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Revision with unchanged content. After the fall of the Berlin wall, the socialist countries of Central and Eastern Eu rope embarked on a process of profound economic transition. An im por tant element of this transition process has been the creation of a well-functio ning banking sector. This book examines the impact of multinational banks on the development of banking sectors across a range of European transition countries. The main focus is on how multinational banks influence the stability and composition of bank lending in this region. To address this question, this study examines: the increasing importance of multinational bank credit from the perspective of the local business sector; the composition of multinational bank lending in terms of local credit versus cross-border credit; the relative stability of mul ti na tional bank credit growth; the customer orientation of multinational banks; and the internal structure of these banks. The book is addressed to professionals in commercial banks, central banks and supervisory authorities, both in the transition region and in Western Eu rope. It is also directed towards researchers in the fields of transition eco no mics and finance.

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Holds a Masters degree in economics from the Uni versity of Nijmegen and a PhD in economics from Utrecht University. He joined the Dutch central bank in 1999, where he worked as a senior econo mist at the Banking Supervision Department, the European Integration Department and the Mone tary Policy Department.

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