On competition,risk, and hidden assets in the market for bank credit cards

The market for credit cards has been the subject of recent attention and controversy because of ‘high’ profits earned on credit cards and substantial premiums on the resale of credit-card receivables. This paper estimates risk—return profiles for credit-card banks and explores the role of intangible assets in determining resale premiums on credit-card receivables. In addition, the effects on the resale market of securitization and the opportunity cost of acquiring new accounts are analyzed. Using alternative measures of risk and alternative control groups, we find, for the years 1989 to 1995, that credit-card banks earned significantly higher returns on assets but that these returns were associated with greater risk-taking. Analysis of premia for the years 1993 to 1995 suggest that acquiring banks pay higher premia for mid-sized regional accounts than for larger, national portfolios, perhaps because of richer cross-selling opportunities.     

Private cards and the bypass of payment systems by merchants

This paper studies the incentives of a merchant to bypass a payment platform by issuing private cards. In our model, a payment platform allocates the total cost of a card transaction between a monopolistic issuer and a monopolistic acquirer by choosing an “interchange fee”. We determine how the level of the interchange fee impacts a merchant’s decision to issue private cards, if there are strategic interactions between merchants. We prove that the payment platform can only deter entry by lowering the level of the interchange fee. If the payment platform chooses to accommodate entry, we find that the total user surplus increases, but that entry is beneficial to social welfare only if the entry cost is sufficiently low.     

我国银行卡网上支付的风险分析与防范对策

随着电子商务的不断深入发展，在线结账和在线采购使得对电子支付的需求大大增加。只有实现了网上支付，才能进行真正意义上的电子商务交易。电子商务网上支付手段有很多种，如银行卡、电子现金、电子支票等。但应用最为广泛、技术最为成熟、潜在消费人群最多的是银行卡网上支付方式。在美国，98％以上的网上支付是通过银行卡完成的；在我国，几乎所有的在线支付都是通过银行卡完成。     

Visa:防患于未然保障支付安全

银行卡作为安全、快捷的现代化支付手段,不仅在人们的日常生活中扮演着越来越重要的角色,而且已经渗透到经济社会发展的各个方面,并成为国际通用的现代支付工具.今天,银行卡产业已经成为拉动内需和推动中国经济持续发展的重要因素之一.     

Pricing,operating efficiency,and profitability among large commercial banks

This study uses statistical cost accounting techniques to examine the relationship between bank profitability and two dimensions of operating performance — pricing and operating efficiency. The traditional statistical cost accounting model, which relates a firm's income to its asset and liability mix, is expanded to account for differences in market structure, regional demand and supply conditions, and macroeconomics factors. The study focuses on large (above $500 million in domestic deposits) banks, comparing a sample of relatively profitable banks against a matched group of much less profitable banks over the period 1970–1977. After allowing for regional supply and demand factors, the high and low-profit banks are estimated to earn equal market rates of return on individual assets and liabilities. There is virtually no evidence that differential prices are an important discriminator between the two bank groups. Some evidence is found that the high-earnings banks experience lower operating costs on some liabilities, but the opposite is true with respect to selected asset items. After taxes are taken into account, however, any such cost differentials virtually disappear. Overall, there is no compelling evidence that high-profit banks are characterized by greater operating efficiency than their low-earnings counterparts. This finding is consistent with the view that over time, and especially among relatively large banks, information flows and competitive pressures act to reduce operating efficiency differences that may appear in the short run.     

Defining,measuring, and modeling accruals: a guide for researchers

Research on accounting accruals is pervasive. Yet the measurement and modeling of accruals has developed in an ad hoc manner, resulting in a fragmented and incomplete body of research. Our goal is to rectify this situation by (i) providing a comprehensive definition of accruals, (ii) formulating a corresponding empirical measure of accruals, (iii) offering two decompositions of our measure that encapsulate the major classes of accruals studied elsewhere, (iv) combining and expanding prior models of the fundamental determinants of accruals into one parsimonious model, and (v) identifying the primary determinants of each of the major classes of accruals. We close by providing guidance for researchers in tailoring the selection of accruals to the research question at hand.     

Pricing,exit, and location decisions of firms: Evidence on the role of debt and operating efficiency

We compare pricing and exit decisions of discounters across the business cycle. Cities containing high debt and/or low efficiency firms display higher prices during non-recession years. During recessions, prices increase in cities with less efficient incumbents, but decrease in cities with a mix of high and low debt firms. High debt firms are more likely to exit cities with lower prices, and high debt exiting firms are more likely to be efficient. Apparently, low debt firms strategically lower prices during recessions to force exit of efficient, financially constrained rivals. Weaker competitors face another cost. New entrants locate closer.     

