Irregular immigrants struggle with banking access in Spain
A Banco de España report reveals that immigrants in an irregular situation face significant barriers to accessing banking services in Spain. This issue persists despite overall improvements in financial accessibility across the country.
Banking hurdles for irregular immigrants
The Banco de España's Financial Inclusion Report 2025 highlights a critical challenge for immigrants in an irregular situation: difficulties in opening basic payment accounts (CPB).
While CPBs were designed to foster financial inclusion, their effectiveness is limited.
Annual CPB openings, averaging around 25,000, are significantly lower than the influx of irregular immigrants.
Banks often show reluctance to open CPBs, citing anti-money laundering (AML) regulations as the primary reason, fearing sanctions and reputational risks.
Despite national and European authorities, including the Banco de España, issuing guidelines for a more flexible interpretation of AML rules to promote inclusion, regulatory risks for institutions persist.
Some banks circumvent these risks by offering vulnerable groups products with more limited operations than a standard CPB, indicating a systemic gap in addressing this specific exclusion.
Mobile offices boost rural access
Between 2021 and 2024, in-person banking accessibility in Spain improved, despite a 2.5 percent reduction in physical access points (PACs) to 67,166. This progress is largely due to the deployment of 1,166 mobile bank offices (ofibuses) in rural areas.
Consequently, 608 fewer municipalities now lack access, and the population without access fell by 33.5 percent to 435,000 (0.9 percent of Spain's total).
Cash remains the primary payment method for 57 percent of the population in 2025, particularly for those over 64 and in rural areas.
Digital channels are gaining ground, with mobile payments now the main method for 15.3 percent of the population.
Inclusion efforts fall short
While Spain has made strides in general financial accessibility, the persistent banking barriers for irregular immigrants represent a significant policy failure.
The current basic payment account framework is clearly insufficient, highlighting a critical gap where regulatory caution outweighs social inclusion.
Without a more proactive and flexible approach, this vulnerable group will remain marginalized from essential financial services.