HEALTHPLAN MAGAZINE

As digital and card payments increase across Spain, more and more physical bank branches are closing, leaving those who are less technologically-minded feeling stranded. In particular the elderly.

In fact, Spain’s banks closed half of their branches between 2010 and 2020 and laid off or retired large numbers of staff. As a result of this, their customers are now obliged to carry out routine operations online or through an ATM, which for many older users is either impossible or inconvenient.

Spain’s move towards a cashless society has been much slower than northern Europe and before the Covid pandemic took hold, the thought of paying for a coffee or a pint of milk with a card would never have crossed the minds of many.

However, that is all changing, as minimum card payments now cease to exist in many places and the popularity of paying with just a mobile phone is increasing.

The same can be said for digital payments, as more and more people are banking online. In fact, in 2020 cash withdrawals from banks in Spain fell by 33 per cent and today it remains 27 per cent below pre-covid levels.

Conversely, POS machines (the little machines that are used to make payments) have increased by nearly 50 per cent above what they were three years ago.

Whilst many people are happy to not carry money around with them, many believe it’s not all good news. There is in fact a psychological effect of paying by card, as not seeing the physical money exchange hands can lead to us losing any real notion as to what the price is we pay for something and how much we have already spent this month.

Despite having apps that can track our spending, cards intensify consumerism and prompt people to overspend.

Knowing that the elderly are the ones who will struggle the most with a more digital climate, many banks in Spain have already taken steps to help them. Training to use digital tools is being offered and banks are trying to make it easier for them to do business with physical banks, whilst transitioning to digital transactions.

But many feel this isn’t enough and is one of the reasons that the popular awareness plan “Soy mayor, no idiota” (I’m old, not an idiot) has been successful in Spain.

In fact, it has been so popular that on Tuesday, 78-year-old retiree Carlos San Juan from Spain’s Valencia region, delivered a petition to the Bank of Spain and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.

The petition, which was on Change.org, has more than 600,000 signatures from people who are protesting discrimination against older people, who either have no access to new technology or are unfamiliar and uncomfortable using online banking services.

Carlos’s patience finally snapped after being made to feel like an idiot by bank staff whilst he was trying to carry out a relatively simple operation. Carlos who is a retired urologist and surgeon says he doesn’t consider himself a digital illiterate but doesn’t feel comfortable with some technologies.

To him the options are obvious. Banks need to provide him with adequate training so that he can access his bank’s services while improving their generally very poor usability. In addition, if he wishes, the bank should provide him with person-to-person attention.

However, as mentioned before that option is declining very rapidly with quality customer service becoming a thing of the past.

Banking in Spain is still overwhelmingly used by 94% of the population, many of whom are steadily ageing and are used to carrying out their banking needs in person at their local branch.

Many of them have trouble understanding the most simple of technology such as an ATM, let alone the intricacies of online banking, which is now used by 45 per cent of the Spanish population.

Older people have also registered their concerns in Sweden and China, where both are increasingly replacing cash with electronic payments.

It is yet to be seen how Spain’s banks respond to these latest objections, which should hopefully force them to improve their customer service.

Source

https://spanishnewstoday.com/bank-branches-close-as-spain-moves-towards-cashless-society-leaving-oaps-out-in-the-cold_1800437-a.html
https://medium.com/enrique-dans/spanish-pensioners-rally-against-technological-discrimination-4340dab6df0