank branches in Murcia

One of the lingering after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy is the closure of hundreds of local bank branches across Spain as companies strive to save money by decreasing their manpower. In Cartagena, the City Council has railed against the closure of offices and has asked the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Ombudsman to maintain the current branches “to guarantee the access of the entire population to financial services”.

Since the summer alone, at least a dozen face-to-face bank offices have been closed in Cartagena, added to the 30 that were shut down between 2015 and 2020, according to the Bank of Spain. Then there were the 35 branches of Banco Sabadell in the Murcia Region that were closed at the end of last year, with the company making over a hundred people redundant in a money-saving measure.

This situation is especially problematic in the western part of the municipality, where there is little or no mobile coverage, which prevents residents from carrying out their banking online. It is also affecting the northern area and even peripheral neighbourhoods of the city, as well as other municipalities in the Murcia Region.

For this exact reason, the group ‘Yayoflautas’ mounted a demonstration in front of the bank in the Carmen area of Murcia city on Tuesday January 25 to protest against what they consider the dehumanised treatment by financial institutions towards retirees, pensioners and the elderly.

According to the group’s spokesperson, those affected are distressed by the reduced opening hours, extortionate bank charges and the closure of branches that has left so many towns without banks. In addition, residents believe that older people simply don’t have the knowhow or access to perform their banking transactions online.

“Both for our elders and for people without internet access, the elimination of these offices and, therefore, of the face-to-face service in their villages, is a big problem,” the deputy mayor of Cartagena explained. “First, because they have to depend on third parties to access their accounts and second, because some of these people have no one to turn to help them.”

Image: Archive

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