This chapter offers an analysis of the main economic and institutional transformations in Spain from 1977 onwards. The severe economic and financial crisis that hit Spain in the mid-1970s coincided with the arrival of democracy after Franco's death and shaped the nature and scope of the...

This paper explores why Spanish banks internationalise and why Latin America has been the main region for the international expansion of BBVA and Santander. It shows that prior to 1986 Spanish banks had a limited presence abroad, and analyses the main drivers of this initial expansion...