Maria Angeles Pons Brias is lecturer in Economic History in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Valencis. She is the author of several articles on the Spanish banking system, including ’Capture or agreement? Why Spanish banking was regulated under the Franco regime (1939-1975)’, Financial History Review 6 (1999); and in P. Martín Aceña and M. Titos Martínez (eds), El sistema financiero en España. Una síntesis histórica. Her current research interests lie in the fields of the analysis of collusion and restrictive practices in the Spanish banking system under the Franco regime and the ’universal’ character of the Spanish banking sector.

• Contents: Introduction; The development of the Spanish economy, 1939-1975: Introduction: Spain at the end of the Civil War; The main options of the Franco economic programme; The transformations of the 1950s: the Stabilisation Plan; Conclusions; The Spanish financial system, 1939-1975: The Spanish financial structure: size and diversification; The Spanish banking system; Savings banks; Conclusions; Main regulatory framework and regulatory bodies 1939-1975: Banking regulation in Spain, 1939-1962; The Banking Law of 1962 and subsequent reforms; Main regulatory bodies; Traditional views about the role of the Spanish banking sector during the Franco regime; Conclusions; The reasons for regulating the banking sector in Spain, 1939-1975: The causes of banking regulation: some theoretical considerations; The objectives of financial regulation in Spain, 1940-1975; Conclusions; Banking regulation theory: A model of banking behaviour without regulation; The effects of regulatory constraints on banking behaviour; Conclusions; Spanish banking profitability and regulation under Franco: Interest rate controls and Spanish banking behaviour; The main determinants of Spanish banking profitability and the influence of regulation; Banking regulation and risk; Conclusions; Conclusions; Sources and bibliography; Index.

'This work is definitively a qualitative leap in Spanish banking literature, since it provides a theoretical bench-mark that affords a revision of some of the little-known topics regarding the banking regulations of Franco's regime, particularly their reasons and their effects. Not only because of its theoretical proposal, but also due to its use of indicators that demonstrate that the regulation was neither uniform, nor had any similar effects on the banking industry, this book is a valuable reference for understanding the economic policy of the regime as well as the evolution of the Spanish banking industry.' Business History