The objective of the study is to investigate which aspects of the institutional framework favored or delayed the extension of banking in Latin America, for which the banking regulatory framework of Spain and the Latin American countries of Spanish colonization are analyzed up to 1870. We compare the early banking regulations of Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile and Spain. Our first conclusions emphasize about not synchrony between the appearance of banking regulation and the appearance of banks. While in Spain and Chile there were regulations (commercial and / or banking rules) before the extension of the first issuing banks, in the other countries banks appeared before the formal regulation. The aspects contemplated in these regulations in terms of issue, representativeness and responsibility of the managers also differ.