Time-frequency co-movements between bank credit supply and economic growth in an emerging market: Does the bank ownership structure matter?

This study aims to shed some light on the causal link between bank credit supply and economic growth in Turkey for the banks with the different ownership structures between 1993Q4 and 2017Q3. Wavelet coherence test is used to obtain this objective and to answer the following questions: (i) does bank credit supply lead to economic growth in Turkey and vice versa, and (ii) does the bank ownership matters in this linkage? The findings from wavelet coherence reveal that between 1993 and 2003 in the short and medium term, economic growth leads credit supply but in the long run there is feedback causality between credit supply and economic growth for only public and private banks. However, in the long-run between 1993 and 2003 economic growth leads credit supply in the foreign banks in Turkey. Between 2004 and 2017, there is feedback causality between credit supply and economic growth. Moreover, our findings suggest that bank ownership affects the strength of the linkage between credit supply and economic growth in Turkey especially in the short and medium terms. More specially, within the three types of bank ownership, the findings imply that the strongest correlation among the variables is for the private banks while the weakest one is for foreign banks.     

The effect of scale and mode of ownership on the financial performance of the Turkish banking sector: results of a DEA-based analysis

Turkey and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to a stand-by arrangement at the outset of 2000. Consequently, Turkey implemented an exchange-rate based stabilization program to combat its high inflation. However, two financial crises followed: one in November, 2000 and the other in February, 2001. As the result some banks became problematic. This necessitated restructuring of the banking sector to increase its financial efficiency.This paper presents a financial performance index for commercial banks. The index allows one to observe the effects of scale and of the mode of ownership (public/domestic, private/domestic/foreign) on bank behavior and, therefore, on bank performance in a developing economy. It documents the effects of financial liberalization, cross-country movements, and the impact of financial crises originating in neighboring countries e.g. Russia. The study applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to selected fundamental financial ratios using 1989-99 data from commercial banks in Turkey. Year-by-year results explain the effects on this sector of major shifts in both national macro-economic policy and various international developments. The banks that were taken over by the regulatory government agency most recently in the analyzed period were observed to perform poorly with respect to their DEA performance index values.     

Do Pan-African banks have the best of both worlds?

There has been a large expansion of foreign banks in Africa over the last two decades, with Pan-African banks playing a key role in this phenomenon. This paper questions if this development is beneficial for bank efficiency in African countries by investigating if Pan-African banks are more efficient than other types of foreign and domestic banks. We analyse the relation between ownership type and bank efficiency on a large sample of African banks covering 39 African countries over the period 2002–2015. We find that Pan-African banks are the most efficient banks in the African banking industries. We explain this finding with the fact that these banks combine the best of both worlds: they have the global advantages of foreign banks and the home field advantages of domestic banks. They are therefore able to be more efficient than both foreign banks from developed countries and domestic banks. This suggests that favouring the entry of Pan-African banks would be beneficial to bank efficiency in Africa.     

Foreign bank lending during a crisis: The impact of financial regulations

This study examines foreign bank lending during crises by using data on 1,558 individual banks in Asian and Latin American countries during the period 1987-2013. Our results reveal that, in a crisis period, Asian banks with a higher level of foreign ownership tend to reduce their lending. Nevertheless, during crises banks consistently increase their lending in order to support their borrowers; in fact, in Latin America, crises stimulate foreign banks to lend more. Our evidence on lending during a crisis supports credit rationing theories with a flight to quality. The international substitution effect also holds based on our results. Taking financial structures and regulation into consideration, for banks with more foreign ownership in a highly concentrated financial system in Asia, the crisis has less effect on a cut in lending, while it has a greater effect on cuts in lending for countries with a higher level of government-owned assets. This paper contributes to the existing literature on the bank lending channel and provides implications for policymakers.     

Corruption and the ownership composition of the multinational firm at the time of entry: Evidence from Turkey

This paper presents an empirical assessment of the relationship between corruption and the ownership structure of foreign direct investment receipts by Turkey. Two forms of ownership structures are considered: joint venture and wholly owned subsidiary. The results indicate a strong negative impact of corruption on joint ventures, particularly for the ones originating from developed countries. As the degree of dissimilarity between corruption levels in the source country and Turkey diverges, the share of foreign ownership declines. This lends support to the transaction cost approach which emphasizes the expected increase in costs of sharing ownership in corrupt environments.     

