Open Access
International and multinational banking under Bretton Woods (1945-1971) : the experience of Italian banks
Loading...
Files
Balaban_2021_HEC.pdf (3.46 MB)
Embargoed until 2025
License
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
Florence : European University Institute, 2021
EUI; HEC; PhD Thesis
Cite
BALABAN, Ioan, International and multinational banking under Bretton Woods (1945-1971) : the experience of Italian banks, Florence : European University Institute, 2021, EUI, HEC, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69996
Abstract
Business economists and financial historians distinguish between a first and a second wave of international and multinational banking. The Great Depression and the two World Wars interrupted the first wave which began in the mid 19th century. The second wave began in the 1960s and was triggered by the advent of the Euromarkets under the international monetary regime of Bretton Woods (1944-1971). The thesis investigates the determinants of the internationalization of European commercial banks under Bretton Woods by focusing on the experience of Italian banks. I argue that Italian banks re-entered international and multinational banking from the late 1940s onwards in order to contribute to establish Italy as a commercial power. Competition between the banks in the international arena led them to integrate Eurodollar deposits into their international and domestic banking strategies in the 1950s and the 1960s thus contributing to the globalization of finance. The big European continental commercial banks internationalized in parallel to Italian banks and for the same reasons. Nevertheless, in contrast to latter, the former became major actors in the Euromarkets as a result of the American challenge after 1965. The thesis argues that the growth of the Euromarkets in the second half of the 1960s was sponsored by the Federal Reserve of the United States. The Federal Reserve encouraged the growth of the Euromarkets, and the role of American banks in the market, in order to defend the US official gold stock and the US balance of payments. Sources are drawn from bank and central bank archives in Italy, France and the United States.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
Defence date: 11 February 2021
Examining Board: Professor Youssef Cassis (European University Institute); Professor Federico Romero (European University Institute); Professor Catherine Schenk (Oxford University); Professor Stefano Battilossi (University of Carlo III)
Examining Board: Professor Youssef Cassis (European University Institute); Professor Federico Romero (European University Institute); Professor Catherine Schenk (Oxford University); Professor Stefano Battilossi (University of Carlo III)