Cross-border banking, while having the potential for a more efficient financial sector, also creates potential challenges for bank supervisors and regulators. This volume discusses topics that include: the landscape of cross-border bank activity, the resulting competitive implications, emerging challenges for prudential regulation, and more. Cross-border banking, while having the potential for a more efficient financial sector, also creates potential challenges for bank supervisors and regulators. It requires cooperation by regulatory authorities across jurisdictions and a clear delineation of authority and responsibility. That delineation is typically not present and regulatory authorities often have significantly different incentives to respond when cross-border-active banks encounter difficulties. Most of these issues have only begun to be seriously evaluated. This volume, one of the first attempts to address these issues, brings together experts and regulators from different countries. The wide range of topics discussed include: the current landscape of cross-border bank activity, the resulting competitive implications, emerging challenges for prudential regulation, safety net concerns, failure resolution issues, and the potential future evolution of international banking.

This paper reviews the recent literature on cross-border banking, with a focus on policy implications. Cross-border banking has increased sharply in recent decades, particularly in the form of entry, and has affected the development of financial systems, access to financial services, and stability. Reviewing the empirical literature, the author finds much, although not uniform, evidence that cross-border banking supports the development of an efficient and stable financial system that offers a wide access to quality financial services at low cost. But as better financial systems have more cross-border banking, the relationship between cross-border banking and competitiveness has to be carefully judged. While developing countries have some special conditions, provided a minimum degree of oversight is in place, they experience effects similar to industrial countries. There are some questions, though, on the effects of cross-border banking on lending based on softer information and on stability. Relevant experiences from capital markets show that the degree of cross-border financial activities can affect local market sustainability and there can be path dependency when opening up to cross-border competition. Reviewing the fast changing landscape of financial services provision, the author argues that cross-border banking highlights the increased importance of competition policy in financial services provision. This competition policy cannot be traditional, institutional based, but will need to resemble that used in other network industries. Furthermore, with globalization accelerating, competition policy will need to be global, supported by greater cross-border institutional collaboration and using the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) process and the disciplines of the World Trade Organization. GATS can be of special value to developing countries as it provides a binding, pro-competition framework that has proven more difficult to establish otherwise.

This paper introduces a comprehensive database on bank ownership for 137 countries over 1995-2009, and reviews foreign bank behavior and impact. It documents substantial increases in foreign bank presence, with many more home and host countries. Current market shares of foreign banks average 20 percent in OECD countries and 50 percent elsewhere. Foreign banks have higher capital and more liquidity, but lower profitability than domestic banks do. Only in developing countries is foreign bank presence negatively related with domestic credit creation. During the global crisis foreign banks reduced credit more compared to domestic banks, except when they dominated the host banking systems.

Pan-African banks are expanding rapidly across the continent, creating cross-border networks, and having a systemic presence in the banking sectors of many Sub-Saharan African countries. These banking groups are fostering financial development and economic integration, stimulating competition and efficiency, introducing product innovation and modern management and information systems, and bringing higher skills and expertise to host countries. At the same time, the rise of pan-African banks presents new challenges for regulators and supervisors. As networks expand, new channels for transmission of macro-financial risks and spillovers across home and host countries may emerge. To ensure that the gains from cross border banking are sustained and avoid raising financial stability risks, enhanced cross-border cooperation on regulatory and supervisory oversight is needed, in particular to support effective supervision on a consolidated basis. This paper takes stock of the development of pan-African banking groups; identifies regulatory, supervisory and resolution gaps; and suggests how the IMF can help the authorities address the related challenges.

This peer-reviewed volume from the Society for the Study of Business and Finance, discusses current issues in globalization and financial system from an international political and economic perspective. Contemporary instruments and actors in the global financial system are specially analyzed and the discussion of managerial and financial issues of the global financial strategies offers novelty to readers and researchers in the field.

