The ever-increasing number of bank branch closures and the regular removal of cash dispensers are two major trends that are undermining banking accessibility for those who do not use “digital” banking services (on the telephone or on a computer), by choice or by lack of means. A problem which “is not limited to the elderly”, it is emphasized.
According to data from Financité, Belgium still had 12,751 banking contact points at the end of 2000, compared to only 3,809 at the end of 2021. And with just under 489 ATMs per million inhabitants, our country is now well below the average in the euro zone (807 machines per million people).
