Development and efficiency of the banking sector in a transitional economy : Hungarian experience

Abstract

The paper analyzes the experiences and developments of Hungarian banking sector during the transitional process from a centralized economy to a market-oriented system.The paper identifies that early reorganization initiatives, flexible approaches to privatization, and liberal policies towards foreign banks involvement with the domestic institutions helped to build a relatively strong and increasingly efficient banking system.Banks with higher foreign bank ownership involvement were associated with lower inefficiency.