Adaptive Strategies by European Savings Banks: A Case Study of Spain

Abstract

This chapter summarises some exploratory research commissioned from the Institute of European Finance (IEF) by FIES (Fondo para la Investigacion Economica y Social) of the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (CECA) under a project entitled The Future of Savings Banks in the Single Financial Market of the EU’. This project, begun in December 1995 and completed in August 1996, examined the environment and strategic (organisational) prospects for savings banks in the New Europe, characterised by the virtual completion of the SMP (Single Market Programme) and the approach of EMU. The emphasis is on different strategic adaptive organisational models that the savings banks might pursue (and are developing) to survive profitably in the New Europe. The research methodologies deployed in the study include reports by select country experts and a series of ten mini case studies. The particular countries surveyed are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The project concludes with a more focused analysis of the Spanish savings banks. In some respects, this project is a continuation of the so-called ‘Revell Report’ on Spanish savings banks (Revell, 1989). However, the primary emphasis of the present project is the current and developing organisational strategies being pursued by the European savings banks.