Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/177839 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IAT Discussion Paper No. 18/02
Publisher: 
Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Gelsenkirchen
Abstract: 
When looking at the Spanish banking market through a German lens, the differences between the banking markets in these countries and between decentralised and centralised systems with regard to the SME-credit decision-making process become obvious. Despite our hypotheses that Spanish savings banks were similar to German savings banks until the crisis, or at least until liberalisation and before the break-up of the regional principle, we came to the conclusion that they were never as significant as savings banks in Germany, at least not for SME finance. Notwithstanding recent initiatives to create a common European market and to integrate diverse national banking systems, the European financial system remains spatially complex and uneven, particularly with respect to the degree of geographical concentration. Whereas decentralisation increased in Germany, especially during the financial crisis, the rather decentralised Spanish banking system has become more and more centralised. This development has tended to fuel the financial crisis even further in Spain. In Spain, however, whereas most savings banks, which already operated nationally, were finally privatised due to their heavy losses in the crisis, regional savings banks in Germany further increased their market share in firm financing.
Subjects: 
comparing banking systems
SME finance in Germany
SME finance in Spain
savings and cooperative banks
decentralised vs. centralised banking
JEL: 
D43
E21
G01
G21
G38
R12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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