Banking sector resilience and the global financial crisis: Mexico in cross-national perspective

Abstract

Generally the global financial crisis had relatively limited impact on Latin American financial systems. The effect of the crisis on the real economy in Latin America traveled through trade rather than finance. This paper examines explanations for the comparatively modest impact of the global crisis on the Mexican financial system. It explores two different hypotheses. One is that the Mexican financial system did not suffer contagion because it was not very sophisticated or globally integrated. The other hypothesis is that the history of financial crisis encouraged effective regulations that mitigated the global charge toward market-based banking in the Mexico case and explains why the financial system was relatively unscathed by the crisis.

Generalmente la crisis global financiera ha tendido relativamente un impacto limitado en los sistemas financieros en Latinoamérica. Este documento examina las explicaciones del comparativamente modesto impacto de la crisis global financiera en el sistema financiero mexicano. Una de ella es que el sistema financiero mexicano no sufrió de contagio porque este no era muy sofisticado ni tampoco lo global y suficientemente integrado. La otra hipótesis es que la historia de la crisis financiera fomentó regulaciones efectivas que mitigaron la carga global hacia el sector bancario basado en el mercado en el caso de México y explica porqué el sistema financiero fue relativamente indemne.