European Banks and their Impact on the Banking Industry in Chile

The history of foreign banks in Chile and Brazil in the late XIXth century and early XXth century is the history of British and German banks. Their penetration in both countries was significant, and not neutral in terms of its impact on the Chilean and Brazilian banking industry. In the main, we found that in both countries foreign banks appear to have had a positive effect at least in some of the dimensions identified by the current literature. However, the extent of this influence is different depending on the country. First, even if a formal banking industry emerged roughly simultaneously in both countries, foreign bank entry in Chile was a more recent phenomenon than in Brazil. Second, while from a financial point of view native and foreign banks in Chile behaved in a relatively similar fashion, in Brazil we observe differences, although a tendency towards convergence was observable by the eve of WWI.