Three ways to make a mark

Spanish banking is clearly segmented by strategy, domestic banks competing for the retail markets and foreign banks heavily involved in offering services to multinationals and attempting to develop lower-level corporate business. With some privatizations still to be undertaken and rapid development of the equity market at both issuer and investor level there's substantial growth to play for. Margaret Popper reports.

Three years ago, Madrid’s Bolsa had a daily trading volume of 30 million shares. By 1996 the figure was 70 million. In 1997 daily volume reached 90 million. When a stock market develops that fast there are bound to be worries about what is underlying the growth in liquidity. But the Madrid exchange has passed an important test. Only two weeks after last October’s worldwide equity crash, its index recuperated all its losses. It is clear that the value in Spanish equities is based on a sound economy.

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