On net interest margins in the banking sector: A comparative study in Latin American countries

This paper aims to analyze bank concentration and its impact on net interest income in five Latin American countries, selecting a set of countries based on their distinctive monetary characteristics and crossborder economic relationships.We run a panel data econometric model for commercial banks ope...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Proaño-Rivera, Bladimir, Feria Domínguez, José Manuel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO)
Repositorio:RIO. Repositorio Institucional Olavide
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:rio.upo.es:10433/23893
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10433/23893
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Intermediation margin
Concentration
Banking industry
Panel data
Latin America
Descripción
Sumario:This paper aims to analyze bank concentration and its impact on net interest income in five Latin American countries, selecting a set of countries based on their distinctive monetary characteristics and crossborder economic relationships.We run a panel data econometric model for commercial banks operating in both dollarized and non-dollarized countries over the period 2015 to 2019.The banking industry conforms for the most part to an oligopolistic structure with the exception of Panama, which shows evidence of being a competitive market. In addition, bank concentration reduces, to some extent, the intermediation margin in Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia and Peru. Our results indicate that the relationship between bank concentration and stability supports the concentration-stability hypothesis; higher concentration and well-capitalized banks increase financial stability and financial development. This study makes a significant contribution to the current body of literature by analyzing financial intermediation margins in a group of dollarized and non-dollarized Latin America.