Ralph De Haas

Banking Sector Development in Transition Countries - the Impact of Multinational Banks Ralph De Haas

After the fall of the Berlin wall, the socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe embarked on a process of profound economic transition. An important element of this transition process has been the creation of a wellfunctioning banking sector. This book examines the impact of multinational banks on the development of banking sectors across a range of European transition countries. The main focus is on how multinational banks influence the stability and composition of bank lending in this region. To address this question, this study examines: the increasing importance of multinational bank credit from the perspective of the local business sector; the composition of multinational bank lending in terms of local credit versus cross-border credit; the relative stability of multinational bank credit growth; the customer orientation of multinational banks; and the internal structure of these banks. The book is addressed to professionals in commercial banks, central banks and supervisory authorities, both in the transition region and in Western Europe. It is also directed towards researchers in the fields of transition economics and finance.