Carles Sudrià is Professor of Economic History at the Universitat de Barcelona. He has published widely on financial history and the history of energy in Spain, and contributed to journals such as Business History, Financial History Review, European Review of Economic History and Revista de Historia Económica.Yolanda Blasco-Martel is Associate Professor of Economic History at the Universitat de Barcelona. She has published on financial history, social history and business networks in Spain, and contributed to journals such as Business History, Atlantic Studies, Investigaciones de Historia Económica and Revista de Historia Industrial.

• Introduction. 1. Money and banking in Europe, 1700–1890: the formation of new financial systems. 2. Banking regulation and the emergence of provincial banks in Spain. 3. Bourgeoisie and provincial banks: social origins of the new banking elite. 4. A profitability approach to Spanish banks’ performance: earnings and assets. 5. Provincial banks of issue and the Spanish economy: money and credit. 6. The unexpected end of monetary plurality: a premature demise? 7. A final assessment: Spanish banking development in nineteenth-century Europe.

Carles Sudrià is Professor of Economic History at the Universitat de Barcelona. He has published widely on financial history and the history of energy in Spain, and contributed to journals such as Business History, Financial History Review, European Review of Economic History and Revista de Historia Económica.Yolanda Blasco-Martel is Associate Professor of Economic History at the Universitat de Barcelona. She has published on financial history, social history and business networks in Spain, and contributed to journals such as Business History, Atlantic Studies, Investigaciones de Historia Económica and Revista de Historia Industrial.

• Introduction. 1. Money and banking in Europe, 1700–1890: the formation of new financial systems. 2. Banking regulation and the emergence of provincial banks in Spain. 3. Bourgeoisie and provincial banks: social origins of the new banking elite. 4. A profitability approach to Spanish banks’ performance: earnings and assets. 5. Provincial banks of issue and the Spanish economy: money and credit. 6. The unexpected end of monetary plurality: a premature demise? 7. A final assessment: Spanish banking development in nineteenth-century Europe.

Carles Sudrià is Professor of Economic History at the Universitat de Barcelona. He has published widely on financial history and the history of energy in Spain, and contributed to journals such as Business History, Financial History Review, European Review of Economic History and Revista de Historia Económica.Yolanda Blasco-Martel is Associate Professor of Economic History at the Universitat de Barcelona. She has published on financial history, social history and business networks in Spain, and contributed to journals such as Business History, Atlantic Studies, Investigaciones de Historia Económica and Revista de Historia Industrial.

• Introduction. 1. Money and banking in Europe, 1700–1890: the formation of new financial systems. 2. Banking regulation and the emergence of provincial banks in Spain. 3. Bourgeoisie and provincial banks: social origins of the new banking elite. 4. A profitability approach to Spanish banks’ performance: earnings and assets. 5. Provincial banks of issue and the Spanish economy: money and credit. 6. The unexpected end of monetary plurality: a premature demise? 7. A final assessment: Spanish banking development in nineteenth-century Europe.