ABSTRACT
Following the independence achieved at the beginning of the 19th century, each national financial system in Latin America has had a turbulent history, with periods of euphoria, crises triggered by external shocks, and a litany of collapses brought on in large part by home-grown misdeeds. This unsettled underpinning has been a persistent obstacle to the development of capital markets throughout the region. This summary of this lurid and dramatic history will only touch on watershed events and reforms that are exemplars of the many waves of reform that have rolled through the region. These waves of financial reform and innovation are still coming. In each country, debate still simmers about what is the best way of organizing and regulating each national financial system.
