The percentage of Romanians who have a bank account is the lowest in the region. Main reason: “we don’t want to be tracked”

The percentage of Romanians who have a bank account is the lowest in the region, according to data provided by the World Bank. Most refuse because they “don’t want to be tracked.” Others do not see the usefulness of a bank account, have too little income or cite the lack of access to ATMs, according to a survey by the Romanian Bank Association.

Bucharest far surpasses all other counties in terms of access to banking services, but also in the value of bank deposits.

Out of Romania’s 42 counties, 18 are considered to have fallen behind, and the differences in living standards between urban and rural areas are striking, according to a World Bank document consulted by HotNews.ro, Romania registering the second larger urban-rural income gap in the EU.

Poverty is 20 percent higher in rural areas than in urban regions, and Romania’s transformation has been a story of “two Romanians” – an urban, dynamic and integrated one with the EU and the other rural, poor and isolated areas.

In Bucharest there are 49 bank branches per 100,000 adults, more than twice the level in Moldova, southern Muntenia or the South-West region.

And although half of Romanians live in the countryside, only 14% of the network of bank branches are there. Rural areas have a branch network penetration of only 8 per 100,000 adults, with the lowest penetration in Constanta and Galati counties (South-East). A low density of the branch network is correlated with the lack of banking services – other than the basic ones

The financial behavior in Romania and in the countries of the region, with the exception of the Czech Republic, is largely determined by the female population, which represents more than half of the population aged over 15 years, taken as a reference shows a report sent on Thursday by the chief economist of Alpha Bank, Ella Kallai. “In Romania, 81% of the female population aged 15-74 use the Internet, but of this population only 18% use online banking and 15% digital public services, much below the level of other countries”

According to the same report, the share of the female population that holds an account at a financial institution is 66%, being the lowest in the region. The gap is also large compared to Bulgaria which has the second lowest value of 84%, even more compared to Poland, the Czech Republic where more than 90% of the female population has an account at a financial institution.

In Romania, says Alpha Bank’s chief economist, less than half of those who save (37%) choose to use a financial institution.

Some people don’t want to be anchored because they lack certain financial skills, even if they don’t admit it publicly. And to stay outside the banking system they end up relying on alternative financial services (moneylenders), which can be expensive.

The use of financial institutions in the transfer of salaries, pensions and social benefits in Romania is the lowest in the region.

68% of public sector wages are transferred through financial institutions, the Alpha Bank study shows.

Assuming that this proportion is maintained regardless of the gender of the beneficiaries, it means that 3% of the female population does not receive their salary through a financial institution (9% of the female population over 15 years old works in the public sector). However, with this performance the public sector promotes financial inclusion more than the private sector, where 59% of wages are transferred through a financial institution (Fig, 6), which means that around 13% of the female population does not receive salary through a financial institution (31% of the female population over the age of 15 work in the private sector), the authors of the document conclude

Sources:

Alpha Bank analysis

ARB survey

World Bank data