El Banco de Santander, 1857-1934: las particularidades de un banco local.

This paper aims to identify the reasons can help us to explain how a modest local bank, founded by a group of merchants that carried out their activity in the port of Santander in the central years of the 19th century, was able to sustain over time until joining the select club of the "big seven" of Spanish banking. It is concluded that three distinctive features should take into account in order to explain its longevity and prolonged accommodation to the local sphere throughout this long period: the strong family ties and instrumental friendship between its managers, the design of a financial policy with marked risk aversion and a protectionist attitude, against all competition. These distinctive features began to emerge in its very origins as an issuing bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]