International Financial Liberalization and Economic Growth

This paper pulls together existing theory and evidence to assess whether international financial liberalization, by improving the functioning of domestic financial markets and banks, accelerates economic growth. The analysis suggests that the answer is "yes." First, liberalizing restrictions on international portfolio flows tends to enhance stock market liquidity. n turn, enhanced stock market liquidity accelerates economic growth primarily by boosting productivity growth. Second, allowing greater foreign bank presence tends to enhance the efficiency of the domestic banking system. In turn, better-developed banks spur economic growth primarily by accelerating productivity growth. Thus, international financial integration can promote economic development by encouraging improvements in the domestic financial system.     

Does a one-size-fits-all approach to financial regulations alleviate default risk? The case of dual banking systems

Financial regulations are developed to curb financial and economic fragility costs without undermining the economic contributions of banks to economic development. To understand the impact financial regulations have on reducing the financial fragility of banks we use the probability-of-default of banks as a proxy for bank failure. After analyzing data collected from 15 countries with a dual banking system for the period 2000–2015, we find convincing evidence that not all financial regulations have risk-reducing benefits for banks and the impact of financial regulations on default risk is not the same for conventional banks (CBs) and Islamic banks (IBs). The empirical evidence suggests that regulations that lessen overall default risk have a greater impact on IBs while those increasing default risk have a greater impact on CBs. Based on our findings we recommend that regulators should consider the different natures of CBs and IBs and tailor financial regulations to suit these operationally distinct financial intermediaries.     

MUTUAL AND SOCIAL EFFICIENCY OF ITALIAN CO‐OPERATIVE BANKS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

In this study we analyze the concept of efficiency in co‐operative banks (CBs) from the points of view of the mutuality and sustainability of business. According to the extant literature, CBs are often less efficient than traditional banks, but the reason for this apparently higher inefficiency is strictly correlated to their statutory commitments. The purpose of this paper is to verify, through an empirical survey of 33 Tuscan ‘Banche di Credito Cooperativo’ (BCC), if a particular type of Italian CB is less or more competitive compared to non‐co‐operative ones by using and adapting two financial indicators: the financial value added and the cost‐income ratio. Our findings show that by implementing appropriate corrections to the value‐added indicator and to the cost‐income ratio, BCC appear efficient and mission‐oriented, with a significantly reduced performance gap in comparison to non‐co‐operative credit institutions.     

商业银行发行理财产品与股价崩盘风险

商业银行在我国金融体系中的地位举足轻重,是金融系统性风险的重要来源。近年来,理财业务的高速成长为商业银行累积了大量的风险,但无论是监管层、业界还是学界,对银行理财产品的关注主要集中在理财产品驱动因素以及其对商业银行业绩的影响上,忽略了商业银行发行理财产品所引发的风险累积及其对资本市场稳定的潜在影响。因此,本文利用2006-2016年中国境内上市银行理财产品的发行数据,从股价崩盘的角度研究其对银行自身股价产生的影响。本文研究表明:银行理财产品的发行会带来自身股价崩盘风险,理财产品发行数量越大,其股价崩盘风险越大;监管压力和理财产品刚性会加剧股价崩盘风险的发生。基于此,本文建议:相关监管机构重点关注监管考核压力较大的商业银行,商业银行要做好投资者的教育工作,淡化预期收益概念,并落实理财产品信息披露制度,更多地发行“开放式净值型”理财产品。     

我国商业银行效率分析——基于超效率DEA和Malmquist指数

效率是银行经营管理的核心,是银行竞争优势的集中体现,尤其在后危机时代,提高银行业的效率也是防范金融风险,实现可持续发展的关键。本文基于超效率DEA方法,运用EMS软件对2004—2009年14家商业银行的效率进行分析,对其均值进行排名;并通过Malmquist指数对银行效率进行分解研究,重点分析金融危机前后的商业银行全要素生产率的变化趋势。结果表明,效率水平总体呈现上升趋势,这与社会经济的发展是相一致的。而四大国有银行的效率不及股份制商业银行,可见,四大国有银行并没有因为资产规模大,而带来更高的收益和绩效;2004—2009年商业银行全要素生产率整体上不断提高,主要得益于技术进步和规模效益,但2009年全要素生产率有所下降,受美国金融危机全面升级所导致的国际国内经济发展衰退的影响,经营风险加大,息差收窄,对银行盈利和效率产生不利影响。     

