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Efficiency and Risk in Latin American Banking: Explaining Resilience

Using an unbalanced panel of 272 commercial banks, we estimate cost and revenue efficiency scores for fifteen Latin American and Caribbean countries over the period 2001-8. Using Granger causality techniques, we find evidence that in the face of increased risk and lowered capital, banks have tended to improve cost efficiency. The results also indicate that cost efficiency is negatively related with revenue efficiency, both dynamically and across countries. Market concentration is related to greater revenue efficiency. In the absence of developed capital markets, competitive forces and strengthened regulation seem to be forcing cost-efficiency improvements. Banks with market power, however, seem to be able to pass on to customers the cost of raising capital buffers and provisioning for risk.