NETWORKS OVER BRANCHES: CORRESPONDENT BANKING AND FINANCIAL INTERNATIONALISATION IN LATIN AMERICA (1870–1914)
May 2026 | Global Correspondent Banking 1870–2000 Working Paper Series, Vol. 1, No. 8 | University of Oxford.
Abstract
This paper examines how banks in Latin America internationalised their operations during the first wave of economic globalisation (1870–1914). The study shows that the internationalisation of Latin American banking systems relied primarily on a broad set of organisational strategies, including correspondent banking, branch banking, the appointment of agents, and the establishment of agencies. The paper reconstructs the international networks linking Latin American banks to major financial centres, drawing on new datasets compiled from the Banking Almanac and the Rand McNally Bankers’ Directory, as well as archival evidence from the Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires and the Banco Nacional de México.
The findings reveal that most banks in the region relied on a small number of London-based correspondents to access global payment systems and short-term credit markets. Branch banking, although important for foreign banks, was costly and relatively rare among domestic banks, which instead relied on flexible, lower-cost correspondent relationships. These network-based strategies enabled Latin American banks to participate actively in international finance despite asymmetries in capital, information, and institutional capacity.
By highlighting the central role of correspondents, the paper offers a reinterpretation of financial globalisation, shifting attention from foreign banks, their multinational structures and branches, to the relational networks underpinning the global payments infrastructure. Scholars studying Latin America’s globalisation must consider correspondent banking relationships or risk missing one of the main ways local banks accessed the international financial system.
Keywords
Latin America, banking internationalisation, correspondent banking
