Corporate Governance in European Banking

Abstract

The banking systems of the EU-15 countries presents varied characteristics, including features from the Anglo-Saxon market based system and more bank-based system, prevalent in most of continental Europe. The pluralistic structure of EU banking systems, the varied nature of corporate governance arrangements and different business models represent a strength of the EU banking sector but also a factor that may hinder further integration and the emergence of a truly European banking model. This paper presents a survey of the corporate governance features of banking institutions in the EU-15 countries. Working on the notion that corporate governance is influenced by cultural values, we presented an analysis clustering EU countries on the basis of their legal system, language family and proximity as indicators of cultural differences. Our results highlight that cultural and legal differences are still strongly embedded in national cultural identities and these seem to drive the majority of difference in corporate governance arrangements.

Keywords: corporate governance, EU banking, financial integration, cultural differences

JEL Classification: G21, G34