This study examines China's efforts to transform its financial system to support an emerging market economy. China's first serious financial reforms began in 1984 with the separation of the People's Bank of China from other commercial banks. By 1991 China had moved from a centrally administered monobank system to a diversified financial institutions framework. Other reforms followed such as the ones carried out in 1993. Selected banking indicators are used to investigate the impact of these reforms. We find strongly significant differences between the pre-1993 and post-1993 periods for all indicators except the growth rates of domestic credit and deposits and the foreign liabilities to total deposits ratio. Our results suggest that although the financial reform of 1993 has reduced the risk of an imminent banking crisis, China's financial system is still inadequate and in risk of failing.

Transition countries, Enterprise reforms, Business structures, Taxonomic methods, Discriminant analysis, O57, C10,

The Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 plunged countries into a Great Recession and focused the world’s attention on the global stock markets. The global contagion has a major impact on global stock markets, with the U.S. DJIA falling to 6,547.05 on March 9, 2009 from a high of 14,164.53 on October 9, 2007, with a loss of more than 54%. Other stock markets also had a precipitous drop during the financial crisis. However, some equity markets have recovered while others have not. This paper looks at how global markets compared in their recovery. This paper also investigates the advanced countries’ recovery relative to the emerging and developing countries in the aftermath of the financial crisis and their ability to climb back to the pre-financial crisis levels. Analysis is provided for 31 stock indexes from January 2005 to March 2013. In 2013 the majority of analysed stock markets recovered from the crises regardless of if they belong to the group of developed or emerging markets.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractThe transition countries have been pursuing a market economy since the early 1990s. Crucial reforms in the banking and financial sectors are necessary to provide a financial structure that supports a market economy, particularly the private and enterprise sector, leading to economic growth. This paper examines the banking and financial development in the transition countries. Arguments for banking reforms are made and the conditions for an efficient banking system are examined. A comparison in the progress of banking reforms and economic growth provides useful lessons not only for the transition countries but for developing and other emerging countries. Lastly, policy choices are suggested for the transition countries.

A B S T R A C TNumerous studies show foreign banks' effect on the economic and financial progress in transition countries, but few investigate the determinant factors that attract foreign bank entry into these emerging countries. The primary objective of this paper is to identify and investigate which factors attract foreign bank entry into transition countries using a panel data study. The study is carried out separately for three groups of European transition countries: CEEB, CIS, and SEE. Although countries that belonged to the former Soviet-bloc are often considered as similar, they differ essentially in their economic and financial system development. Our results show that these differences cause significant differences in factors influencing foreign bank entries into each group of transition states. For the CEEB and CIS countries, the most important factors that influenced foreign bank entry are the number of banks (total and foreign-owned) and non-performing loans. For the SEE countries, the determinant factors of foreign bank entry seem less economically driven than politically motivated. Keywords: Foreign Banks' Effect, Foreign Bank Entry, European Transition Countires, CEEB, CIS, SEE Ⅰ. IntroductionAlthough the transition countries in this study-Central and East Europe and the Baltics (CEEB), South East European (SEE), and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)-implemented different policies and reforms at different stages, the characteristics of their financial sector two decades after the break-up of the Soviet Union are basically similar: strong domination by commercial banks which are increasingly foreign-owned lending mainly to the government, a highly illiquid and volatile stock market, inadequate domestic financing, and long-term financing mainly from foreign direct investment. The CEEB and SEE countries achieved further progress than the CIS countries. The average EBRD index for bank reforms indicates that the CEEB countries made further progress than the SEE and CIS countries and improved in all groups (Figure 1). The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) banking sector index ranges from little reform with an index of 1 to comparable western standards with an index of 4+. Although not at western European standards, the CEEB banks today are operating at levels that are more efficient and effective than a decade ago with improved regulation and supervision processes in place. A score of 3 indicates that the CEEB countries established bankruptcy and insolvency procedures for failed banks, subjected the banks to hard budget constraints, and eliminated the easy access to credit from the central bank. The CEEB countries progressed much further in banking reforms (EBRD index between 2.7 and 4.0) than the SEE (EBRD index between 1.0 and 4.0) and CIS (EBRD index between 1.0 and 3.0) countries, particularly in global integration and in banking