The Banking and Financial Structure in the Nafta Countries and Chile

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect at the start of 1994, production and trade in goods and services have become ever more integrated in the region. Banking and financial systems thus also must increasingly inform, adjudicate, transact, invest, insure, and intermediate all across North America. Presently, however, there is no single or up-to-date source of information on the banking and finance systems of current (Canada, the United States, and Mexico) and prospective (Chile) NAFTA countries. This volume presents the first report on the banking and financial structure of each of the three NAFTA countries and Chile.

I: The Banking and Financial System of Canada: Steady Development.- 1. Canada’s Economy and Financial System: Recent and Prospective Developments and the Policy Issues They Pose.- 2. Challenges for the Further Restructuring of the Financial-Services Industry in Canada.- II: The Banking and Financial System of Chile: A Cautious Opening.- 3. Financial Integration and Chile’s Macroeconomic Performance.- 4. Macroeconomic and Financial Policy in Chile.- 5. The Current Debate over Changes in Chile’s Bank Act.- III: The Banking and Financial System of Mexico under Stress.- 6. Recovering Stability and Growth in Mexico’s Economy and Financial System.- 7. Crisis Management and Institutional Change Aimed at the Prevention of Future Crises.- IV: The Banking and Financial System of the United States Reconfigured.- 8. The Political Economy of Banking and Financial Regulation in the United States.- 9. The Transformation of the U.S. Financial System: Public Policy Implications.