New league table of Spanish savings banks created

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV, Spain) have produced a new league table of Spanish savings banks based on economic, financial and social criteria. This is the first study of these characteristics carried out in Spain, and the data used come from the savings banks' annual accounts for 2007.

"All the banking sector rankings previously produced have revolved around a single variable, such as size, number of assets or number of deposits, meaning they fail to give an overall vision of the organisation as a whole", Fernando Garcia, co-author of the study and a researcher at the UPV, tells SINC.

The study, which has been published in the journal Mathematical and computer modelling, uses a 'programming by goals' method, which takes into account the savings banks' efficiency, solvency and size, based on their annual accounts for 2007. "We have applied this method to the savings banks given the current circumstances and the mergers that are likely to take place in future", the researcher explains.

According to the research, this new classification gives a "more precise" overall vision of the savings banks, and provides information about the situation of each of the financial entities, as well as their position in any potential merger.

Regardless of the value evaluated, the savings banks constantly in the top positions out of the 40 studied are BBK, Cajastur, La Caixa, and Caja Murcia. The same is true with the lowest positions on the league table, with Caixa d'Estalvis de Sabadell, Caixa Girona, Caixa Penedés, Caixa Manlleu, Caixa Tarragona, Caja España, Cajasol, Caja Canarias and Cajasur cropping up again and again.

The eternal mid-rankers

Meanwhile, Caixanova and IberCaja, Caja Duero, Caja Segovia, Caja Cantabria, Caixa Ontiyent and Caja Granada always take the intermediate positions.

"For management purposes, these classifications help to get an idea of the companies' position within the sector, and can be used to see how much they improve on the list from one year to the next", the researcher points out.