The European Central Bank has updated its structural financial indicators dataset for the European Union banking sector to end-2025, showing a further contraction in physical banking networks and staff numbers. The release reports that the number of bank offices in the EU fell by 2.62% from end-2024 to 122,889, while the number of employees at credit institutions declined by 0.80% across the EU. Office numbers decreased in 23 of the 27 Member States, with national changes ranging from a 0.2% decline to a 12.16% decline. Of all EU bank offices, 86.13% were located in the euro area. Employee numbers fell in 16 of the 27 Member States. The dataset also shows wide differences in banking sector concentration across countries, measured by the share of assets held by the five largest credit institutions. At end-2025, that share ranged from 34.37% to 95.2% at national level, compared with an EU average of 69.33%. The structural financial indicators are published annually by the ECB.
European Central Bank2026-06-12
European Central Bank updates EU banking structure data showing 2.62% fall in bank offices and 0.80% drop in employees
The European Central Bank updated its annual structural financial indicators for the EU banking sector to end-2025. The data show a 2.62% decline in bank offices and a 0.80% fall in employees across the EU. Banking sector concentration remained highly uneven, with the five largest institutions' asset share ranging from 34.37% to 95.2% across Member States.