我国商业银行外资参股效应再研究——基于DEA模型的银行稳定性分析

文章基于我国13家商业银行2002-2009年面板数据和DEA-Malmquist生产率指数,测算了银行业全要素生产效率变动情况,揭示了外资参股对我国商业银行稳定性的影响。研究发现:(1)研究组样本银行年度效率指数总体呈上升趋势,而对照组"明星"银行则无明显变化;(2)研究组银行与对照组银行年度效率指数差值由负转正,说明外资参股比例较高的银行生产效率有明显提升;(3)对照组银行是我国的"明星"银行,其整体生产效率均值最高,其次为股份制银行组,最后为国有银行组;(4)商业银行生产效率在外资参股磨合期内出现普遍下降,但磨合期结束后有明显提升;(5)美国金融危机对我国银行业生产效率产生了显著的负面影响。     

Financial Disruptions and Bank Productivity Growth: Evidence from the Malaysian Experience

This paper examines, for the first time, the productivity of the Malaysian banking sector around the Asian financial crisis 1997. The non-parametric Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) is used to compute individual banks’ productivity levels. We find that the Malaysian banking sector has exhibited productivity regress due to the decline in efficiency. The results seem to suggest that the domestic banks have exhibited productivity progress attributed to technological change, while the foreign banks have exhibited productivity regress due to efficiency decline. We find that the large banks tend to experience productivity growth attributed to technological progress, while the small banks tend to experience productivity decline due to technological regress. The empirical results suggest that the small banks with its limited capabilities are at a disadvantage compared with their larger counterparts in terms of technological advancements, thus, rejecting the divisibility theory.     

Performance and productivity in Islamic and conventional banks: Evidence from the global financial crisis

We assess the performance and productivity of Islamic and conventional banks using financial ratios, a two- and a four-component meta-frontier Malmquist productivity index (MPI). We focus on the relatively homogenous GCC region over the 2006–2012 period that covers the global financial crisis. We find that Islamic banks exhibit worse cost and profit performance but are on a par with regards to revenue performance compared to the conventional ones. The components of the meta-frontier MPI suggest that the technology of conventional banks improves markedly in years leading to the financial crisis and declines thereafter. Islamic banks show a similar but more muted pattern. By contrast, the pronounced within-Islamic bank group variation in technical efficiency and technology suggests that Islamic banks are quite heterogeneous as a group. Overall, the MPI analysis suggests that the two bank types are more aligned following the global financial crisis. Policy makers should be wary of the important variations within the Islamic banking industry when implementing bank regulations.     

经济增长模式、银行类型与盈利优势

文章从经济增长模式对金融服务的需求和不同类型银行提供金融服务的比较优势出发,分析了中国六类银行的盈利优势。文章将财务分析思想贯穿于实证模型的设计、检验和分析中,在保证模型结果可靠性的同时丰富了实证分析的内涵。研究发现,大型商业银行盈利优势受益于投资拉动型经济增长模式和规模优势,但成本和风险控制能力不足;股份制商业银行受经济增长模式影响不显著;城市商业银行受益于居民消费水平的提高;农村建设推动了农村金融发展,利差升水补偿了农村金融机构经营的高成本、高风险;外资银行风险管理能力突出。     

The dependency of Islamic bank rates on conventional bank interest rates: further evidence from Turkey

The nexus between Islamic banks’ returns on term deposits (participation accounts) and conventional banks’ (CBs) interest rates on term deposits is one of the controversies with regard to Islamic finance. The obvious correlation between two sides is considered a convergence of Islamic banking to the conventional mode and the breach of the ‘risk sharing’, the underlying principle of Islamic finance. The aim of this study is to econometrically investigate the long-term relationship between CBs’ term-deposit rates (TDRs) and participation banks’ (PBs) TDR in Turkey. We undertake an elaborate analysis of the dependency of each PBs in Turkey on interest rates utilizing the most recent econometric techniques including Maki cointegration tests with multiple breaks and frequency domain causality tests. Findings show that TDRs of three PBs are significantly cointegrated with those of CBs, while one is not. In addition, permanent causality is found from CBs to all PBs.     

