The Austrian bank branch network from 2000 to 2019 from a spatial perspective

This paper presents results of an analysis of the spatial distribution of bank branches in Austria over the period from January 2000 to December 2019 from two perspectives: First, we analyze the temporal development of bank branch availability at the municipality level. Second, we present estimates of travel distances to the nearest bank branch. At the end of 2019, 555 municipalities (27% of 2,096 Austrian municipalities) did not have a bank branch, which compares with 271 municipalities in January 2000. We show that the bulk of the increase in “branchless” municipalities occurred after 2014. The closure of the last branch in a municipality occurred predominantly in municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, and, overall, only a relatively small share of the Austrian population live in municipalities that became branchless (4.6% or 410,000 inhabitants). Given this trend, which we also see at the international level, we study travel distances to bank branches (as of 2019). On average, Austrian residents have to travel 1.5 km from their homes to the nearest bank. This distance varies from 2.7 km in municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants to 0.7 km in larger cities. A total of 77% of the population resides within a 2 km travel distance to the nearest bank. Although our results suggest that, on average, Austrians have reasonable access to bank branches, a more disaggregated analysis allows us to identify municipalities where travel distances are longer. For example, about 433,000 residents (4.9% of the population) have to travel more than 5 km. Municipalities with a high share of residents who have to travel farther than 5 km have 1,000 inhabitants on average and are located in all provinces except Vienna.