This study asks whether transplanting banks can solve the problems involved in creating a well functioning market economy from outside, looking especially at the virtual complete takeover of East German banks by their Western counterparts after unification. Drawing on a wide range of English and German sources, and fieldwork interviews across Germany, it argues that there are no quick-fix solutions to transition to a market. Implications are discussed for East Germany and for other previously centrally planned economies, and the global implications of foreign ownership in banking are considered.