We examine the determinants of interest rate margins of Czech banks employing bank-level dataset at the quarterly frequency in 2000-2006. Our main results are as follows. We find that more efficient banks exhibit lower margins and there is no evidence that the banks with lower margins would...

We examine the determinants of interest rate margins of Czech banks employing bank-level dataset at the quarterly frequency in 2000-2006. Our main results are as follows. We find that more efficient banks exhibit lower margins and there is no evidence that the banks with lower margins would...

Bank consolidation has substantially decreased the number of banks in European banking, which has had important implications for the banking sectors structure in all EU member countries. The consolidation processes have had a tremendous impact on the developments in banking sectors of new EU...

This paper - based on a report by a Task Force established by the International Relations Committee (IRC) of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) - reviews macroeconomic and financial stability challenges for acceding (Bulgaria and Romania) and candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey). In...

Modern banking institutions were virtually non-existent in the planned economies of central Europe and the former Soviet Union. In the early transition period, banking sectors began to develop during several years of macroeconomic decline and turbulence accompanied by repeated bank crises....

The purpose of this paper is to carefully assess the size of public sector within the Russian banking industry. We identify and classify at least 78 state-influenced banks. For the state-owned banks, we distinguish between those that are majority-owned by federal executive authorities or Central...

As financial institutions and policymakers worldwide are considering how to integrate sustainability considerations throughout financial systems, a critical question is whether banks can effectively assess and monitor borrowers' environmental credit risk. China's green credit reforms, part of...

Whether the bank-firm relationship and political connections are the substitutes, or the complements is the well-researched question on an empirical research level on credit availability. This paper studies the influences of the bank-firm relationship and political connection on firm's access to...

State-controlled banks are currently at the core of financial intermediation in Russia. This paper aims to assess the magnitude of government banking, and to reveal some of its special features and arrangements. We distinguish between directly and indirectly state-controlled banks and construct...

Several studies stressed that contrary to the initial expectations, state-owned firms at the beginning of the transition, undertook painful measures to adjust to the new economic environment. This paper investigates this behavior in a simple game theoretic framework. It is argued that the...