Inefficiency and heterogeneity in Turkish banking: 1990–2000

Recent studies have stressed the importance of privatization and openness to foreign competition for bank efficiency and economic growth. We study bank efficiency in Turkey, an emerging economy with great heterogeneity in bank types and ownership structures. Earlier studies of Turkish banking had three limitations: (i) excessive reliance on cost‐function frontier analyses, wherein volume of loans is a measure of banking output; (ii) pooling all banks or imposing ad hoc heterogeneity assumptions; and (iii) lack of a comprehensive panel data set for proper analysis of productivity and heterogeneity. We use an estimation–classification procedure to find likelihood‐driven classification of bank technologies in an 11‐year panel. In addition, we augment traditional cost‐frontier analysis with a labour‐efficiency analysis. We conclude that state banks are not particularly inefficient overall, but that they do utilize labour inefficiently. This partially supports recent calls for privatization. We also conclude that special finance houses (or Islamic banks) utilize the same technology as conventional domestic banks, and do so relatively efficiently. This suggests that they do not cause harm to the financial system. Finally, we conclude that foreign banks utilize a different technology from domestic ones. This suggests that one should not overstate their value to the financial sector. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

State-controlled banks and income smoothing. Do politics matter?

This paper uses a new dataset to reassess the relationship between government ownership and income smoothing of commercial banks. We also evaluate how political connections affect the impact of government ownership on earnings management. We find that banks with more state-controlled shareholders located in developing countries tend to have more incentives to smooth income. The paper finds no significant difference in earnings manipulation between government-controlled and non-government banks in developed countries. Next, to investigate whether the income smoothing behavior of state-controlled banks is driven by political objectives, the paper tests whether this behavior widens during national election years; the results provide strong support for this conjecture. The magnitude of the income smoothing behavior also varies with different countries and electoral characteristics. These findings suggest that the political channel plays an important role in determining the income smoothing incentives of state-controlled banks, especially in developing countries.     

Bank ownership and cost efficiency: New empirical evidence from Russia

This paper investigates the cost efficiency of Russian banks with regard to their heterogeneity in terms of ownership form, capitalization and asset structure. Using bank-level quarterly data over the period 2005–2013, we perform stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and compute cost efficiency scores at the bank and bank group levels. We deduct from gross costs the negative revaluations of foreign currency items generated by official exchange rate dynamics rather than by managerial decisions. The results indicate that the core state banks, as distinct from other state-controlled banks, were nearly as efficient as private domestic banks during and after the crisis of 2008–2009. Foreign banks appear to be the least efficient market participants in terms of costs, which might reflect their lower (and decreasing over time) penetration of the Russian banking system. We further document that the group ranking by cost efficiency is not permanent over time and depends on the observed differences in bank capitalization and asset structure. We find that foreign banks gain cost efficiency when they lend more to the economy. Core state banks, conversely, lead in terms of cost efficiency when they lend less to the economy, which can result from political interference in their lending decisions in favor of unprofitable projects Private domestic banks that maintain a lower capitalization significantly outperform foreign banks and do not differ from the core state banks in this respect.     

Disclosure, Corporate Governance and Foreign Share Ownership on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

We investigate the association of foreign share ownership with firm‐level disclosure and corporate governance structures in Zimbabwe, a developing country in Southern Africa. Our motivation for the study derives from the literature, which suggests that foreign investors: (1) generally have a preference for companies in which they are well informed and where their investments are more likely to be protected, and (2) avoid companies in developing countries because of weak corporate governance structures and low disclosure. Using data drawn from companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, we examine the effect of disclosure and corporate governance on foreign share ownership. We find that disclosure, proportion of non‐executive directors, institutional share ownership and audit committee independence are all positively and significantly associated with foreign share ownership. Our results also demonstrate that market capitalization, return on equity and liquidity ratios are significantly associated with foreign share ownership. These results are consistent with the notion that foreign investors have a preference for companies with effective corporate governance structures, companies with less information asymmetry, as well as companies with healthy cash positions. The results have implications for policy‐makers in developing countries in their endeavour to improve liquidity on stock markets through the participation of foreign investors. The results are also useful to managers in developing countries who are keen to increase the market value of their company, thereby reducing their cost of capital.     

