BENTON E. GUP holds the Chair of Banking at the University of Alabama and has held similar chairs at the University of Tulsa and the University of Virginia. Author of more than 18 books and 90 journal articles, he also serves as a consultant to government and industry. Dr. Gup's most recent book for Quroum is Bank Failures in the Major Trading Countries of the World: Causes and Remedies, (1998).