Diversification of the financial sector has been one of the central features of China's recent and rapid economic growth. This book traces the development of China's Trust and Investment Companies (TICs), the most numerous non-bank financial institutions to emerge in China, and their link to the...

What can be done to rapidly and effectively contain systemic risks, restore the solvency and profitability of financial institutions, minimize the impact of financial sector distress on the economy and limit the fiscal costs of a crisis? What set of policies contribute to a rapid and successful...

Group-based lending programs for the poor have become a focus of attention in the development community over the last several years. To date, there has been no comprehensive investigation of their impact on household behavior that has been sufficiently attentive to issues of endogeneity and...

This paper presents an innovative yet practical framework to assess corporate sector vulnerability and the links to exchange rates and financial crises that bridges the gap between corporate finance and macroeconomic analysis. This framework missing describing how changes in aggregate value of...

Private and public sector sponsors of infrastructure, industrial and other commercial projects in developing countries are looking increasingly to the project finance structure to fund these operations. The World Bank has an array of financial instruments to support these projects. This paper...

The main objective of this report is to evaluate World Bank lending for small enterprises between FY89 and FY93, including both small and medium enterprises and microenterprises. There has been a marked shift in the Bank's work in this area, and this review details the nature and content of this...

Micro and small enterprise (MSME) insolvency is particularly likely to impact not only the business, but also the personal and family life of the owner-operator(s) of such businesses, raising particular concerns that apply much less frequently in the context of corporate insolvency. This report...

In the last three years, household debt has risen by a third as disposable income declined. Declining interest rates, ease of access to credit for consumers and poorly regulated microfinance lending practices led to fast growth in consumer debt. Consumer lending in the banking and microfinance...

The World Bank Group assessed the insolvency and creditor/debtor regimes ('ICR') of Bulgaria pursuant to the joint IMF/World Bank initiative on the observance of standards and codes ('ROSC'). The assessment has been undertaken on the basis of the ICR Standard. The conclusions in this assessment...