Reaching out
Subtitle: access to and use of banking services across countries
By: Thorsten Beck ... [et al.].
Contributors: Beck, Thorsten.; World Bank.
Series: Policy research working paper ;; 3754; Policy research working papers (Online) ;; 3754.
Publisher: World Bank
Published: 2005
Place of publication: [Washington, D.C
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Banks and banking, International.
Description: "The authors (1) present new indicators of banking sector penetration across 99 countries based on a survey of bank regulatory authorities, (2) show that these indicators predict household and firm use of banking services, (3) explore the association between the outreach indicators and measures of financial, institutional, and infrastructure development across countries, and (4) relate these banking outreach indicators to measures of firms' financing constraints.  In particular, they find that greater outreach is correlated with standard measures of financial development, as well as with economic activity.  Controlling for these factors, the authors find that better communication and transport infrastructure and better governance are also associated with greater outreach.  Government ownership of financial institutions translates into lower access, while more concentrated banking systems are associated with greater outreach.  Finally, firms in countries with higher branch and ATM penetration and higher use of loan services report lower financing obstacles, thus linking banking sector outreach to the alleviation of firms' financing constraints. "--World Bank web site.
Notes: Also available in print.
Includes bibliographical references.
Title from PDF file as viewed on 10/26/2005.
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.