Thorsten Beck is Professor of Banking and Finance at Cass Business School, City University London, UK, as well as research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Previously, he worked at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, where he was chair of the European Banking Center, and in the research department of the World Bank.Barbara Casu is the Director of the Centre for Banking Research at Cass Business School, City University London, UK, where she is Professor of Banking. Her main research interest is empirical banking, although several of Barbara's research projects are cross-disciplinary and include aspects of financial regulation, structured finance, accounting and corporate governance. She is co-author of the book Introduction to Banking (FT Pearson Education).