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 (In Press)

Text (Environment and Planning A 2025 final accepted version) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 January 2100. Download (1MB)

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 ten 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
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:	16 Jun 2025 14:15
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128413

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