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This paper analyzes the impact on the Spanish banking system of the European Commission's proposal for a new Directive on Deposit Guarantee Schemes (DGS). To do this, we examine the risk profile of Spanish banks according to the parameters defined by the European Directive over the period 2007-2010. Then we compare the current contributions to the DGS fund with those expected in the proposed system. We conclude that Spanish commercial and saving banks would have been more damaged than credit cooperatives with the implementation of the proposed rules. We also find that most banks increase their contributions to the DGS fund, suggesting a cyclical behavior of the new model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, both competitor identification and the analysis of inter-firm rivalry have been approached from an industry perspective. After that, researchers or analysts have calculated aggregate indexes (such as CR or Herfindahl) that synthesize its structure. However, the availability of detailed information has allowed researchers to design new proposals that capture the interdependences arising among firms more precisely. In this paper, we use one of such proposals in order to describe the competitive situation in the Spanish banking sector. Specifically, we use one of the dimensions introduced by Chen (1996), market commonality, in order to identify the main rivals of every bank, savings bank or credit unions that operate in our country. Within this context, we pay special attention to the identification of the most important rivals for Banco Santander. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article summarizes the evolution of Banco Santander from its constitution in 1857 to 2007, when the institution celebrates its 150 anniversary. The paper shows the transformation of the bank y how it has gone through the complete geographical scale: from a local credit society to a regional bank and then to national status until it has reached its present position as one of the largest banks of the international financial system. Santander has grown as a consequence of the expansion of its activities in Spain, Europe and America and also through acquisitions and mergers. The performance of Santander has been possible thanks to the progress and internationalization of the Spanish economy. The explanation for the success of Santander has been due to the quality of its human resources, its solid financial strategy and the leadership of its management, in particular the leadership of the now president in office, who has been able to put Santander among the top ten in the world ranking of financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]