Spanish to English Bus/Financial Economics

Hi everyone

I am translating an academic paper and the role of the manager in SMEs and I have the sentence:

Igualmente, la rigidez del mercado laboral en la banca de los setenta, unidas a la apertura y desregulación, estimularon el cambio tecnológico y la innovación, con lo que se sentaron las bases para su actual eficiencia

I am struggling to translate "en la banca de los setenta" because the literal meaning, the banking market, seems to make no sense as it gives me "Equally, the rigidity of the labour market in the banking sector in the seventies.....". I guess he might have meant to say "the rigidity of the labour market and the banking sector in the seventies...." but I am not sure.

Any bright ideas?

Many thanks

Penny