Regional effects of the financial crisis for brazilian and spanish bank systems.

El objetivo de este art?culo es presentar un an?lisis comparativo de los efectos regionales de la ?ltima crisis financiera en los sistemas bancarios brasile?o y espa?ol. Se identificaron las caracter?sticas de la banca en los dos pa?ses y se estableci? que en el caso de Brasil todav?a persiste una concentraci?n del cr?dito en las regiones de mayor desarrollo econ?mico, as? como mayor preferencia por la liquidez en las regiones perif?ricas. La crisis financiera ha acentuado este padr?n. En el caso espa?ol, se esperaba que la segmentaci?n del mercado (con la presencia de los bancos regionales) contribuyera a la mitigaci?n de los efectos de la crisis. Sin embargo, el proceso de reestructuraci?n bancaria ha provocado cambios en el mapa banc?rio espa?ol. El gran n?mero de fusiones, adquisiciones y operaciones ha ampliado la concentraci?n del mercado, reduciendo el cr?dito en las regiones perif?ricas, lo que acent?a las disparidades regionales.The aim of this article is to present an exploratory and comparative analysis of the regional effects of the last financial crisis in the Brazilian and Spanish banking systems. Recent banking characteristics of the Brazilian and Spanish banking systems were identified. In the first case, the evidence of credit concentration in more economically developed regions is dominant and increased liquidity preference in peripherical regions. The last crisis has accentuated this pattern. In the Spanish case, the market segmentation (with the presence of regional banks) mitigated the effects of the crisis. However, the recent process of bank restructuring has caused modifications in the Spanish banking map. The large number of mergers, acquisitions and interventions have increased the market concentration, reduced the credit in peripheral regions, strengthening the regional inequalities