Does lending behaviour of banks in emerging economies vary by ownership? Evidence from the Indian banking sector

While much has been discussed about the relationship between ownership and financial performance of banks in emerging markets, literature about cross-ownership differences in credit market behaviour of banks in emerging economies is sparse. Using a portfolio choice model and bank-level data from India for 9 years (1995–96 to 2003–04), we examine banks’ behaviour in the context of credit markets of an emerging market economy. Our results indicate that, in India, the data for the domestic banks fit well the aforementioned portfolio-choice model, especially for private banks, but the model cannot explain the behaviour of foreign banks. In general, allocation of assets between risk-free government securities and risky credit is affected by past allocation patterns, stock exchange listing (for private banks), risk averseness of banks, regulations regarding treatment of NPA, and ability of banks to recover doubtful credit. It is also evident that banks deal with changing levels of systematic risk by altering the ratio of securitized to non-securitized credit.     

What drives credit risk in the Indian banking industry? An empirical investigation

Using a two-step system GMM approach on a unique bank-level dataset for the period 1998/99–2013/14, this paper tries to explore the key determinants of credit risk in the Indian banking industry. The main premise of this paper is that, along with regulatory and institutional factors, both macroeconomic and bank-specific variables influence the formation of credit risk in a banking system, and their influences vary across ownership groups. The empirical findings suggest that lower profitability, more diversification in the banking business, the large size of banks and a higher concentration of banks in lending increase the probability of defaults in India. We find a significant degree of persistence in credit risk, and the observed persistence is higher in the gross non-performing loans (NPLs) specification relative to what has been observed in the net NPLs specification. In the case of public sector banks, NPLs are more sensitive to internal bank-specific factors, while for private and foreign banks, macroeconomic and industry-related factors play a significant role in determining credit risk. Our results are robust for different panel data estimation models and sub-samples of ownership groups. The findings of this paper provide important insights into the formation of default risk in the banking system of an emerging market economy.     

Evolving corporate governance and firms performance: evidence from Japanese firms

This study is an attempt to investigate the implications of the ownership structure and control transfers in the Japanese corporate market, which are attributed mainly to the government’s liberalization policies during 1990s. It appears that institutional shareholdings—either financial or non-financial corporations—are associated with poor performance, whereas the foreign and domestic private ownerships lead to an improvement in the performance of the firms. We observe that unwinding the cross-shareholding between banks and corporations and mutual transfers among non-financial institutions allows for efficiency gain. Furthermore, the ownership transfer to private and foreign individuals is consistently associated with high market value, which implies that individuals’ transfers lead to an increase in efficiency.     

Bank valuation in new EU member countries

This paper studies the role of institutional reforms in affecting bank valuation in new European Union (EU) member countries. It takes advantage of the dynamic nature of institutional reforms in transition economies and explores the causal effects of those reforms on banks’ Tobin's Q over the period of 1997–2008. Using a difference-in-difference approach, the paper shows that Tobin's Q increases substantially after these countries reform their legal institutions and liberalize banking. However, it decreases after stock market reforms. After further examination of the interactive relationships between different reforms and bank valuation, it is observed that when the banking reform is well implemented, legal reform can have a stronger impact on banks’ Tobin's Q. On the other hand, banking reform and security market reform has a substitutive relationship. The analysis also suggests that foreign ownership, market power, and asset diversification significantly affect Tobin's Q. These results are robust even after simultaneously controlling for equity risk.     

Bank monitoring,managerial ownership and Tobin's Q: an empirical analysis for India

The paper examines how banking relationships and managerial ownership relate to firm valuation. It is argued that both the number of banking relationships (which serves as an external monitoring function) and managerial ownership (which serves as an internal monitoring function) affect firm value, while internal monitoring by managers and external monitoring by banks were viewed as substitutes or complements. After controlling for the effect of exogenous variables, the results reveal the existence of a complementary monitoring effect between banks and the managerial group. On the other hand, the results indicate that increased external monitoring by banks will simultaneously raise the incentive on the part of managers to engage in internal monitoring. Also, firm valuation is found to be a significant determinant of managerial ownership. A disaggregated analysis of firms according to size and leverage suggests the existence of a complementary monitoring effect between banks and managers, except for small‐sized firms. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Favoring the small and the plenty: Islamic banking for MSMEs

While MSMEs form the backbone of many countries, most of them suffer from limited access to finance. We extend the literature by examining whether Islamic banks, compared to their conventional peers, favor more the MSMEs credit market segment in Turkey. We do this by considering various aspects of the lending behavior towards MSMEs (total lending, foreign currency lending, loan commitments, loan quality, and revenues) across different MSMEs size categories (micro, small and medium-sized firms). Our results show that once we control for bank-specific characteristics, we find that Islamic banks are more engaged with MSME financing and generate more revenues from servicing MSMEs. Concerning the quality of the MSME lending portfolio, no distinguishable patterns were observed between Islamic and conventional banks.     

