In the last few years, there has been an extensive debate as to whether ownership matters for bank performance in less developed countries. This paper investigates whether privately-owned banks outperform state-owned banks and whether foreign ownership enhances bank performance. Based on a range...

Argentina's economic crisis has strong similarities with previous crises stretching back to the nineteenth century. A common thread runs through all these crises: the interaction of a weak, undisciplined, or corruptible banking sector, and some other group of conspirators from the public or...

Some countries in Latin America have introduced a tax on bank withdrawals in order to increase revenue. The debit tax has usually been levied in periods of economic turbulence. This paper analyzes the effects of such a tax on real cash holdings and on balances of different types of bank accounts...

This article provides an exploratory analysis of the process for determining intermediation margins in the Peruvian banking system. In the period between 2001 and 2010, this process was influenced primarily by two occurrences: the international financial crises towards the end of the 1990s, and...

This article examines the impact of legal and economic factors on the growth of commercial banking in Latin America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Using annual data for five countries for the period 1840–1920, this article shows that growth in exports had a significant effect on the...

The article proposes to answer the following question: did the Cordoba Provincial Bank some responsibility for the devastating run on its deposits in June of 1890, which culminated with the closing of its doors in September of that same year; or was the macroeconomic situation in which was the...

The bankruptcy of three big private banks (Econômico, Nacional and Bamerindus) in the beginning of the Plano Real has been attributed to the fast and intense growth of loan after the fall of inflation. The three banks balance sheet data, however, show a decrease in credit amount or a very small...

Este artigo aborda duas vertentes de política econômica orientadas ao desenvolvimento do sistema de mobilização de capitais, via crédito, no período da industrialização restringida: a modernização da regulação bancária e a configuração de um canal de oferta direta de crédito de...

The significant rise in foreign bank claims observed during the 1990s, following their steep decline during the 1980s debt crisis, reignited interest in understanding the behavior of these flows. This paper analyzes changes in foreign bank claims on the Latin American private sector over the...

The significant rise in foreign bank claims observed during the 1990s, following their steep decline during the 1980s debt crisis, reignited interest in understanding the behavior of these flows. This paper analyzes changes in foreign bank claims on the Latin American private sector over the...