EU banking sector indicators show decline in offices and employees by end of 2025

The European Central Bank (ECB) has updated its dataset of structural financial indicators for the banking sector in the European Union (EU) to the end of 2025. This annual dataset includes statistics on credit institutions regarding the number of offices, employees, and sector concentration within each Member State.

The indicators show a further decline in the number of bank offices in the EU by 2.62%. Decreases were observed in 23 of the 27 countries, ranging from -0.2% to -12.16%. The total number of offices in the EU was 122,889 at the end of 2025, with 86.13% located in the euro area.

During 2025, the number of bank employees decreased in 16 of the 27 Member States, with an overall EU-level decline of 0.80%.

The data also indicate that the degree of banking sector concentration, measured by the share of assets held by the five largest credit institutions, continues to vary significantly across EU countries. The share of total assets of the five largest institutions ranged from 34.37% to 95.2%, with an EU average of 69.33% at the end of 2025.

The ECB publishes these structural financial indicators annually. For further information, contact Benoit Deeg at +49 172 1683704.