Staff Discussion Notes showcase the latest policy-related analysis and research being developed by individual IMF staff and are published to elicit comment and to further debate. These papers are generally brief and written in nontechnical language, and so are aimed at a broad audience...

We show that a competitive banking system is inconsistent with an optimum quantity of private money. Because bankers cannot commit to their promises and the composition of their assets is not publicly observable, a positive franchise value is required to induce the full convertibility of bank...

This paper provides an empirical examination of the regional banking structures in China and their effects on entrepreneurial activity. Using a panel of 27 provinces and four directly controlled municipalities from 1997 through 2008, we find that the presence of large banking institutions...

In this paper, the authors analyze the relationship between banking concentration and financial stability for a sample of 173 developed and developing countries over the period 1980-2011. First, they empirically examined the direct effect of banking concentration on financial stability by using...

Loan review is a process routinely used by banks to assess the current value of loan portfolios. Provisioning is a technique to translate loan review results into the balance sheet. It allows for ongoing valuation of loans. Both are core elements of credit risk management and important to...

This paper investigates empirically the pass-through of money market interest rates to retail banking interest rates in Chile, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and five European countries. Overall, Chile's pass-through does not appear atypical. Based on a standard...

This paper takes stock of the current state of development of the financial systems in five Central European transition economies (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia) that are also leading EU accession candidates. It presents both a progress report and an...

Using a 1979 survey of the organizational structure of 65 bank holding companies in 12 states, the author investigates the relationship between holding company structure and the performance of bank subsidiaries.

An examination of the effects of price and availability of credit from commercial lending organizations on the start-up rates of new businesses within specific markets, finding that profitable and competitive banking markets are associated with higher rates of firm births.

An examination of the relationship between bank profitability and concentration using recent data from a sample of institutions drawn from non-metropolitan statistical area counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania.