A year ago, Carlos San Juan, a 79-year-old retired urologist, collected 600,000 signatures to demand the financial inclusion of the elderly from banks
A year ago, Carlos Saint Johna 79-year-old retired urologist, collected 600,000 signatures to demand the financial inclusion of the elderly from the bank. ‘The Times’‘The Washington Post’ and ‘Le Monde’ they picked up their crusade. Minister Calviño came out to meet him. She managed to get the bank employers to sign a code of good practices (voluntary compliance). And he was applauded at the europarliament. But the –promised– financial user defense law still queued for takeoff. So even though his Parkinson’s is making things more and more difficult for him and this week he is mourning the death of his canine companion, he continues to speak out.
-I am sorry for your loss.
-Believe me that I keep going because I see the suffering of the elderly and the insensitivity of the banks. The bank still does not understand that it is a public service, because we have no choice but to go through it to collect the pension.
-A year later, do you notice any improvement?
-The opening hours have improved, although there are still queues due to the massive dismissal of employees with the excuse of digitization. They told me, and I will not forget it: “Mr. San Juan, the banks follow the people, and if the people leave emptied Spain, the banks will too.” It is an unjustifiable capitalist measure, because those who remain are human beings. But doing it in the cities is already the last straw.
-The bank, in its first monitoring reporttake credit for progress.
-The large Spanish bank obtained a record profit of 20,850 million in 2022, which represents an increase of 28% compared to the previous year. And it has risen because it has eliminated thousands of jobs and has opted for digitization, seeking to become employed workers. When young people tell me that they don’t step foot in a bank, I answer them: “Okay, but you are working for the bank for free and on top of that they do not reduce a single commission.”
Let’s continue with the audit.
-Apart from the schedule, the rest leaves much to be desired. The ATMs have not improved and the applications continue to be extremely difficult. My bank manager tried to install one for me and told me that my operating system was not “friendly”. They don’t understand that we older people need an analog bubble.
-Who has done the homework?
-At CaixaBank they have hired senior managers and the external attention at the ATMs is impressive. Sabadell and BBVA are not friendly. As long as everything depends on voluntariness, as long as the law does not come out, everything can remain a dead letter.
-The savings books, at least, have not disappeared.
-A year ago we found ATMs without slots or ‘contactless’ –in my fundamental case, because it is difficult for me to type–. They had removed them on the grounds that “only” 36% of the elderly used them, when that figure is explained by those who died from coronavirus. I never tire of repeating that the only thing we ask is to see if we have received the pension and if any unexpected expense has crept in.
-Calviño will meet with the bank employers’ association. Have you been invited?
-I only know that I had humbly asked him to receive me and last week his filters told me that he has a busy schedule. I don’t want to think that she’s upset with me.
-Why should I be?
-Because on some occasion I have stated that I have been disappointed. Certain laws have come out at breakneck speed. I cannot understand that it does not happen with a law that is of social justice, that has been accepted by the members of the European Parliament. The amendment period ended on February 7 and should be presented quickly because the atmosphere is quite tense and elections are approaching.
-There are 9.3 million people over 65 years of age. That’s a lot of votes.
-It could be an electoral trick, but in the case of banking, I suspect that the law will be relegated to the broom room. The party that is not caught by a loan is rare. In addition, the bank has received a good blow with the extraordinary tax on the sector approved by the Government.
-The first follow-up report on the protocol, in June, seemed encouraging.
-The large Spanish bank obtained a record profit of 20,850 million in 2022, which represents an increase of 28% compared to the previous year. And it has risen because it has eliminated thousands of jobs and has opted for digitization, seeking to become employed workers. When young people tell me that they don’t step foot in a bank, I answer them: “Okay, but you are working for the bank for free and on top of that they don’t lower a single commission.”
-What will you do if the law is suspended?
-If my bad feelings are fulfilled, I would like someone to pick up the torch and raise the urgency of a plan B so that no one is left without access to their pensions: return to savings banks, establish a public bank or rely on the Post Office, like France is doing. I am feeling less strong.
-‘Quijote’ they called him in the European Parliament.
-I was only the catalyst of discontent. I showed that a movement can be made without burning tires, and without politicizing or prosecuting anything. I remembered, and I still do, that we older people exist and that you cannot govern without taking us into account.