ISBN 978-92-9084-297-2 (printed) Thorsten Beck is professor of banking and finance at Cass Business School in London. He is also a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the CESifo. He was professor of economics from 2008 to 2014 at Tilburg University and the founding chair of the European Banking Center from 2008 to 2013. Previously he worked in the research department of the World Bank and has also worked as consultant for -among others -the IMF, the European Commission, and the German Development Corporation. His research, academic publications and operational work have focused on two major questions: What is the relationship between finance and economic development? What policiesThe Contributors ix are needed to build a sound and effective financial system? Recently, he has concentrated on access to financial services, including SME finance, as well as on the design of regulatory and bank resolution frameworks. In addition to numerous academic publications in leading economics and finance journals, he has co-authored several policy reports on access to finance, financial systems in Africa and cross-border banking. His country experience, both in operational and research work, includes Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, Russia and several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to presentation at numerous academic conferences, including several keynote addresses, he is invited regularly to policy panels across Europe. He holds a PhD from the University of Virginia and an MA from the University of Tübingen in Germany.Elena Carletti is Professor of Finance at Bocconi University and Scientific Director of the Florence School of Banking and Finance. Before that she was Professor of Economics at the European University Institute, where she held a joint chair in the Economics Department and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. She is also Research Fellow at CEPR, Extramural fellow at TILEC, Fellow at the Center for Financial Studies, at CESifo, at IGIER and at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center. Her main research areas are Financial Intermediation, Financial Crises and Regulation, Competition Policy, and Corporate Governance, and has published numerous articles in leading academic journals, and has coedited various books. She has worked as consultant for the OECD and the World Bank, and she has served in the review panel of the Irish Central Bank and of the Riskbank. She has also been a board member of the Financial Intermediation Research Society and a review panel member for the creation of Financial Market Centres in Stockholm. She is member of the Scientific Committee of Confindustria since 2014 and member of the Advisory Scientific Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board since 2015. She participates regularly in policy debates and roundtables at central banks and international organizations all over Europe and has also organized numerous academic and policy-oriented events.Paolo Colla is Associate Professor of Finance at ...