CaixaBank announced that has installed in the village of Serranillos (Ávila) one of the first 40 benches made from plastic recovered from customers’ expired bank cards. „The benches will be installed in villages across the province where the bank’s mobile branches stop and where waiting facilities are needed.” – according to the press release.
Since 2019, CaixaBank has collected expired bank cards and given them a second life through recycling. To date, it has recycled 4.6 million cards, equivalent to 23 tonnes of plastic. Moreover, since 2024, more than half a million customers have received a notification informing them that their expired or unused cards have been recycled, helping to raise awareness of the circular economy.
The initiative also champions the reuse of existing materials while reducing the need for new resources. CaixaBank was already one of the first financial institutions to manufacture its bank cards entirely from recycled material and is now giving those cards a second life through a project with clear social benefits.
Gerardo Cuartero, CaixaBank’s Regional Director for Castile and León, said: “This initiative enhances the experience of people waiting for our mobile banking service, bearing in mind that 70% of users are over the age of 65, while also improving accessibility and helping to create more socially inclusive public spaces. At CaixaBank, we are committed to making our business greener, more socially responsible and more sustainable.”
According to the First Vice President Provincial Council, Jesús Martín: “These benches symbolise the pride we take in the fact that financial exclusion no longer exists in rural Ávila. We cannot expect people to remain in our smallest villages unless they have access to essential services, and banking services are among them,” adding that “the shared commitment shown by the Provincial Council and CaixaBank is an excellent example of how public-private partnership is essential to ensuring genuine quality of life in rural communities.”
Working together to promote financial inclusion
This agreement between CaixaBank and Ávila Provincial Council builds on the partnership established at the beginning of 2025, which ensured full financial inclusion across the province through the bank’s mobile banking service, according to the 2025 Observatory on Financial Inclusion in Spain. Full financial inclusion was achieved after extending the service to 227 villages across the province with no permanent bank branch or where access to financial services is restricted, covering almost 34,000 residents.
This made Ávila the first and only province in Castile and León to achieve full financial inclusion through four mobile banking branches, which travel more than 11,000 kilometres each month across the province.
The mobile banking service enables CaixaBank customers and non-customers alike to carry out their most common banking transactions, including cash withdrawals, cash deposits and the payment of bills and taxes, in villages with no permanent bank branch or where access to financial services is limited. Around 70% of users are aged over 65, underlining CaixaBank’s commitment to supporting older people.
Castile and León has the widest mobile banking coverage provided by CaixaBank anywhere in Spain. Through 11 mobile branches travelling almost 32,000 kilometres each month, the bank provides financial services to 631 communities across the region, serving almost 130,000 residents.
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