Governance, Cohesion and Banking in Spain from a Spatial Perspective

During the global financial crisis, regional banks – dependent on local savings and only able to lend these savings to customers within their respective regions – helped avoid a credit crunch in some countries; while in others, they did not fulfil this function. This paper elaborates governance structures that influenced the success of regional banking systems in Spain, with regard to regulation principles, the overall economic and political structures, and self-organisation of regional banks. With respect to the high importance of the decentralised banking sector in Germany, the paper compares the state of decentralised banking between Spain and Germany, concluding that the regional principle in Germany, a decentralized state structure with mechanisms of regional balance, and the self-governance of regional banks are important factors.