Lear provided technical assistance to the World Bank Group in performing a competition assessment of the retail banking sector in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The study specifically focused on the SME segment. Lear collected information on laws, regulations and practices in the SME retail banking market in Gulf Cooperation Council countries, screened them, and identified unnecessary regulatory restrictions to competition and institutional inefficiencies. The study aimed at proposing changes to improve the regulatory and institutional environment, and ultimately increase access to financial services for SMEs while maintaining the stability of the banking sector. Within the scope of the study, Lear developed a methodology to foster a structured approach to the identification and impact assessment of potentially restrictive regulatory provisions and practices.

Lear provided technical assistance to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Moldovan Competition Council. The project entailed three phases. Firstly, Lear developed and delivered a training programme for Moldovan Competition Council officials on market investigation and competitive assessment, with a specific focus on the competitive assessment of public procurement. Secondly, Lear assisted the Moldovan Competition Council officials in the delivery of a market inquiry (including the identification of appropriate remedial actions to remove competitive restraints). Thirdly Lear assisted the Moldovan Competition Council in the realization of ad-hoc advocacy initiatives aimed at disseminating the results of the market assessment.

Lear provided consulting services for the analysis of product market regulation in Kenya. The project aimed at identifying those markets of the Kenyan economy that are currently suffering from anti-competitive regulations. Thanks to interviews with local stakeholders and interactions with the World Bank Group and the Competition Authority of Kenya, Lear’s economists gained a clear understanding on the conditions of local markets. The second phase of the project consisted in providing well-thought through recommendations to the Competition Authority of Kenya, suggesting feasible alternatives to current regulations and promoting their advocacy and enforcement roles.

Lear assisted the World Bank Group in drafting a guidance note to identify anti-competitive regulations in the agribusiness sector. Through this guidance note, Lear outlined the most common anti-competitive regulations that characterize the agribusiness sector, and further provided an analytical framework to promote alternative solutions. The study was conceived as an instrument to facilitate policy makers, advisors, and experts when tackling the agricultural reforming process.

Lear’s economists were selected to provide a consultancy to develop key aspects of the competition regulatory framework in Kuwait. The project consisted in drafting a notice and guidelines on the definition of the relevant product and geographic markets as well as revising merger regulation. These instruments assist the Competition Authority of Kuwait in assessing mergers and potential anticompetitive conducts under the Kuwaiti competition law. A series of explicatory case-studies were submitted as supporting instruments for the local Authority.