Brazil : The Industry Structure of Banking Services

Abstract

Understanding the industry structure of banking services in Brazil is an important task both for the financial community at large and for country specialists. The Brazilian financial system is the largest and most sophisticated in Latin America. This study is organized into five sections after the introduction, in line with the main analytical building blocks, and complemented by appendices that describe methodological aspects in more detail. Section 2 presents some stylized facts on the Brazilian banking system and compares it to a peer group of countries. Section 3 describes and presents the results of the industrial organization perspective (indirect approach). Section 4 presents the methodology and results -- including sensitivity analysis -- of the direct approach. Section 5 identifies and discusses the characteristics and main drivers of revenues, costs and risks by market segment, while Section 6 concludes and presents policy implications.