State, capital, and the politics of banking reform in sub-Saharan Africa

Financial sector reform in sub-Saharan Africa differed cross-nationally in the 1990s. The differences are traceable in part to variations in the strength and autonomy of private capital in each country. One register of the differences is concentration and ownership structure in the commercial banking sector. Variation in banking structure in African countries can be analyzed according to a typology; each system tends to produce a characteristic pattern of banking sector reform (or nonreform). A variety of transitions to the market can be traced in Africa, and they are contributing to continuing differentiation across states.