The objective of the reforms is to improve the capacity of financial institutions to serve the needs of economic agents and the population at large. In Cote d'Ivoire, downsizing, reorganization and (as required) privatization and liquidation of key banks and insurance companies, in the early 1990s led to the establishment of a more efficient and competitive banking system. In Benin, all state-owned commercial banks were liquidated in the late 1980s, leading the way to the emergence of a strong network of private banks serving urban areas, and of grass root-based institutions serving people in rural areas. On the other hand, efforts undertaken in Tanzania in the late 1980s and early 1990s to restructure the banking system met with failure. Continued fiscal disequilibria, lack of political commitment behind the privatization of the state-owned National Bank of Commerce (NBC), and lack of clarity on the appropriate strategy to carry out such privatization have left Tanzania with well over 80 percent of banking assets held by NBC and with well over half of the loan portfolios of NBC and other state-owned banks non-performing.