Some news regarding the banking institution is worrying account holders quite a bit: here’s what’s happening.
In the last years the banking sector is subject to profound changes regarding the technology used and payment methods.
Until some time ago, cash payments were the most widespread and the lack of the possibility of managing one’s money online led users and account holders to go to branches and then queue at the counters to manage your assets.
Today, however, the situation has changed a lot: online banking, a service now offered by practically all banks, allows you to carry out the vast majority of operations from the comfort of your own home, without having to go to a branch. Something similar happens with regards to ATMs, as the withdrawal and deposit of money from and into one’s account are now operations carried out mainly digitally given the widespread use of payments which are once again digital in nature.
This type of progress was inevitable and led to a phenomenon called banking desertification: this is also influencing one of the largest credit institutions in the country, Intesa Sanpaolo, creating some problems for its customers.
“Desert” agreement
Banking desertification implies a progressive closure of physical branches and therefore also the absence of ATM machines: an eventuality that affects not so much the users of the new generations but rather older account holders who are less familiar with online tools.
Intesa San Paolo has stated that the closure will affect well 1050 branches by 2025, leaving on national territory only 1800 active branches.
The closure of branches
The phenomenon of desertification is so large and systematic that some institutions, including the regions, are establishing observatories to document and better understand this phenomenon and his consequences.
In this way it will be possible to raise citizens’ awareness of this phenomenon and alert institutions to the impact that banking desertification will have on contemporary society. Many are asking for the intervention of the institution par excellence in Italy that concerns the banking sector, the Bank of Italy. In the meantime, account holders can calm down: the closure of the Intesa San Paolo branches is not a sign indicating the crisis of the banking institution but, in fact, a systematic phenomenon and generalized.