This book explores the potential and problems of bank safety and efficiency arising from the rapidly growing area of cross-border banking in the form of branches or subsidiaries with primarily only national prudential regulation. There are likely to be differences in the treatment of the same bank operating in different countries or of different banks from different home countries operating in the same country with respect to deposit insurance provisions, declaration of insolvency, resolution of insolvencies, and lender of last resort protection. The book identifies these protection problems and discusses possible solutions, such as greater cross-border cooperation, harmonization and organizations. The contributors to this book include experts from different countries and from a wide range of affiliations, including academia, regulators, practitioners, and international organizations. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Cross-Border Banking Regulation OCo A WayForward: The European Case (68 KB). Contents: Special Addresses: Cross-Border Banking Regulation OCo A Way Forward: The European Case (Stefan Ingves); Remarks before the Conference on International Financial Instability (Sheila C Bair); Benign Financial Conditions, Asset Management, and Political Risks: Trying to Make Sense of Our Times (Raghuram G Rajan); International Financial Instability: Cross-Border Banking and National Regulation Chicago OCo Dinner Remarks (Jean Pierre Sabourin); Landscape of International Banking and Financial Crises: Current State of Cross-Border Banking (Dirk Schoenmaker & Christiaan van Laecke); Actual and Near-Miss Cross-Border Crises (Carl-Johan Lindgren); A Review of Financial Stability Reports (Sander Oosterloo, Jakob de Haan, & Richard Jong-A-Pin); Discussion of Landscape of International Banking and Financial Crises (Luc Laeven); Causes and Conditions for Cross-Border Instability Transmission and Threats to Stability: Cross-Border Contagion Links and Banking Problems in the Nordic Countries (Bent Vale); Currency Crises, (Hidden) Linkages, and Volume (Max Bruche, Jon Danielsson & Gabriele Galati); What Do We Know about the Performance and Risk of Hedge Funds? (Triphon Phumiwasana, Tong Li, James R Barth & Glenn Yago); Remarks on Causes and Conditions of Financial Instability Panel (Garry Schinasi); Prudential Supervision: Home Country versus Cross-Border Negative Externalities in Large Banking Organization Failures and How to Avoid Them (Robert A Eisenbeis); Conflicts between Home and Host Country Prudential Supervisors (Richard J Herring); Cross-Border Nonbank Risks and Regulatory Cooperation (Paul Wright); Challenges in Cross-Border Supervision and Regulation (Eric Rosengren); Government Safety Net: Bagehot and Coase Meet the Single European Market (V tor Gaspar); Banking in a Changing World: Issues and Questions in the Resolution of Cross-Border Banks (Michael Krimminger); International Banks, Cross-Border Guarantees, and Regulation (Andrew Powell & Giovanni Majnoni); Deposit Insurance, Bank Resolution, and Lender of Last Resort OCo Putting the Pieces Together (Thorsten Beck); Insolvency Resolution: Cross-Border Resolution of Banking Crises (Rosa Mar a Lastra); Bridge Banks and Too Big to Fail: Systemic Risk Exemption (David G Mayes); Prompt Corrective Action: Is There a Case for an International Banking Standard? (Mar a J Nieto & Larry D Wall); Insolvency Resolution: Key Issues Raised by the Papers (Peter G Brierley); Cross-Border Crisis Prevention: Public and Private Strategies: Supervisory Arrangements, LOLR, and Crisis Management in a Single European Banking Market (Arnoud W A Boot); Regulation and Crisis Prevention in the Evolving Global Market (David S Hoelscher & David C Parker); Derivatives Governance and Financial Stability (David Mengle); Cross-Border Crisis Prevention: Public and Private Strategies (Gerard Caprio, Jr.); Where to from Here: Policy Panel: Cross-Border Banking: Where to from Here? (Mutsuo Hatano); Remarks on Deposit Insurance Policy (Andrey Melnikov); The Importance of Planning for Large Bank Insolvencies (Arthur J Murton); Where to from Here: Policy Panel (Guy Saint-Pierre); Some Private-Sector Thoughts on Home/Host-Country Supervisory Issues (Lawrence R Uhlick). Readership: Academics and upper-level undergraduate or graduate students in the areas of financial institutions, banking, financial regulation, or international financial markets; financial regulators, policy-makers, and consultants."