Notre étude a été inspirée par l’observation que malgré les efforts considérables en matière de la libéralisation financière au Malawi à partir de la fin des années 1980, les résultats apparents étaient plutôt médiocres, notamment en ce qui concerne la persistance de marges d’intermédiation (spreads) élevés. L’objectif central de notre travail est d’essayer d’élucider pourquoi. Notre hypothèse centrale est que si l’on ne tient pas compte du comportement des banques en matière de leurs réactions vis-à-vis de leurs incitations et leurs contraintes dans la mise en place de la politique de la libéralisation financière, on est voué à la déception en matière des résultats. L’étude montre que dans une situation économique caractérisée par une instabilité macroéconomique, les banques ont moins d’incitations à être plus efficientes du point de vue macroéconomique, c’est à dire en agissant dans la direction de l’approfondissement financier et de l’octroi de crédit au secteur privé. Bien au contraire, tout en agissant de manière rationnelle, elles sont tentées de rechercher des rentes faciles et sûres qui viennent du financement des déficits publics. Ceci leur permet d’accomplir deux objectifs : maximiser leur profit et minimiser leur risque-crédit, notamment en repoussant les « contraintes externes » imposées par les conditions économiques -notamment les taux d’escompte élevées- à leur clients à travers la combinaison d’une augmentation de taux d'intérêt sur les prêts et d’une faible augmentation des taux d'intérêt sur les dépôts. / This study was inspired by the observation that despite the considerable efforts in financialliberalization in Malawi from the late 1980s, the apparent results were mediocre, especially with regardto the persistence of high intermediation margins (spreads). The central objective of this study is to tryto investigate why. The key hypothesis is that if one does not take into account of bank behavior interms of how banks react vis-à-vis their incentives and constraints during the process of financialliberalization, the results are likely to be disappointing. The study shows that in an economic situationcharacterized by macroeconomic instability, banks have less incentive to be more efficient from amacroeconomic perspective, i.e., by enhancing financial deepening through higher credit to the privatesector. On the contrary, while acting rationally, they are tempted to look for easy and safe returnscoming from financing government deficits. This allows them to accomplish two objectives: maximizingprofit and minimizing credit risk, notably by pushing the "external constraints" imposed by economicconditions - including high rediscount rates- to their customers through a combination of an increasein interest rates on loans and a smaller increase in interest rates on deposits.Keywords: financial liberalization, bank behavior, intermediation margins, bank

Ces dernières décennies ont été marquées par une succession de crises financières qui trouvent principalement leur origine ou ont été amplifiées par les systèmes bancaires. L'importance du secteur bancaire dans tout processus de développement économique a fait que les crises se sont considérablement ressenties dans la sphère réelle. Le rebondissement et l'extension des crises ont ravivé le débat sur la solidité et la pérennité des banques. Afin d'améliorer la stabilité du système bancaire international et de supprimer les distorsions de concurrence entre pays, le Comité de Bâle sur le Contrôle Bancaire a formulé en 1988 un ensemble de règles prudentielles. La réglementation du capital bancaire est au coeur du dispositif réglementaire. La Commission Bancaire de l' UEMOA s'en est inspirée dans l'élaboration d'un certain nombre de règlements définissant les principales normes minimales de solvabilité, de liquidité et de gestion. L'objet de cette thèse est une réflexion sur les modalités de la solidité et de la pérennité des systèmes bancaires dans les pays de la zone UEMOA. La thèse soulève ainsi plusieurs questions : comment prévenir le risque de défaillance des banques de l' UEMOA à travers un contrôle des variables de structure ? Quels sont les facteurs explicatifs de la rentabilité des banques de la zone UEMOA ? Le CAMEL peut-il être considéré comme un bon système d'alerte précoce des difficultés bancaire dans la zone ? Quel est le niveau d'efficacité des banques de l' UEMOA ? Chaque question fait l'objet d'un essai dans la thèse.Dans le premier essai, le z-score de ROY (1952) est utilisé comme indicateur du risque de défaillance bancaire, et la Méthode des Moments Généralisés comme méthode d'estimation. Dans le deuxième essai, les marges d'intermédiation sont considérées comme proxy de la rentabilité bancaire. Chaque pays ayant ses propres spécificités une estimation sur données de panel à effets spécifiques individuels est adoptée. Dans le troisième essai, un modèle dichotomique qui fait la distinction entre banques en bonne santé et banques probablement fragiles est utilisé et une forme fonctionnelle logistique. Dans le dernier essai, l'approche paramétrique des frontières stochastiques avec une spécification translogarithmique est utilisée pour estimer la fonction de coût total des banques et pour déterminer les scores d'efficacité des banques. / Recent decades have been marked by a succession of financial crisis which are mainly caused or deepen by the banking system. Banking has such an impact on economic growth process that crisis have had direct drawbacks on real life. The length and extent of crisis have raised the debate about