Evaluating the efficiency of Latin American banks

Abstract

Latin American banking sector has undergone tremendous changes over the years as a result of changes in regulation, globalization and developments in Telecommunications and Information Technology. A very important development has been financial liberalization where Latin America opened its doors to foreign banks. An important issue that needs to be addressed is whether the local commercial banks are efficient enough in their operations to be economically viable in a highly competitive environment. The objective of this study is to examine the factors behind bank profitability, following financial liberalization in five countries, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela, using 2004 financial data.Banking efficiency; financial liberalization; Latin American banking