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Bank performance in transition economies

This paper examines the performance of 515 banks in 16 transition economies for the years 1994-99 based on their public financial accounts. We first examine lending behaviour and probability distribution of bank profitability to determine whether these banks exhibit behaviour and performance associated with excessive risk-taking. While we do not find evidence of excessive risk-taking on average where there is significant progress in banking and related enterprise reforms, there may be a minority of poorly capitalised banks that do take excessive risks, particularly where progress in reform is less advanced.