The completion of the construction of the more than 2 thousand branches of Banco del Bienestar, a plan promoted by the previous government, led to the number of banking establishments in the country growing for the second consecutive year, and these contact points reaching a greater number of people, show figures from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).
The growth of bank branches occurs at a time when banks are putting most of their efforts into transferring the greatest number of their operations to the digital field, so that their services reach more people and their clients use that to a greater extent. half.
According to the latest Annual Panorama of Financial Inclusion, at the end of December 2023 (the latest data available in said document) the number of physical branches was 18,089, which implied a growth of 9 percent compared to 2022. when the figure was placed at 16,641 branches.
The documents of the supervisory body indicate that, in 2022, the number of branches had an increase of 8 percent, while in 2021 these points so that people can make their transactions decreased 4 percent, and in 2020, the year of the pandemic , the contraction was 4.4 percent.
The CNBV study indicates that, practically, four out of every five municipalities had a branch and 98 percent of the country’s adult population lives in these municipalities with said banking infrastructure. At the end of 2022, they only reached 95 percent.
The growth in branches was mainly due to the establishment of Banco del Bienestar, which reached 2,802 at the end of the year, placing it as the bank with the largest number of establishments and coverage in the country.
the CNBV said in the study.
According to the regulatory body, multiple banks concentrated 65 percent of the branches, and these institutions, together with popular savings and credit entities, have a greater number in municipalities with very low social backwardness.
It can be observed that as the social backwardness of the municipalities increases, the number of branches decreases; in such a way that the municipalities with very high social backwardness have less than one percent of the total establishments. However, the development bank has more than 120 places with very high social backwardness, with which a coverage of 60 percent was achieved.
he emphasized.
The data indicate that the entity with the most branches was Mexico City, where 1,787 were concentrated; followed by the state of Mexico, 1,757; Jalisco, 1,637; Veracruz, 1,066, and Guanajuato, 1,052.
In contrast, Campeche is the state with the fewest branches, with 134; then Baja California Sur, 147; Tlaxcala, 170; Aguascalientes, 177, and Colima, 189.
The percentage of the population with access to at least one branch within a distance of four kilometers was 83 percent, which represents 30 percent of towns with more than 20 inhabitants
added the CNBV.