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.