Ireland has 85.33 ATMs per 100,000 adults, new IMF figures show
The IMF has just released its latest Financial Access Survey, which looks at people’s access to banking services. This year it includes data from some countries on mobile banking services such as telephone or internet banking.
Sadly there is no data from Ireland on this development, nor from Germany, but there is information on mobile banking use from places including Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.
The basic information collected includes such things as the number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 inhabitants, and per 1,000 square kilometres: ATM numbers for population and territory, and deposits and loans in commercial banks as a percentage of GDP.
It seems Ireland has 12 bank branches per 1,000 km squared, which translates into 22.97 branches per 100,000 people. We have 44.59 ATMs per 1,000 square kilometres of territory, but this works out at 85.33 per 100,000 adults.
Deposits in the banks amount to 62.99% of GDP, but loans from the commercial banks equate to 111.99% of GDP.
All of which is mildly interesting, but on its own tells us not a lot. So let’s start comparing – beginning with some similar sized countries – Israel, Finland, New Zealand and Denmark.
I won’t bore you with all the data – not everything is comparable anyway, but the important things you need to know is that among this group, Finland is the worst place to run out of cash, as it only has 36.5 ATMs per 100,000 adults. Israel is best – they have 123.7 New Zealand have 72.5 and Denmark has 56.6.
There is no clear pattern to the deposit and loan data in this group – Israel has deposits in commercial banks equivalent to 94.8% of GDP, with loans out worth 74.7%. Finland has 35.5% of GDP in deposits and 54.35% of loans from Commercial banks. Denmark has 59% in deposits and 49.2% in loans, but New Zealand has 92.5% in deposits and 146.64% in loans.
So the Nordics don’t borrow as much as us. But wait – look at Sweden: 59.6% of GDP in deposits and 134.5% of GDP in loans. And the Greeks? 31.5 branches and 60.31 ATM’s per 100,000 adults, with deposits of 80.44% of GDP and loans of 108.5%.
What about some very small states – Iceland (fairly well provided with ATMs) has deposits equivalent to 56.57% of GDP, but loans of 99.84%. Luxembourg has deposits of 99% of GDP and loans of 91% of GDP. (Plenty of bank branches too – 83.43 per 100,000 adults).
And what of the big boys? The UK offers no data on banks branches or ATMs, but has deposits of 153.2% of GDP and loans out of 152% dead. The USA (with 33.8 bank branches per 100,000 but no ATM data) has deposits in commercial banks of 58% and loans out of 43.77% of GDP.
Germany is another place with no data on ATMs, but has just 14.65 bank branches per 100,000 adults. Those same German adults have deposits equivalent to 29.01% of GDP and loans from commercial banks of 22.84% of GDP.
Across the Rhine, the French have 38.7 branches per 100,000 adults, deposits equivalent of 36.26% of GDP and loans of 39.97% of GDP. And they have a decent quantity of ATMs – 109.17 per 100,000 adults.
So what does this tell us about the world of banking access and our place in it? Eh…no idea. There are probably zillions of local factors at play in the data that make simple comparisons unsound. But it’s kind of interesting all the same.