Preventing Banking Sector Distress and Crises in Latin America: Proceedings of a Conference Held in Washington, D.C., April 15-16, 1996.

Over the last two decades banking systems in Latin America have been subject to considerable banking distress and numerous crises. This conference looked at proposals for preventing such episodes. The discussions covered the genesis and implications of deposit insurance cum fractional reserve requirements; the experience with market-based regulations in Chile and in New Zealand and the narrow banking proposal (100 percent reserves on demand deposits), with a discussion of how Argentina's path towards this type of banking system helped this country weather its 1995 banking crisis.