the reliability and sustainability of banking. To improve the stability of the internationalbanking system and to put an end to unfair competition between countries, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 1988 made a set of prudential rules. The regulation of bank capital is at the center of the regulatory system. The WAMU Banking Commission has drawn inspiration in the development of a number of regulations defining the key minimum standards solvency, liquidity and management.This thesis is a reflection on the terms of the strength and sustainability of the banking systems in countries of the WAEMU zone. The thesis thus raises several questions : how to prevent the risk of failure-bankrupcy- of WAEMU banks through a control of structural factors ? What are the factors explaining the profitability of banks in the WAEMU zone ? Can the CAMELS be considered as a reliable warning system of banking problems in the area ?What is the degree of efficiency of WAEMU banks ? Each raised question consist an essay in the thesis.First, the z-score of ROY (1952) is used as an indicator of the risk of bank failure and the Generalized Method of Moments as estimation tool. Second, intermediation margins are taken as proxy of bank profitability. Known that each country has its own features, estimate panel data to specific individual effects is adopted. Third, a dichotomous model that distinguishes healthybanks from probably weak banks is used. To finish, the parametric approach of stochastic frontiers with translogarithmique arrangement is used to deduct the total cost function of banks and to determine the efficiency of bank scores.

The greater competition and concentration in South Africa's financial sector has put South African banks under more constraints and led to questioning of their present performance. With a greater demand for financial services and more complains about the low quality of financial services and charges being too high, there has been increasing debate about how efficient South African banks really are. This study discusses performance evaluation, the traditional financial and non-financial measures used, and their limitations. The concept of bank efficiency is also briefly discussed, including scale efficiency, scope efficiency, X-efficiency, cost efficiency, standard profit efficiency, alternative profit efficiency and the risk component of bank efficiency. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was chosen as the most appropriate method to estimate the scale efficiency and technical efficiency of 37 districts (and 10 provinces) of one of the largest banks in South Africa. 'DEA involves solving linear programming problems that generate a non-parametric, piecewise linear convex frontier that envelops the input and output data relative to which cost is minimized' (Fare et al., 1985b:193). The intermediation approach was used incorporating both the input- and output-orientated approach under variable returns to scale. The analyses indicated that 19 districts out of the 37 districts were not at least once fully technically efficient during the 22 months (input- and output-orientated). The same results were found with regard to scale efficiency: 17 districts out of the 37 districts were not at least once fully scale efficient (input-orientated) and 19 districts out of the 37 districts were not at least once fully scale efficient (output-orientated), during the 22 months. Synergy was found in 6 provinces out of the 10 provinces (input- and output-orientated). / Thesis (M.Com. (Risk Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The greater competition and concentration in South Africa's financial sector has put South African banks under more constraints and led to questioning of their present performance. With a greater demand for financial services and more complains about the low quality of financial services and charges being too high, there has been increasing debate about how efficient South African banks really are. This study discusses performance evaluation, the traditional financial and non-financial measures used, and their limitations. The concept of bank efficiency is also briefly discussed, including scale efficiency, scope efficiency, X-efficiency, cost efficiency, standard profit efficiency, alternative profit efficiency and the risk component of bank efficiency. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was chosen as the most appropriate method to estimate the scale efficiency and technical efficiency of 37 districts (and 10 provinces) of one of the largest banks in South Africa. 'DEA involves solving linear programming problems that generate a non-parametric, piecewise linear convex frontier that envelops the input and output data relative to which cost is minimized' (Fare et al., 1985b:193). The intermediation approach was used incorporating both the input- and output-orientated approach under variable returns to scale. The analyses indicated that 19 districts out of the 37 districts were not at least once fully technically efficient during the 22 months (input- and output-orientated). The same results were found with regard to scale efficiency: 17 districts out of the 37 districts were not at least once fully scale efficient (input-orientated) and 19 districts out of the 37 districts were not at least once fully scale efficient (output-orientated), during the 22 months. Synergy was found in 6 provinces out of the 10 provinces (input- and output-orientated). / Thesis (M.Com. (Risk Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.