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Abstract
One of the important issues of banking today is the role bank branches and online banking solutions play in serving consumers. With the help of a representative Survey of 1,000 adults in Hungary conducted in 2022, we examine how well online and mobile banking solutions can provide a suitable alternative to bank branches. Based on our results, online banking solutions cannot fully replace personal banking in Hungary due to the customers' attitudes, as we can see that their use does not significantly affect the frequency of visits to the bank branch, and their usage rate does not increase with the distance from the bank branch. We also point out that for the Hungarian population the trend of bank branch closures may entail the risk of being left out of the formal financial system mostly for the older, digitally less receptive social strata living in small settlements and in a relatively worse financial situation.
Among European Union policies, regional policy has always been considered a key domain due to its considerable role in negotiation of interests between mem-ber countries and distribution of European Union funds. Its significance, however, is expected to increase further as soon as countries of the Central Eastern Euro-pean region join the European Union and start lobbying for the concentration of European Union resources in the area. The new member states of the EU will stand on the periphery – not only in the geographical sense, but also regarding their level of economic development.
