Banking Internationalisation and the Expansion Strategies of European Banks to Brazil during the 1990s

This paper aims at analysing the determinants of the recent wave of European banks to Brazil in the context of the recent phase of banking internationalisation. The first part analyses the process of banking internationalisation from both an analytical and an historical approach. Focusing on the determinants of the banking internationalisation process, the paper shows that (i) the recent wave of banking internationalisation is characterised not only for financial institutions pursuing their existing relationships, but also and increasingly by a greater integration into the local market; (ii) banks operating in countries where the banking sector is larger and more profitable should be able to export a superior skill and are more likely to expand their activities abroad. The second part of the paper examines the determinants of the expansion of European banks in Brazil, as well as the expansion strategy of the four major European banks in Latin America – BSCH, BBVA, HSBC and ABN-Amro. In this regard, it shows that the recent wave of European banks entering Latin America and Brazil is determined by several factors, that include the process of restructuring the banking sector under the EMU; the dynamics of the internationalisation of the Spanish banks, since they have been the main players in the recent influx of foreign banks into Latin America; the process of market deregulation in the region since the early 1990s, in the broader context of economic and political reforms; the better prospects of the region for increasing returns to financial institutions compared to developed countries, as well as the potential gains in efficiency. Besides, it also shows that one of the common features of the four major European banks in Latin America – BSCH, BBVA, HSBC and ABNAmro – is that all the top four are big universal banks that choose to expand abroad as a strategy to expand their activities. More precisely, expanding abroad is not only a source of diversification of earnings, but also a way to strengthen their position in the European banking market under the pressure of economic and monetary union.

"Inflation Targeting in Brazil"

The purpose of this paper is to examine inflation targeting (IT) in emerging countries by concentrating essentially on the case of Brazil. The IT monetary policy regime has been adopted by a significant number of countries. While the focus of this paper is on Brazil, which began inflation targeting in 1999, we also examine the experience of other countries, both for comparative purposes and for evidence of the extent of this "new" economic policy's success. In addition, we compare the experience of Brazil with that of non-IT countries, and ask the question of whether adopting IT makes a difference in the fight against inflation.

Strategy for Economic Growth in Brazil: a Post Keynesian Approach

The paper proposes a Keynesian strategy for economic policy that aims to achieve higher, stable and sustained economic growth in Brazil. Its main hypothesis is that the current poor growth performance of the Brazilian economy is due to macroeconomic and structural constraints rather than to the lack of microeconomic reforms.economic policy, economic growth, Post-Keynesian theory

INTERRELATED BANK STRATEGIES, FINANCIAL FRAGILITY AND CREDIT EXPANSION: A POST KEYNESIAN APPROACH

This paper aims at clarifying the relationship between individual bank and banking industry behavior in credit expansion. We argue that the balance sheet structure of an individual bank is only partially determined by its management decision about how aggressively to expand credit; it is also determined by the balance sheet positions of other banks. This relationship is explicitly shown by a disaggregation of the variable that enters into the simple money multiplier. The approach developed here opens a way to integrating the micro and macro levels in a Keynesian banking-system analysis.

Regulação dos fluxos de capitais no Brasil:Uma avaliação do período 2009-2013

Brazil was one of the emerging countries that had a stronger trend of currency appreciation from the 2nd quarter of 2009 to July 2011. Under this context that can be understood the implementation of capital account regulation (CAR) after 2009, which was complemented with another kind of regulation, the so-called FX Derivatives Regulation (FXDR). This paper shows that only when Brazilian government adopted these two kinds of regulations simultaneously, the policy effectiveness increased in terms of protecting the Brazilian currency from upward pressures. Brazilian experience also highlights that it is not possible to establish a hierarchy between temporary instruments to manage capital flows and permanent prudential measures, as supported by the IMF current approach371108129O Brasil foi um dos países emergentes que enfrentou fortes pressões de apreciação cambial entre o 2º trimestre de 2009 e julho de 2011. É sob este contexto que pode ser entendida a aplicação da Regulação da Conta Capital (CAR) depois de 2009, que foi complementada com outro tipo de regulação, a Regulação dos Derivativos Cambiais (FXDR). Este trabalho mostra que, somente quando o governo brasileiro adotou estes dois tipos de regulação simultaneamente, houve um aumento da eficácia das políticas em deter essas pressões. A experiência brasileira também revela que não é possível estabelecer uma hierarquia entre os instrumentos temporários para gerenciar fluxos de capital e medidas prudenciais permanentes, tal como defende a abordagem atual do FM

Concentração Regional do Crédito e Consolidação Bancária no Brasil: Uma Análise Pós-Real

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar como o processo de consolidação bancária brasileiro, a partir da implementação do Plano Real, impactou a distribuição e concessão do crédito regionalmente. A partir da análise de dados estatísticos e da utilização da análise de dados em painel, avaliamos as implicações desse processo sobre o comportamento do setor bancário e seus efeitos sobre a concessão e distribuição de crédito regional. Os resultados obtidos no exercício empírico para o período 1994-2006 mostram indícios a favor da hipótese de que o processo de reestruturação bancária teve efeito negativo sobre a disponibilidade regional do crédito, sobretudo nas regiões periféricas do País. Adicionalmente, há evidências de que fatores monetários são importantes na explicação da tendência a concentração regional do crédito no Brasil.Oferta de Crédito, Economia Regional, Setor Bancário Brasileiro.