The work analyzes the space reorganization of three private banking chains - Bradesco, Bamerindus (currently HSBC) and Unibanco - that appear in the first half of the XX century in São Paulo, Paraná and Minas Gerais. How did those banking chains evolve? How did they interact with other processes that mold their territorial and social extension? This paper examines the external and internal determinants that changed the trajectory of the Brazilian banking system and presents a series of maps that show the location of the branches of those banking chains and their locational changes (1986-1996 and 1996-2005). The conclusion is that this reorganization resulted of the combination of adaptative and inovative processes that demanded a new geography adjusted to the emerging macro and microeconomic conditions. In this process the banks invented or reinvented the banking correspondent, hybrid object that combines service, communication technology and product, making possible a territorial and social expansion unprecedented in the Brazilian territory.
banking chains; space reorganization; banking system; cartography of chains; territory
