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

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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;
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