Liberalização e desregulamentação bancária: motivações, consequências e adaptações [Liberalization and deregulation in the banking industry: motivations, outcomes, and adaptations]

Over the last two decades, almost all countries in the world have experienced a noticeable process of liberalization and deregulation. This process has both motivated and propelled changes in the very competitive dynamics of the banking industry. Therefore, various OECD countries have changed their regulatory/prudential practices concerning the banking market, in order to make them more suitable to the new competitive environment. Conversely, liberalization and deregulation in developing countries have often been started and deepened without any prior effort to strengthen and/or change the banking regulatory arrangements. The aim of this paper is to outline some features of such a process, by underlining some of the observed outcomes in the countries where it has gone further as well as the necessary adaptations for the banking regulation policy.