The economics of credit cards,debit cards and ATMs: A survey and some new evidence

This paper provides a critical survey of the large and diffuse literature on credit cards, debit cards and ATMs. We argue that because there are still many outstanding issues and questions about the pricing, use and substitutability of these payment mechanisms, that there are significant further opportunities for research in these areas. A large number of questions are examined in this survey, including the pricing of credit cards, the impact of networks on the provision and pricing of ATMs, as well as the tradeoffs that consumers make between different types of payment mechanism, including debit cards, credit cards and ATMs. Importantly, this paper is also amongst the first to provide new evidence on this latter question from bank level data (from Spain). We conclude that point of sale (debit card) and ATM transactions are substitutes, and that ATM surcharges impacts point of sale volume significantly.     

牡丹白金卡:精英、精致、精彩——访中国工商银行牡丹卡中心客户服务部总经理高亚力

随着我国金融业务全面对外开放,银行业的竞争日趋激烈,高端客户成为各家银行竞争的焦点之一.国内发卡银行在经历了前期的跑马圈地似的快速发展后,已拥有一定的客户规模和基础,开始转向精细化管理.     

Federal tax competition and the efficiency consequences for local taxation of revenue equalization

Recent work has shown that a system of equalization grants can neutralize the efficiency loss caused by tax competition among lower-level governments. These models, however, ignore the vertical tax externalities that occur when the federal and lower-level governments levy taxes on the same base. This paper incorporates equalization grants into a standard capital tax competition model in which there are horizontal tax externalities between jurisdictions and vertical tax externalities between the levels of government. It is shown that, even in the presence of vertical tax externalities, an efficient level of lower-level government taxation can be achieved with a modifying version of a standard equalization grant formula.     

信用卡:发卡者与用卡者的双赢

信用卡的诞生使发卡者和用卡者实现了双赢,以VISA和Master Card卡为例的分析充分证明了这一点。杰姆斯·巴茨博士(James R．Barth)为本刊美国特约编辑,供职于美国奥本大学和梅肯研究院,另外两位作者均供职于奥本大学。作为一种支付手段,与硬币和纸币比起来,信用卡的历史还比较短,其出现至今不到150年的时间,而硬币和纸币的出现已经接近3000年。然而,在过去25年里信用卡得到了广泛推广和使用,而硬币和纸币在很多国家变成了不太受欢迎的支付手段。这种趋势在可预见的将来很可能会持续下去,即便信用卡除购物功     

第三方测评：发卡安全的重要保障

中国银行卡产业从上世纪80年代起步,经过20多年的快速发展,如今已成为我国金融领域的重要组成部分。在人们的日常工作和生活中,银行卡以其方便、快捷、安全的特点越来越受到消费者的青睐,人们现在也逐渐习惯了用银行卡来进行支付,同时越来越多的商户也已经接受银行卡这种重要的支付结算工具。     

临时保险制度：赔付理由、期间及其限制

我国《保险法》未规定临时保险制度,本文建议,我国的临时保险制度应当分为强制临时保险与自愿临时保险两种,在保险人预收保险费的情况下,根据履行提前、对价平衡、合理期待等理论,保险人应当对临时保险事故予以赔付,此种临时保险的期间自投保人交付保险费之时起算,于正式保险生效之时或投保人收到拒保通知书并由保险人退还保险费之时终止;...     

PMIS:中国现代化支付业务管理的利器——访中国人民银行清算总中心副主任李德功

近几年，人民银行在深化改革的同时，认真履行金融服务职能，在应用现代信息技术和服务理念创新、改进金融服务方面倾注了巨大精力。中国现代化支付体系的建设运行，为中国金融机构适应社会主义市场经济和经济全球化创造了重要基础条件。随着2005年6月大额支付系统和2006年6月小额支付系统相继完成全国推广，“建立统一、高效、安全的支付清算系统”的基础设施目标已基本实现。2007年5月8日，作为中国现代化支付体系中重要的组成部分——支付管理信息系统（PMIS）也开始正式在全国上线试运行。[第一段]     

Pricing for Multiline Insurer: Frictional Costs,Insolvency, and Asset Allocation

This article examines multiline insurance pricing based on the contingent claim approach in a limited liability and frictional costs environment. Capital allocation is based on the value of the default option, which satisfies the realistic assumption that each distinct line undertakes a pro rata share of deficit caused by insurer insolvency. Premium levels, available assets, and default risk interact with each other and reach equilibrium at the fair premium. The assets available to pay for liabilities are not predetermined or given; instead, the premium income and investment income jointly influence the available assets. The results show that equity allocation does not influence the overall fair premium. For a given expected loss, the premium-to-expected-loss ratio for firms offering multiple lines is higher than that for firms only offering a single line, due to the reduced risk achieved through diversification. Premium-to-expected-loss ratio and equity-to-expected-loss ratio vary across lines. Lines having a higher possibility or claim amount not being paid in full exhibit lower premium-to-expected-loss ratio and higher equity-to-expected-loss ratio. Positive correlation among lines of business results in lower premium-to-expected-loss ratio than when independent losses are assumed. Positive correlation between investment return and losses reduces the insolvency risk and leads to a higher premium-to-expected-loss ratio.