International Journal of Business and Economics Volume 5, No. 1 April​, 2006

Do Commercial Banks, Savings Banks, and Credit Unions Compete?

Lucio Fuentelsaz

Departamento Economía y Dirección de Empresas, University of Zaragoza, Spain

Jaime Gómez

Departamento Economía y Dirección de Empresas, University of Zaragoza, Spain

Victoria Lucea

Departamento Economía y Dirección de Empresas, University of Zaragoza, Spain

Abstract

This paper attempts to evaluate the extent to which rivalry between the different financial intermediaries that operate in the Spanish banking system has been influenced by the recent liberalization process. Our theoretical model is borrowed from population ecology and allows us to take into account the relationship between the three types of financial intermediaries as well as the effect of other exogenous factors on the capacity of the environment to sustain the growth of each population.

Keywords：banking sector, competition, deregulation, population ecology, Spain.

JEL Classifications：L19, G21.

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