The Development of Corporate Governance in the Baltic Countries

The Baltic countries have been through a period of 15 years with fast changes in ownership and corporate governance structures. The privatization processes have been quite different in the three countries, but in the dynamics after privatization we see an increasing level of similarity in the adjustment of the ownership structure. We have followed the changes quite closely over the years both in quantitative research and in case studies. We focus on the most important institutions for corporate governance in legislation and enforcement, bankruptcy, company law, minority shareholder protection as well as the development of the banking system and stock exchanges. The paper analyses the main trends in the development and show how all the three Baltic economies are heading toward a typical Continental European system of corporate governance based on quite concentrated blockholder ownership.