The contributors to this volume confront the main requirements placed on Central and East European financial systems during the transition to a market economy. Researchers have a unique opportunity to engage in comparative analysis, as different countries are approaching the building of their banking systems in very different ways. The 'first wave' of Central European reformers looked to the West for a model of how to transform their state-controlled banking systems so as to make them suitable for the needs of the market. These reforms, though far from complete, are now sufficiently advanced for lessons to be drawn from them by the reformers in the former Soviet Union and Balkans. Here leading practitioners and financial advisers analyze the Central European experience and consider its implications for the 'second wave' of reformers.