Banking on trust: institutional trust and the geography of financial exclusion in Central and Eastern Europe

Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés ORCID: 0000-0002-8041-0856 and Sandu, Alexandra (2025) Banking on trust: institutional trust and the geography of financial exclusion in Central and Eastern Europe. Environment and Planning A. ISSN 0308-518X

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Abstract

In this paper we investigate what determines access to banking in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The research uses different waves of the OeNB Euro Survey – covering over 91,000 individuals during the period 2012–2020 – and pooled and multilevel logit models to analyse how the interplay of trust in institutions, socio-economic attributes and geographic contexts shapes access to bank accounts, savings deposits and loans across 10 CEE countries. The findings reveal significant disparities in banking inclusion across products: while institutional trust enhances access to current accounts and savings deposits, its impact on loans is weaker. Socio-economic factors and geographical contexts, particularly at the local NUTS3 level, also matter enormously for financial inclusion. National and local economic conditions are key in shaping variations in financial inclusion/exclusion across CEE.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Geography and Environment Canada Blanch Centre
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance
JEL classification:	G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services > G21 - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O16 - Economic Development: Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes
Date Deposited:	16 Jun 2025 14:15
Last Modified:	11 Sep 2025 12:26
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128413

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