People over the age of 65 will no longer have to pay commissions for cash withdrawals at the counter. This is one of the main measures aimed at the senior group announced so far by First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Trade and Commerce Nadia Calviño after meeting this Monday with the banking associations AEB, CECA and Unacc; with the Association of Financial Users; A platform for the elderly; Bank of Spain and Major Carlos San Juan. “We are about to pass a legislative change that will ban senior citizens from being charged for cash withdrawals. Let this element of unrest be removed,” emphasized the head of the Economy.
Nadia Calviño acknowledged that “a large proportion of entities” used the measures voluntarily, but there were still some that did not. With respect to protocol signed in February 2022 Calviño said it was to guarantee the financial inclusion of the elderly and the disabled 82.2% of offices have extended opening hours, 94% of ATMs are already adapted and 277,000 seniors received financial training in the first semester.
The signing of this protocol was one of the great victories that the group of pensioners claimed thanks to the impulse Carlos San Juan and his “I’m Older, I’m Not an Idiot” campaign, which has collected more than 600,000 signatures. “If (the measures) prove to be insufficient or could be improved, we will have to find out together how to expand or improve them,” Calviño said last year after signing the agreement with the banking associations. Star measures of the protocol included:: expand cash services by personalized care for seniors from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (until 18:00 for users without an office); offer preference to this group in case of high pressure on the authorities; specific training for sales network staff on the needs of this group; facilitate a priority telephone attention; ease of use in ATMs, mobile apps and websites; ATM repair within a maximum of two working days; increased financial education and banking communication; and monitoring of the Financial Inclusion Monitoring Center.
On the part of seniors, the head of the Platform of Seniors and Pensioners (PMP) Lázaro González welcomed the new measures, especially the ban on commissions, and from Asufin, its head, Patricia Suárez, he regretted that Spanish banks are still under interest on deposits compared to other European countries. Finally, Calviño also communicated at the meeting restarting the project to create an office for the protection of financial clients, which has until December 26 to file charges. The vice president emphasized the urgency of the ongoing project and Unacc Secretary General Cristina Freijanes said the sector would make its allegations.
During the meeting, other issues related to the situation of the financial system and especially withincidents that have happened in recent weeks in the Redsys payment system. According to the department led by Calviño, it was agreed to implement various measures to strengthen the security and trust of users and prevent the recurrence of similar episodes.
At the meeting, the government also dealt with the monitoring of two other codes of good practice that it signed with the banks, the rural services code and the code for the protection of mortgage clients vulnerable to rising interest rates. On this last point, the meeting was concluded with the executive’s commitment of the day extend mortgage relief measures and approve the extension of the beneficiary threshold to vulnerable mortgage holdersI am in danger of being on one incomeup to 38,000 euros per year – it was 29,400 euros.