A queue of pensioners waits to board a brown and green bus in the medieval village of Maderuelo on Spain's arid central plains. It only comes once a month and won't take them anywhere, but they're mostly happy with the service.
The bus, parked up alongside a van selling frozen fish, is a mobile bank run by bailed-out Spanish lender Bankia to serve remote areas with no branches. Inside it looks much like any other small branch, but for the elastic bands that keep the furniture in place when it's on the move.
Martin, a 71-year-old villager, would prefer more frequent visits, like the weekly service that used to be provided by the local bank that merged into Bankia.
"It's not normal to have to take cash out for the whole month. What if it gets stolen?" he said.
This is the front-line reality of banking cuts across Europe, where lenders from Italy to France to Bulgaria, brought low by economic turmoil, are slashing costs and services.
Read more: Trouble in store for Europe's banks
The bus, parked up alongside a van selling frozen fish, is a mobile bank run by bailed-out Spanish lender Bankia to serve remote areas with no branches. Inside it looks much like any other small branch, but for the elastic bands that keep the furniture in place when it's on the move.
Martin, a 71-year-old villager, would prefer more frequent visits, like the weekly service that used to be provided by the local bank that merged into Bankia.
"It's not normal to have to take cash out for the whole month. What if it gets stolen?" he said.
This is the front-line reality of banking cuts across Europe, where lenders from Italy to France to Bulgaria, brought low by economic turmoil, are slashing costs and services.
Read more: Trouble in store for Europe's banks
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