MADRID, 12 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

CaixaBank already has 1,596 managers specialized in serving the elderly group and is committed to reaching 2,000 this year, according to data provided by the entity to Europa Press.

This is one of the commitments that the bank acquired last year to improve care for people over 65 and people with disabilities in the face of the campaign promoted by Carlos San Juan 'I am older, not an idiot'.

To reinforce attention to these groups, the banking associations AEB, CECA and Unacc signed the extension of the 'Strategic Protocol to Reinforce the Social and Sustainable Commitment of Banks' to which the entities gradually adhered individually.

One year after the signing of this extension of the protocol, the associations have made a balance that reflects that the sector has already trained 70,000 employees, almost half of the banking workforce in Spain, to attend in a specialized and adapted way to the group of older people, of which almost 1,600 are from the bank chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri.

The entity also highlights the implementation of an exclusive telephone number for the 'senior' group -commitment contemplated in the protocol--, for which it has 542 agents trained in gerontology. In this way, between January and December 2022, 438,285 calls have been received, made by 160,764 customers. In addition, the bank offers these clients the possibility of communicating with their manager through WhatsApp.

As regards the ATM network, CaixaBank points out that its entire park, made up of 11,608 ATMs, is adapted to the group and also has a passbook module.

In this regard, it points out that it has 4.8 million active notebooks, but that they are also available to all customers over the age of 26 "without added cost or maintenance fee", provided they update it at least once a year. In the case of those over 60 years of age, this period increases to two years, while those over 70 do not have this requirement, so the passbook "will never be automatically cancelled."

It should be noted that last Thursday, the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, announced the commitment of all banks to maintain these savings cards for people over 65 years of age, given the recent complaint from San Juan that some entities were eliminating or limiting the use of this product.

CaixaBank also highlights that it has carried out 3,000 training sessions for older people on digitization, from which 15,105 customers have benefited.

Likewise, it recalls that in its network of branches - made up of 3,181 retail branches and 4,081 in total - there is a support plan for this group with the aim of reducing waiting in branches or helping in the use of ATMs, and points out that Since March 1, 2022, cashier hours have been applied without restrictions, a measure that is used by nearly one million customers over 65 each month.

During this week, and coinciding with the appointment set for this Thursday between Calviño and the representatives of the banking associations, consumer associations and the Bank of Spain, to evaluate the evolution of the protocols and codes of good practice to improve service to financial clients, the banking sector has released the balance of the first year of these measures.

For example, the bank highlights that the number of branches that operate with extended cashier hours has doubled compared to December 2021, since 81% of the total have longer hours than from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., compared to nearly 40% than previously.

Regarding the personalized telephone service, since the implementation of the measures, 2.4 million calls from customers over 65 years of age have been answered, which represents an average of 6,575 calls per day. In addition, more than 90% of the branches already have a telephone service from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Regarding the adaptation of ATMs, 91% of the total ATM network is adapted for the elderly and more than 80% of the entities have adapted their digital channels with simplified language and visual elements, both on the web and on mobile phones. .

Lastly, in the field of training, more than 245,000 customers over 65 years of age have received financial, digital or fraud prevention training.