1Banking Systems Around the Globe: Do Regulation and Ownership Affect Performance and Stability?

and Iffath Sharif. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Financial systems in countries throughout the world range from fairly rudimentary to quite sophisticated and from extremely fragile to relatively stable. A growing number of studies provide empirical evidence showing that well-functioning financial systems accelerate long-run economic growth by allocating funds to more productive investments than poorly-develope