The technological option of Spanish savings banks before the Internet ,

Technical advances in retail banking have had profound repercussions for the competitiveness of individual firms and for the sector as a whole. This work sets out 2 objectives: first, it attempts to analyse the role of technology with respect to both organizational change and the products and services offered by the savings banks; and second, to investigate the reciprocal influence of technology and the way in which this is used by the retail banks. These entities constitute an excellent case study, given that they have been incorporating technology intensively, particularly since the 1960’s. The mechanization of operations, the computerization of administrative systems and the establishment of data transfer networks were all exceptional and premature in the way in which they developed. It was the banking industry, prior to other sectors, that stimulated the demand for certain technologies, which was somewhat idiosyncratic when compared to other countries. © 2012 Asociación Española de Historia Económica. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights