Internal Organization and Growth in the National Banks: The Case of the Banco Hispano Americano and the Banco Central, 1901-1991

Abstract:     
Spanish banking history has paid little attention to business history, but the evolution of complex organizations such as modern banks are can help us to understand their success or failure and their relationships with the real sector of the economy. This work is an approach to the long term evolution of organizational schemes adopted by two of the biggest national banks in 20th Century Spain: The Banco Hispano Americano and the Banco Central, merged in 1992 to create the current Banco Central Hispano. The main conclusion of this paper is that although Alfred Chandler's theory matters in the long run, history explains better the pace of the evolution. The Banco Hispano Americano and the Banco Central evolved towards a 'modern enterprise' organization, but the former reached it in 1929 and the latter in the 1980s. The main reason is that the Banco Hispano Americano, a commercial bank, experienced a more stable and peaceful history than the Banco Central, being always a mixed bank.

JEL Classifications: L22, N84

Working Paper Series