Digital Banking and Financial Exclusion of Older Adults: Citizen Mobilisation, Inclusive Responses and Age-Related Vulnerability in Spain

The rapid digitalisation of retail banking has been promoted as a driver of efficiency and innovation. However, when digital strategies prioritise cost reduction over accessibility, they can generate financial exclusion among older adults. This paper examines how citizen mobilisation can place age-related financial exclusion onto corporate and regulatory agendas, using the Spanish petition “Soy mayor, pero no idiota” as a single case study. Launched in December 2021 by a 78-year-old retired physician, the petition gathered nearly 650,000 signatures and denounced exclusion caused by branch closures and forced digital migration. Drawing on agenda-building theory and Miguel Reale’s three-dimensional theory of law, the analysis traces how a private grievance became a public and institutional problem. Within weeks, Spanish banking associations introduced inclusive measures. Shortly afterwards, Law 4/2022 was approved. While the legislative process had already begun months earlier, the petition coincided with—and may have contributed to—specific banking- and age-related provisions. The findings show that digital banking strategies can heighten age-related vulnerability when they ignore digital literacy and accessibility gaps. Situating the case within the financial-inclusion literature (including the FATF 2025 guidance), the study also highlights unintended consequences of digitalisation such as over-indebtedness, scams and privacy risks. Citizen mobilisation, framed around dignity, prompted industry self-regulation and reinforced legislative attention to inclusion.