Commercial bank branches (per 100,000 adults) - Country Ranking - Europe

Definition: Commercial bank branches are retail locations of resident commercial banks and other resident banks that function as commercial banks that provide financial services to customers and are physically separated from the main office but not organized as legally separated subsidiaries.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Financial Access Survey.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

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Development Relevance: Access to finance can expand opportunities for all with higher levels of access and use of banking services associated with lower financing obstacles for people and businesses. A stable financial system that promotes efficient savings and investment is also crucial for a thriving democracy and market economy. There are several aspects of access to financial services: availability, cost, and quality of services. The development and growth of credit markets depend on access to timely, reliable, and accurate data on borrowers' credit experiences. Access to credit can be improved by making it easy to create and enforce collateral agreements and by increasing information about potential borrowers' creditworthiness. Lenders look at a borrower's credit history and collateral. Where credit registries and effective collateral laws are absent - as in many developing countries - banks make fewer loans. Indicators that cover getting credit include the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index.

Limitations and Exceptions: Population-based ratios of the number of branches and ATMs assume a uniform distribution of bank outlets within a country's area and across its population, while in most countries bank branches and ATMs are concentrated in urban centers of the country and are accessible only to some individuals.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Data are shown as the number of branches of commercial banks for every 100,000 adults in the reporting country. It is calculated as (number of institutions + number of branches)*100,000/adult population in the reporting country.

Aggregation method: Median

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Country-specific metadata can be found on the IMF’s FAS website at  http://fas.imf.org.