Financial relations have been deeply transformed in the 1980s and 1990s by deregulation and liberalization. Among the most affected by these changes has been the banking system. Domestic banks have generally lost the implicit protection given by regulatory barriers to entry. Until very recently,...

The paper examines the relationship between banking and securities activities in the light of financial market developments (securitisation, institutionalization of investment, emergence of complex financial instruments, conglomeration and consolidation), with particular reference to Europe. The...

At end-June 2004, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision finally issued the "New Capital Accord" ("Basel II"), following endorsement by G10 bank supervisors. The Accord replaces the original accord agreed in July 1988 and implemented by most major international banks since 1993. Publication...

The proposed risk sensitive minimum requirements of the new Basel capital accord have raised concerns about possible (acceleration of) procyclical behaviour of banking, which might threaten macroeconomic stability. This article analyses the interaction between business cycles and banks over the...

From the 1980s onwards the banking sectors in all the industrialised countries have been experiencing intense restructuring, aggregation and consolidation, radically changing their ownership structures and geography. Whatever the reasons behind such restructuring processes, the globalisation of...

This paper aims at analysing--from a Post Keynesian approach--the Brazilian bankingbehaviour in the current phase of the business cycle that is at the semi-stagnation state of the economy. According to the Post Keynesian approach, banks are economic agents that have liquidity preference...

This paper aims to analyze the effects of Italian banking consolidation during the nineties on the efficiency of the financial system, on competition in the market forbanking and financial services, and on the reallocation of bank ownership. Whereas a review of the recent theoretical and...

In this paper we analyse the new geography of the Italian banking system on the basis of the integration pressures of recent years. The analysis of the evolution of thebanking system is focused on the concept of distance. In particular, we not only refer to the traditional distance between bank...

In June 1999, the Basle Committee of Banking Supervisors issued a consultative paper proposing the introduction of a new framework for the capital adequacyassessment of internationally-active banks operating in the G10 area. The initiative reflected a desire to address some of the...

In April 2003 the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a third consultative paper on the new Basel Capital Accord (Basel II). The document contains substantial changes with respect to the previous proposal of January 2001, on which improvements were requested, among other aspects,...