Themes in Southeast European Banking: A Review of Literature

In this paper we review the literature around three main research questions: the impact of foreign bank entry on net interest margins, financial system stability and credit supply. We also motivate the focus on Southeast European (SEE) countries. SEE economies although under the umbrella of European transition economies exhibit different macroeconomic and financial sector features from these countries and as such could benefit from a more focused empirical investigation. This could tailor and improve the recommendations given to policymakers in these countries which will help promote financial and economic development. Other countries in the world that share similar macroeconomic and financial sector features could benefit from the results as well. In addition, it is argued that SEE countries offer a unique laboratory for the proposed research questions because of the dramatic increase of foreign bank presence in these countries and their low level of financial and economic development. Keywords: foreign bank entry, Southeast Europe, net interest margins, financial system stability, credit supply DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-18-07 Publication date:September 30th 202