Contested Cards and Banking Competition in the 1970s–1980s: From Exclusivity to Globalization in Spain and Europe

Abstract

[Abstract] This article examines historical evidence to analyze how the standardization and globalization of bank credit cards transformed the competitive framework of European retail banking. This process was facilitated by the deployment of a new business model with significant implications for the profit-and-loss accounts of banking institutions. The change occurred in the context of growing synergies between technological and organizational developments in the United States and Europe in bank cards, which encouraged the progressive universalization of the system. This historical analysis explains how intense market competition, specific European market conditions, mass tourism, and consumer society acted as drivers of change, as exemplified by the transition from Eurocheque to plastic card. The globalization of cards reveals that competition in markets with a high technological base generated important network externalities, a phenomenon that has been pronounced in Europe and Japan, which have had a less fragmented payment model than in the United States. The shift toward service banking transformed the structure of retail financial markets. Ultimately, the transformation of the retail banking sector tells us about the narrative of globalization in financial markets.