BENTON E. GUP holds the Robert Hunt Cochran-Alabama Bankers Association Chair of Banking at the University of Alabama. Author of more than 20 books and 19 articles on banking and financial topics, Dr. Gup serves as a consultant to government and industry, and was recently a visiting scholar at the Comptroller of the Currency. Dr. Gup's books with Quorum include Bank Failrues in the Major Trading Countries of the World (1998), International Banking Crises (1999), and The New Financial Architecture (2000).