The Cabildo of Lanzarote welcomed the announcement from Bankia this week, that they will keep their branch open on the island of La Graciosa.
Bankia had previously announced that the bank situated in La Graciosa was one of the 54 branches to be closed in the Canary Islands, many of which were inherited from La Caja de Canarias. This news sparked protests from the island’s residents and the Ayuntamiento of Teguise as the impending closure would have meant a ferry and bus ride to the next closest branch In Haría, when they needed to visit the bank.
On Tuesday Bankia announced that they would keep their branch open in La Graciosa, as an example of their Canarian social commitment. The La Graciosa branch of Bankia has 400 customers and will continue to open for 2 days a week.
Earlier this month Oswaldo Betancort, the Mayor of Teguise met with the José Miguel Lorenzo Santana, the regional director of Bankia regarding their decision to close the only bank on the island of La Graciosa. It was made clear during the meeting that if the bank was to continue with the closure of this branch, both the local council of Teguise and the Cabildo of Lanzarote would withdraw their funds and cancel any accounts connected with Bankia, as leverage in order to safeguard the essential service for the residents of La Graciosa.
The president of the Cabildo expressed appreciation on behalf of the island’s Corporation for the social decision finally adopted by the bank, in providing a necessary service for the residents of the eighth island.