Optional models for strengthening the Spanish co-operative banking sector

Abstract

The financial crisis that started in 2008 has had a major impact on the Spanish financial system, including the co-operative banking sector. Among the restructuring measures being considered for the industry, one option is to create larger co-operative banking groups, employing different formulas. Given this context, it is interesting to compare the success achieved by the main European cooperative banking groups, which must surely serve as rolemodels for the Spanish process. The present study makes this comparison both from the usual economic and financial perspective and by taking the traditional cooperative style of management into account. The methodology used is the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), enabling the use of both quantitative and qualitative information, as well as the opinions of experts.