The pandemic and the IFE boosted the banking system: 4.8 million new accounts were opened

Annabella quiroga

11/11/2020 6:01 AM

• Clarín.com

• Economy

Updated 11/11/2020 6:01 AM

The pandemic ended up being a strategic ally of financial inclusion.

According to data from the Central Bank, 4.8 million new bank accounts in pesos were opened during the second quarter of this year,

The Emergency Family Income (IFE) was key to advance in banking.

Bank accounts in pesos went from

These 4.8 million new accounts were distributed between public banks (46%) and private (47%) and, to a lesser extent, in financial companies (7%).

"The possibility of remote opening and the obligation of financial institutions to

(CGU), allowed to respond to the increased demand for bank accounts and electronic means of payment," says the official report.

And it details that both the IFE and the Work and Production Emergency Assistance Program (ATP) were decisive in this.

The IFE reached

among informal workers, holders of the Universal Child Allowance (AUH), the unemployed, domestic workers and monotax workers of the lowest categories. 

"More than half (53%) of the 8.9 million people who received the first IFE settlement did so through a bank account, while of the remaining half, 54% already had an account at the time of the collection ", they indicated.

The Central highlighted that "78% of the people with the highest degree of socioeconomic vulnerability in the country had at least one bank account."

Thus,

When paying both the pensions and the IFE and other social plans in the middle of the quarantine, the Government found that although most of the beneficiaries were banked, in fact they

, since they chose to go to bank, stand in line and charge at the window.

The reasons for not using the ATM are varied:

, fear of not knowing how to operate, loss of the card or the corresponding password, among others.

But one of the main reasons is that in the second and third cordon of the suburbs there

.

So, people prefer to go to the bank once and take all the money together than to go on a pilgrimage every week to get some cash. 

After the first Friday in April when a million people crowded into branches to collect their credit, a process was launched to enable 

.

However, this did not solve the problem since they tended to be located mostly in localities that already had these services and in which the socioeconomic indicators are higher.

The greater the banking, there was also

.

Electronic transfers accumulated from March to August increases of

, in real amounts and amounts per adult, respectively.

In the same period, payments with debit cards in electronic commerce also stood out, with real amounts that tripled and amounts that doubled - measured per adult.

Even so, the Central admits that the use of these accounts "

especially among the most vulnerable population with the least technological capabilities, although they are on a path of slow but continuous growth."

The hope is that mandatory isolation "will cause changes to varying degrees in account usage habits."

The Central's report also states that the financing lines for MSMEs, small taxpayers and the self-employed "contributed to mitigating the effects of the pandemic."

In this way, these special lines of financing with subsidized interest rates accumulated a total amount of

as

of August 2020

which represents 18% of the total financing in pesos to the private sector.

The MiPyMEs y Servicios de Salud and MiPyMEs Plus lines were the most significant in terms of average amounts (around $ 3.8 million) and reached more than

The Zero Rate and Subsidized Rate for Companies lines added a total of 533,174 loans with an average amount of $ 119,000.

AQ

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