Why banks want to be complex

We investigate whether and how bank complexity affects performance and systemic risk. We base the analysis on a complexity measure that captures diversification and diversity, controlling for size and other bank characteristics. We find that more complex banks exhibit a higher profitability, lower risk, and higher market share. Moreover, we show an inversely U-shaped relation between bank complexity and banks’ sensitivity to systemic shocks. The evidence challenges the view that higher bank complexity is per se bad and is consistent with theoretical models that show that diversity in the banking system is critical for financial stability.

Financial governance: the Brazilian experience on prudential regulation and its impacts on the effects of the 2008 financial crisis

The Brazilian economy was severely hit by the 2008 crisis. In the beginning of the crisis, the vast majorities of the economic agents and authorities thought that Brazil could face some sort of decoupling since some macroeconomic fundamentals were very good. What we saw, however, was that the Brazilian economy was not decoupled, and expectations faced a huge deterioration soon after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 15th. Two aspects regarding the impact of crisis in Brazil, however, deserve a great deal of attention: (a) although deep, the impact did not last for a long time. Actually, the GDP growth experienced a good recovery in the second quarter of 2009, showing that the health of the Brazilian economy was good; (b) the Brazilian banking system performed very well during the crisis, although we cannot say the system was not in danger in the worst time of the crisis. In spite of the confidence crisis faced by the banking system 1, it showed a great deal of resilience. In this aspect, we argue that the restructure faced by the banking system in the aftermath of the Real Plan, as well as the development of a solid supervision regulation helped a lot the system to avoid the systemic crisis that was an open possibility to the Brazilian banking system in the end of 2008. These notes, thus, discusse why the Brazilian banking system performed pretty well in the 2008 financial crisis and how the Brazilian banking (and prudential) regulation can be taken as responsible for this good performance. More specifically, the paper back to the middle of the 1990s, when the Real Plan was implemented, in order to understand the role played by the restructuring of the Brazilian financial system in helping to pave the way to the great resilience experienced by the Brazilian banking system during the 2008 crisis. More specifically, the prudential regulation that was implemented in Brazil in the aftermath of the Real Plan seems to play a decisive role in the resilience of the system nowadays.

Argentine convertibility: is it a relevant precedent for the dollarization process in Ecuador?

Includes bibliography

Competencia bancaria en México

Incluye Bibliografía

International finance and Caribbean development

Includes bibliography

From hard-peg to hard landing?: recent experiences of Argentina and Ecuador

Includes bibliography

The modernization of bank supervision

Includes bibliography

Neoliberal reforms and macroeconomic policy in Peru

Includes bibliography

Strengthening regional financial cooperation

Includes bibliography

Reflections on development financing

This article sets forth some reflections on the position of the region's countries and the different segments of their domestic financial structures in the international financial system. In the light of the financial globalization taking place in Latin America, it considers the circumstances of the largest countries in the region, looking beyond the stylized arguments of conventional wisdom to analyse different factors influencing the financial situation: sovereignty risk, financial globalization, the degree of financial integration, the cost of capital and the burden of country risk premiums, the link between sovereign risk and fiscal solvency and the consequences of segmented integration. Consideration is then given to courses of action that could reduce country risk. In addition, the role of the different institutional sectors in generating savings is analysed, and the main trends of financial intermediation in the region are considered: banking concentration, the increased involvement of foreign organizations and the role of the public-sector banking system in the circumstances that now prevail.

The determinants of recent foreign bank penetration in Brazil

Includes bibliography

Competencia y regulación en el sector de la banca en Guatemala

Incluye Bibliografía

Estudo dos problemas ergonômicos da posição sentada em bancários

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

As lógicas espacias do setor bancário nas cidades de Presidente Prudente e São José do Rio Preto: da estrutura espacial concentrada à multicentralidade seletiva

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

As lógicas espacias do setor bancário nas cidades de Presidente Prudente e São José do Rio Preto: da estrutura espacial concentrada à multicentralidade seletiva

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)