Transformaciones en la estructura financiera: implicaciones para la financiación de la economía españolainterna

This article examines the profound structural changes that have taken place in the Spanish banking market over the course of the financial crisis and their potential effects on the channels by which the Spanish economy is financed. In particular, it asks whether the generation of internal liquidity markets at Spanish financial institutions (comprising the presence of financial institutions on various regional markets) may have significant effects on lending. The article also considers whether increases in default rates and their detrimental effects on the supply of loans can be reduced by setting up such internal circuits for capital. The findings suggest that non-performing bank loans create spillover effects that result in a reduction in lending in all regions of Spain and not just in those hardest hit by loan defaults and unemployment. However, the restructuring of the banking system has managed to consolidate inter-regional internal capital circuits, which may help attenuate the curtailment of lending and have positive effects for the distribution of lending in the long term.