The Inter-American Development Bank and the OECD Development Centre created the International Forum on Latin American Perspectives as an annual meeting place of ideas and strategies from Latin America and from the OECD region. The tenth meeting of the Forum was held in Paris in November 1999 and...

The basic worldwide financial safety net architecture provides for a system of similar institutions: a lender of last resort, deposit insurance, and prudential regulation. In countries whose banking systems suffer seriously from negative capital positions and overbanking, such as in some Latin...

This paper complements previous studies by arguing that the low private savings ratio in Latin America can be associated with the limited confidence of households and businesses in domestic financial institutions. Previous studies have established a relationship between private savings and...

This paper analyzes the consequences of alternative financial structures for financial efficiency and stability. The focus is on the organizational structure of banks. Alternative bank structures range from "narrow banks" to broad "universal banks". Each banking structure is assessed in its...