This paper re-visits the state of decentralised banking in Germany, Spain and the UK. The cross-country comparison we … conducted has identified Germany as having the most decentralised banking system, followed by Spain and the UK, as expected. The … degree of centralisation. Whereas no such bank exists in the UK any longer and real savings banks in Spain have almost …

supervisory practices, and there is a roughly equal division between those countries that rely on the central bank as the chief … bank or indirectly through a subsidiary of a bank, rather than through a holding company structure. The notable exceptions … illustrating a way in which empirical examinations of bank performance might be enriched by taking into account differences in …

from the most recent (2011-2012) World Bank survey on banking supervision and regulation. Key observations emerging from …