The main banks reduced their branch network by 1,360 and cut 5,800 employees last year, coinciding with a historic year of positive results, with 20,580 million profits. At the end of the year, Spain had 10,500 branches and a workforce of 120,600 workers, according to the data reflected in the financial reports published by the main entities in recent days.
Santander had 1,913 branches at the end of December last year, practically the same figure as in 2021, and a workforce of 26,839 workers, 0.62% more in the interannual rate. BBVA, for its part, also maintained its network of 1,886 branches and increased its number of employees by 4.4%, to 25,945 people.
CaixaBank, on the other hand, reduced its branch network by 17.89% to 4,081, compared to the 4,126 it had at the end of 2021, and its workforce fell 11.18% to 40,221 workers. For its part, Unicaja closed 400 branches in 2022, which represents a decrease of 29.24%, until placing its network at 968 branches. The number of employees at the end of December was 7,835, 15.43% less than in 2021.
Finally, Bankinter maintained its branch network at 446 points and increased its workforce by 4.58%, to 6,419 employees, while Sabadell cut its number of branches by 4.60%, to 1,243, and by 6 26% its number of workers, up to 13,413.
Compared to the situation in September, the branch network was reduced by 100 branches, while the number of employees increased by 300, in such a way that in the last quarter the rate of closures and worker departures slowed down that had occurred in banking in recent years, reports Europa Press.
The data is the result of a restructuring promoted during the pandemic with the aim of gaining efficiency. Banking entities decided to bet on this policy and offer more and more digital services. The mergers that took place in 2021 between CaixaBank and Bankia and Unicaja and Liberbank have also been aimed, in part, at achieving synergies that would allow them to operate in an increasingly competitive environment.
A restructuring process that has not been without problems. At the beginning of last year, the retired Carlos San Juan started a campaign to demand greater attention to the group of older people, who generally have more difficulties adapting to digitalization. The sector reacted with measures to ensure this personalized attention to both the elderly and people with disabilities.
The rural environment has also been affected by the closure of offices. To this end, the bank signed an agreement with the Post Office to facilitate access to financial services in so-called emptied Spain and undertook to ensure, within six months, at least one in-person access point to banking services in all municipalities with more of 500 inhabitants and, if it is not achieved within that period, to install generic ATMs within an additional period of six months.
