Dynamics of retail-bank branching in Antwerp (Belgium) 1991–2006: Evidence from micro-geographic data

Dynamics of Retail‐Bank Branching in Austria

“…A noticeable effect (among other significant ones related to, e.g. the share of foreign citizens or education) is that DKM3 increases more strongly with a high share of elderly inhabitants, which is in contrast to the results of Huysentruyt et al ( ), who found that banks in Antwerpen took special care for the needs of this customer type by retaining presence in areas with aged population.…”

“…Banks move out of economically deprived markets first and, as also reported by Huysentruyt et al . ( , 300), ‘being surrounded by poor neighbourhoods has a detrimental effect on bank presence'. By fostering functional distance, also past consolidation adds to branch closures and bank void, and communities with distinct population structure experience increased distance to bank branches, with declining variety and choice at the same time.…”

“…Total bank offices slumped from 5194 to 4544, with the net decrease of 650 (12.5 per cent) resulting from 980 closures (18.9 per cent of the initial figure) and 330 newly opened bank offices. This seems rather modest compared to other countries such as Belgium, (Huysentruyt et al ( ) report a decline in the number of bank branches of about 40 per cent between 1985 and 2004), New Zealand (according to Morrison and O'Brien ( ), more than half of the branches present in the mid‐1980s had disappeared ten years later) or Great Britain (with a drop of more than 30 per cent from 1989 to 2003, see Leyshon et al . ( )).…”

“…To our knowledge, Huysentruyt et al . ( ) is the only and thus the main reference for analyzing exit and entry dynamics in disaggregated markets, though their regional focus is rather limited (to very small markets, 233 so‐called neighbourhoods in the town of Antwerp, Belgium). They, however, examine several aspects of structural change and observe that the poorer neighbourhoods (and especially those that are also surrounded by such low‐income areas) suffer most from waning bank presence and increasing distances to bank offices.…”

“…Additionally, Huysentruyt et al . ( ) examined the influence of customer structure (active, elder and non‐Belgian population shares) on branching dynamics. At that, it can be observed that less exits and desertification tendencies show up in areas with elder and more foreign populations, which the authors interpret in terms of customer base expansion and financial inclusion strategies of banks in Antwerp.…”