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The European co-operative banks play an important role in promoting savings and in financing small and medium enterprises. Their distinctive characteristics have allowed them to get through the Subprime crisis with remarkable resilience. Nevertheless, co-operative banks operate in a very competitive market, where they are constantly under pressure to improve their position. Increasing the size of local co-operative banks is often the strategy used to deal with this pressure. Based on data from a Portuguese co-operative banking group for 2009-11, we assess the impact of size on assets profitability, and conduct a disaggregated analysis of the ratios affecting it. Results indicate that size has an insignificant effect on profitability after controlling for the time-invariant characteristics of each local bank (i.e. caixa). This suggests that the initial higher profitability identified in small and larger caixas vis-à-vis that of medium-size caixas was explained by their specific time-invariant features. However our evidence suggests that size has an indirect effect on return through credit risk: larger caixas have better credit risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers the history of the Banco Español de Puerto Rico from its creation in 1888 to its liquidation in 1913. The Banco Español was the sole note-issuing institution of the island until 1898, when Puerto Rico was transferred to the United States. The establishment of the Bank was plagued with difficulties and during its first decade of existence it met with diverse obstacles that hindered its financial development. However, it contributed to diversifying the underdeveloped banking structure of the colony, to bringing down the cost of credit, and to modernizing the island's monetary system. The transfer of sovereignty was traumatic since the Bank lost its issue monopoly and had to adjust to US banking legislation. In 1905, its name was changed to Banco de Puerto Rico and its by-laws were reformed. The last years of the Bank's life were prosperous and it once again made an important contribution to the island's economy. All in all, the history of the institution is a mixture of errors and achievements, a history of setbacks and successes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Royal Decree-Law 11/2010 of 9 July 2010 reformed the legal status of savings banks. It designed a new organizational model that is based largely on giving the savings banks the possibility of opting between conducting all their financial activities through a bank, controlled by them if they hold at least 50% of its capital, or in certain cases of becoming a special type of foundation and transferring their financial business to a bank. However, whichever business model the saving bank adopts it is always intended to continue its social work, which will sometimes be done through a new committee, called the social work committee (comisión de obra social). This committee, which seems destined to play a key role in maintaining the objectives of the savings banks, demonstrates the significance of this fundamental characteristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial crisis hit Russia hard, in particular manufacturing at the end of 2008 and during most of 2009. The reasons are complex. Commodity prices (in particular, oil) dropped suddenly but for a very short time, but this does not account for the brutality of the recession experienced in Russia. A much more important factor seems to be the Central Bank's monetary policy, modeled on the new monetary consensus. The misguided response of monetary authorities to the situation set off a credit crunch that had a negative impact on domestic consumption and destabilized the whole economy. The government's relatively effective measures for handling the crisis avoided the worst-case scenario. The Russian model of development seems to have been saved. However the contradiction is keener than ever between the aim of turning Moscow into a leading world financial market and the current program for rebuilding Russian industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]