The conduct of Latin America’s creditor banks

The international crisis of indebtedness with transnational banks arose from a number of causes, of which the three main ones are the following: the negative repercussions of the world economic situation, the effects of the conduct of borrowers, and the consequences of the behaviour of the main transnational banks. The first two of these have been the subject of exhaustive analysis, but this has not been so in the case of the third cause, mainly because of the lack of concrete detailed information. This article sets forth the new ideas which emerged from the Interregional Project on Transnational Banks undertaken by the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations, the executing agency for which was the Joint ECLAC/CTC Unit on Transnational Corporations. This project was directed by the author of the present article.