The contribution of institutionally diversified financial sectors to more sustainable growth and financial stability-in particular the role of effective local banking structures—is not always fully appreciated, whether in the context of development cooperation or in policy discussions in the...

This paper starts out by pointing out the challenges and weaknesses which the German banking systems faces according to the prevailing views among national and international observers. These challenges include a general problem of profitability and, possibly as its main reason, the strong role...

When looking at the Spanish banking market through a German lens, the differences between the banking markets in these countries and between decentralised and centralised systems with regard to the SME ]credit decision ]making process become obvious. Despite our hypotheses that Spanish savings...