Competitividade e eficiência do sistema financeiro nacional: 1995-2008

Abstract

Through the articulation of three different databases obtained from Brazil´s Central Bank, the present work investigates the evolution of indicators related to the levels of competitiveness and efficiency of the Brazilian National Financial System (SFN) during the period 1995-2008. The level of competitiveness of the SFN is measured through the estimation of Panzar-Rosse, Lerner and Boone indicators. Parametric (Data Envelopment Analysis) and non-parametric (Stochastic Frontier Approach) methods, as well as accounting ratios, provide proxies of microeconomic efficiency. Through an analysis of the net interest margins charged and of the amount of credit offered as a proportion of total assets, it is possible to infer the macroeconomic efficiency of the financial sector. The goal of identifying the potential effects arising from the process of opening, privatization and consolidation of the SFN, on course since the mid-nineties, is fulfilled by investigating the relationship between the patterns of ownership and the size of financial institutions and their correspondent efficiency indicators. The analysis of a variety of accounting variables which, in an indirect way, are related to the sector´s efficiency allows us to test the validity of arguments advanced in the context of the debate about the convenience of opening the Brazilian domestic market to foreign institutions.