Atuação de Bancos Estrangeiros no Brasil: mercado de crédito e de derivativos de 2005 a 2011

This study investigates the role of the group of foreign banks in Brazil between 2005 and 2011. It focuses on their involvement on foreign exchange derivatives and credit markets, especially during the financial crisis in 2008/2009. Foreign banks account for almost a quarter of the supply of non-directed credit. The financial crisis negatively affected the supply of loans by foreign banks, even more intensively and longer than domestic private banks. Nevertheless, in the post-crisis period, namely from the third quarter of 2010 until the end of 2011, the growth rate of foreign banks’ lending was larger than those of other banks. The interest rates that foreign banks charge in some types of loans are, on average, lower than those charged by domestic banks. In the currency derivatives market, foreign banks play an important role in providing such instruments, especially for the non-financial sector and for institutional investors. The results show that, during the crisis and especially in the post-crisis period, domestic private banks reduced their share in such markets. In addition, we show that this market is less concentrated than the credit market.