Accounting in Turkey

Turkey is a developing country in the Middle East, and is attracting an increasing number of foreign investments and joint ventures. However, the Turkish accounting system is not one of the topics that is studied in detail, the language barrier perhaps being the main reason. As the amount of foreign investment and the number of joint ventures increase and the Turkish stock market develops, a new responsibility will fall on accountants to disclose and discuss the current accounting system in Turkey. This paper attempts to fill this gap by describing the current accounting system and state of the profession in Turkey.     

The impact of prudential toolkits on loan growth in Central and Eastern European banking systems

This paper examines the effects of prudential policy on loan growth in 11 Central and Eastern European banking systems, spanning the period from 2000 to 2015. Based on the measures taken by the authorities of our sample countries, we build several prudential indices. Additionally, we control for the effects of several country-specific factors and bank-specific characteristics. Finally, we test the homogeneity of these effects, accounting for cycle, ownership, and bank effects. Generally, the empirical findings reveal a negative correlation between prudential toolkits and credit growth, with a conspicuous impact for tools targeting lending activity. We see that the effects of a change in the lending framework on loan growth are heterogeneous when we account for crisis and cycle patterns. Furthermore, the interaction between ownership and crisis reveals that, in normal times, foreign banks recorded higher loan growth compared to domestic banks. The opposite is true in turbulent times. The analysis of interactions between credit-based measures and bank-specific variables show that the effects of prudential actions depend on the bank size and leverage.     

Form of ownership and risk taking in banking: Some evidence from Massachusetts savings banks

In recent years there has been interest in the impact of the form of ownership on the behavior of financial institutions. In the 1980’s, there was a substantial movement away from mutual ownership to stock ownership in the thrift industry. The effect of this conversion process on risk taking and efficiency has been a matter of concern. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of savings banks in Massachusetts. A panel of 115 savings banks is analyzed for the years 1985 through 1993, a period that includes both rapid growth and a subsequent severe cyclical decline in property values. The credit quality of loan portfolios is related to the size of the portfolio, the structure of the portfolio, and the ownership status of the bank. Several models are estimated. In all cases, it was found that the cyclical decline in property values resulted in a decline in the credit quality of loan portfolios with a substantially greater impact on those savings banks that converted from mutual to stock status.     

Global bank complexity and financial fragility around the world

Using data for 123 countries from 1996 to 2020, we uncover the effect of foreign-owned banks’ geographic complexity on financial fragility in the context of financial liberalization. We compute a measure of foreign-owned banks’ geographic complexity for each country from data on the affiliate network of internationally active banking institutes. The financial effects of geographic complexity may help banks improve their survival by improving their solvency. After extensive testing for the sensitivity of the results, our main findings were threefold. First, a higher degree of geographic complexity of foreign-owned banks reduces the likelihood of a bank’s default, and these effects become more pronounced in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Second, the effects of financial liberalization vary across income groups. Third, the joint effects of foreign-owned banks’ geographic complexity and financial liberalization on financial fragility vary across forms of financial liberalization. Our findings have several policy implications: first, bank supervisors should consider the presence and structure of foreign bank ownership in their assessments; second, the government should take into account the level of economic development in choosing the proper form of financial liberalization; third, the government should promote financial freedom to strengthen the role of foreign-owned banks’ geographic complexity in alleviating financial fragility.     

中资银行个人理财业务面临外资银行的挑战与对策

随着我国加入世贸组织及金融业的全面开放,中资银行个人理财业务面临外资银行的挑战。因此我们更应该认清我国目前个人理财业务发展的现状,以及国际上个人理财业务发展的趋势;理清中资银行发展个人理财业务中的问题所在和具有的竞争优势;辩证地分析外资银行进入中国后对我国个人理财业务发展的不利以及有利影响,从而归纳出中资银行在个人理财业务上的发展策略。