Financial Development in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean : The Road Ahead

de la Torre, Augusto ; Ize, Alain ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

World Bank

关键词: ACCOUNTABILITY;    AUTHORITY;    BASIC EDUCATION;    BETTERMENT TAXES;    BOND ISSUES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-8847-1
RP-ID  :  65744

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The financial systems of the LatinAmerica and the Caribbean region (LAC) are at a crucialjuncture. After a history of recurrent instability andcrisis (a trademark of the region), they now seem wellpoised for rapid expansion. Since the last wave of financialcrises that swept through the region in the late 1990s andearly 2000s, financial systems in LAC have continued to gainin soundness, depth, and diversity. The size of bankingsystems has increased, albeit from a low base; localcurrency bond markets have greatly developed, both involumes and in reach over the yield curve; stock marketshave expanded; and derivative markets particularly currencyderivatives have grown and multiplied. Institutionalinvestors have become more important relative to banks,making the financial system more complex and diversified.Importantly, much progress has been made in financialinclusion, particularly through the expansion of payments,savings, and credit services to lower income households andmicroenterprises. As evidence of their new soundness andresiliency, financial systems in the region, except in someCaribbean countries, weathered the recent global financialcrisis remarkably well. The progress in financialdevelopment in LAC no doubt reflects substantialimprovements in the enabling environment, lowermacroeconomic volatility, more independent andbetter-anchored currencies, increased financialliberalization, lower currency mismatches and foreign debtexposures, enhanced effectiveness of regulation andsupervision, and notable improvements in the underlyingmarket infrastructures (for example, trading, payments,custody, clearing, and settlement). This regional flagshipreport aims at providing such a stocktaking and forwardlooking assessment of the region's financialdevelopment. Rather than going into detail aboutsector-specific issues, the report focuses on the mainarchitectural issues, overall perspectives, andinterconnections. The value added of the report thus hingeson its holistic view of the development process, its broadcoverage of the financial services industry (not justbanking), its emphasis on benchmarking, its systemicperspective, and its explicit effort to incorporate thelessons from the recent global financial crisis.