IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-04112324.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

An Early Form of European Champions? Banking Clubs between European Integration and Global Banking (1960s-1990s)

Author

Listed:
  • Alexis Drach

    (IDHES - Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de l'Économie et de la Société - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ENS Paris Saclay - Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay)

Abstract

Between the late 1950s and the mid-1970s, most large European commercial banks created European banking clubs, which were hybrid cooperative organisations meant to respond to American competition and to the progress of European integration. Based on the archives of several commercial banks from France and the UK, this article examines how the three main European clubs (EBIC, Europartners, and ABECOR) emerged and developed in the 1960s and 1970s, and continued to exist despite increasing challenges in the 1980s. The article argues that banking clubs were an early attempt at creating truly `European' banks, or European champions, even though their experience was abandoned. They also participated in European integration in a different way than the one the European Commission promoted. These clubs were an important institutional response of European banks to both globalisation and European integration.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexis Drach, 2023. "An Early Form of European Champions? Banking Clubs between European Integration and Global Banking (1960s-1990s)," Post-Print hal-04112324, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04112324
    DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2021.2025220
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04112324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-04112324/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00076791.2021.2025220?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Battilossi, Stefano & Cassis, Youssef (ed.), 2002. "European Banks and the American Challenge: Competition and Cooperation in International Banking Under Bretton Woods," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199250271.
    2. Susanna Fellman & Martin Shanahan, 2020. "Beyond the market: broader perspectives in cartel research," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(3), pages 195-203, September.
    3. Neil Rollings, 2020. "Babcock and Wilcox Ltd, the ‘Babcock Family’ and regulation 17/62: A business response to new competition policy in the early 1960s," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(5), pages 743-762, July.
    4. Maria Green Cowles, 1995. "Setting the Agenda for a New Europe: The ERT and EC 1992," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 501-526, December.
    5. Schmitter, Philippe C. & Streeck, Wolfgang, 1999. "The organization of business interests: Studying the associative action of business in advanced industrial societies," MPIfG Discussion Paper 99/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Geoffrey Jones & Peter Miskell, 2005. "European integration and corporate restructuring: the strategy of Unilever, c.1957–c.1990," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 58(1), pages 113-139, February.
    7. Niklas Jensen-Eriksen, 2020. "Creating clubs and giants: How competition policies influenced the strategy and structure of Nordic pulp and paper industry, 1970–2000," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(5), pages 763-781, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kocenda, Evzen & Hanousek, Jan & Engelmann, Dirk, 2008. "Currencies, competition, and clans," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1115-1132.
    2. Kenworthy, Lane, 2000. "Quantitative indicators of corporatism: A survey and assessment," MPIfG Discussion Paper 00/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    3. Sophie Jacquot & Cornelia Woll, 2003. "Usage of European Integration - Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01019642, HAL.
    4. Plehwe, Dieter & Schlögl, Matthias, 2014. "Europäische und zivilgesellschaftliche Hintergründe der euro(pa)skeptischen Partei Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)," Discussion Papers, Project Group Modes of Economic Governance SP III 2014-501, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. In Jun & Peter Sheldon, 2006. "Looking beyond the West? The Korea Employers' Federation and the Challenges of Membership Adhesion and Cohesion," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 17(1), pages 203-225, September.
    6. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8523 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Axel Dreher & Katharina Michaelowa, 2008. "The political economy of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 331-334, December.
    8. Arjen Mulder & Gerarda Westerhuis, 2015. "The determinants of bank internationalisation in times of financial globalisation: evidence from the world's largest banks, 1980-2007," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 122-155, January.
    9. Hubert Bonin, 2014. "Europeanised French bankers? (From the 1830s to the 1970s)," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(8), pages 1312-1334, November.
    10. Adriana Bunea, 2015. "Sharing ties and preferences: Stakeholders’ position alignments in the European Commission’s open consultations," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(2), pages 281-299, June.
    11. Sophie Jacquot & Cornelia Woll, 2003. "Usage of European Integration - Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," Post-Print hal-01019642, HAL.
    12. Joost Berkhout & Jan Beyers & Marcel Hanegraaff, 2023. "The Representative Potential of Interest Groups: Internal Voice in Post-Communist and Western European Countries," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 50-64.
    13. Marta Martínez Matute & Pedro S. Martins, 2022. "How representative are social partners in Europe? The role of dissimilarity," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(4), pages 424-444, December.
    14. Cathrine Holst & John R. Moodie, 2015. "Cynical or Deliberative? An Analysis of the European Commission’s Public Communication on Its Use of Expertise in Policy-Making," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(1), pages 37-48.
    15. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8523 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Seeliger, Martin, 2017. "Die soziale Konstruktion organisierter Interessen: Gewerkschaftliche Positionsbildung auf europäischer Ebene," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 89, number 89.
    17. Plehwe, Dieter, 2022. "Reluctant transformers or reconsidering opposition to climate change mitigation? German think tanks between environmentalism and neoliberalism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-1.
    18. Peter Sheldon & Louise Thornthwaite, 2004. "Business or Association? The Strategic Responses of Employer Associations to the Decentralisation of Bargaining in Australia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 15(1), pages 128-158, June.
    19. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8528 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Mitchell Larson & Gerhard Schnyder & Gerarda Westerhuis & John Wilson, 2011. "Strategic responses to global challenges: The case of European banking, 1973-2000," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 40-62.
    21. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8391 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8523 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Caleb Goods & Bradon Ellem, 2023. "Employer associations: Climate change, power and politics," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(2), pages 481-503, May.
    24. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8528 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Ewald Engelen, 2004. "Problems of Descriptive Representation in Dutch Works Councils," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 52(3), pages 491-507, October.
    26. Pieter Bouwen, 2003. "The Democratic Legitimacy of Business Interest Representation in the European Union: Normative Implications of the Logic of Access," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2003_8, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    banking clubs; British banks; cartels; commercial banks; common banking market; competition law; consortium banks; cooperation; European banking; European champions; European enterprises; European integration; French banks; globalisation;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04112324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.