a ghost oligopoly hanging on it financial system Spanish for years. this concentration Since the outbreak of the previous crisis that started in 2008, the industry has skyrocketed since the number of organizations involved was reduced from 45 to 10. expropriations and mergers. However, authorities still do not view the situation as alarming, based on the indicators they use to measure the degree of competitive risk. But one of these indicators set a new record last year: top five banks The country’s (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell and Unicaja Banco) currently 69.3% of assets Banking in Spain.
datas European Central Bank (ECB)The eurozone’s financial supervisor reflects that Bankia has been absorbed by CaixaBank, fourth and third banks Until its unification in March 2021, Spain increased its banking concentration once again for the first time in two years. It affected, to a lesser extent, the merger of Unicaja Banco and Liberbank. Between 2018 and 2020, thus the market share of large organizations fell From 68.5% to 66.4% As a result of increased competition in the sector after the financial crisis restructuring that strengthened small banks. The integration of the nationalized entity into the Catalan entity has broken this line and made the indicator a new all-time high.
2021 market share of 69.3%, therefore, 40.3% since 1999 (the year the ECB’s historical series began) and 41% from 2007 (exercise before the housing bubble burst). Concerning the main countries of the European Union, it is well above the data presented. Germany (31.8%), France (49.3%) and Italy Although below (51.6%) Holland (84.1%). In any case, it’s still far from the countries with the worst records. Greece (98%), Estonia (93%), Lithuania (89.8%) or Latvia (87.4%).
more amber
More importantly, as a result of last year’s two mergers, traffic lights used by financial authorities to measure the degree of competition in the market. condensed last year Orange reached for it for the first time in 2018 After Popular was absorbed by Sabadell. After two years of decline, the Herfindahl and Hirschman Index (better known as the HHI) rose last year. 1,082 to 1,270. As a general rule, the ECB estimates that a level below 1,000 indicates a low concentration, while a level between 1,000 and 1,800 is considered low. average concentrationand has a high concentration of over 1,800.
Major organizations competition defense Use this index to analyze the state of a market in the world. It is calculated by squaring the market share each company has and adding up these amounts, giving larger companies greater weight. A maximum value of 10,000 indicates that a monopoly has formed. 2004 European competition regulations understand that a level below 2,000 is not a concern. On the other hand, in the United States, a level below 1,500 means the market is “concentrated”, while between 1,500 and 2,500 means it is already. “moderately concentrated”and over 2,500 “highly concentrated”.
increased concentration
In 1999 the Spanish financial sector had a very low level of 427 and grew moderately over the next decade. 459 2007. Mergers, however, blew it away and remained at an orange level for four consecutive years, but still far from the 1,800 level marking the border in red. If the disappointing merger between BBVA and Sabadell had happened, they would have added that. about 235 moreAccording to market calculations, it would be below the alarming level.
This analysis is partly based on the ECB and Bank of Spain have for years insist further processing concentration (in the case of the Spanish institution, since 2015) for banks to gain efficiency cutting offices and staff and thereby increasing their profitability hit by low interest rates. However, in recent months, it seems that the message has lost weight in the conversations, largely due to the mood that the rise in money prices is blowing into the accounts of the sector to fight inflation. However, it is not unlikely that he will return. come back in the medium term due to structural difficulties, such as the digitization of their customers, or contingent difficulties, such as a possible increase in delinquency.