Analyses of technical efficiency using SDF and DEA models: evidence from Nepalese agriculture

Alleviation of poverty is a central issue in Nepal. Given the limited stock of land and the infant/unorganized manufacturing sector, increased demand for food has to be satisfied by improving production efficiency. This article examines how this could be achieved. Stochastic distance function and data envelopment analysis models identify the existence of a high degree of technical inefficiency in Nepalese agriculture, suggesting that there is a substantial prospect of increasing agricultural productivity using the existing level of inputs and resources more efficiently. Among the three farm sizes in the data set, medium size farmers achieve a higher technical efficiency than large and small farm sizes, suggesting that productive efficiency can be increased with the encouragement of creating medium size holdings. The observed decreasing returns to scale also implies that productivity gains could be achieved by breaking up of large farms into small family farms. The technical inefficiency model suggests the potential for shifting the production frontier upwards by providing ownership of land, increasing farmers’ education and knowledge, and increasing land quality, including irrigation facilities.     

Banking reforms,performance and risk in China

We investigate the impact of the banking reform started from 2005 on ownership structures in China on commercial banks’ profitability, efficiency and risk over the period 2000–2012, providing comprehensive evidence on the impact of banking reform in China. We find that banks on average tend to have higher profitability, lower risk and lower efficiency after the reforms, and the results are robust with our difference-in-difference approach. Our results also show that the Big 5 state-owned banks (SOCB) underperform banks with other types of ownership when risk is measured by non-performing loans (NPLs) over the entire study period but tend to have fewer NPLs than other banks during the post-reform period. Our results provide some supporting evidence on the ongoing banking reforms in China, suggesting that attracting strategic foreign investors and listing SOCBs on stock exchanges appear to be effective ways to help SOCBs deal with the problem of NPLs and manage their risk.     

Cost metafrontier approach for measuring the Malmquist productivity index: An example of bank groups formed after the financial reform in Taiwan

This study attempts to provide a framework under the variable returns to scale hypothesis to account for the effect of the cost scale efficiency change in the decomposition of the cost metafrontier Malmquist productivity index (CMMPI). In addition, the meta‐cost efficiency and cost frontier gap between subordinate banks of financial holding companies (FHC) and independent banks are also examined. A total of 34 banks in Taiwan are empirically analysed from 1999 to 2012. The results indicate that the meta‐cost efficiency, meta‐technical efficiency and meta‐allocative efficiency scores of subordinate banks of FHC are better than those of independent banks. The banking industry in Taiwan is found to have an improvement in cost metafrontier Malmquist productivity. The subordinate banks of FHC are also found to exhibit positive CMMPI and decomposition components, but do not achieve a significant improvement except in the case of the technical gap ratio change. The empirical results recommend that Taiwanese banks place more policy focus on the issue of scale adjustment, which should be beneficial. Based on the CMMPI decomposed results, we can gain further understanding of the growth path to enhance operational performance.     

Does ownership concentration affect banks’ credit risk? Evidence from MENA emerging markets

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of ownership concentration on banks’ credit risk. The study employs a dynamic panel approach using data from 98 banks listed in the 10 Middle East and North African (MENA) emerging stock markets between 2003 and 2016. To better understand the nature of the relationship between ownership concentration and bank credit risk and how this relationship is shaped by the recent financial crisis, we conducted a pre- and postcrisis analysis. Our findings document a positive relationship between ownership concentration and nonperforming loans in the precrisis period, which surprisingly reverses during the postcrisis period. We argue that the reversal of this relationship is driven by changes in controlling shareholders’ risk aversion, behavior, and attitude prompted by the financial crisis. Given that central banks are entrusted with forestalling banks’ failure, incorporating ownership concentration, as a fundamental determinant of banks’ credit risk, is crucial to anticipate future financial calamities. Our findings highlight the gravity of agency problems in emerging MENA markets. Reinforcing firm-level as well as country-level governance mechanisms is crucial to restore a sound banking system, enhance markets’ integrity, and increase investors’ confidence.     

Banks’ non-traditional activities under regulatory changes: impact on risk,performance and capital adequacy

Using the big six Canadian chartered banks quarterly financial statements and daily stock market data from 1982 to 2018, we examine the impact of non-interest income on Canadian banks’ risk, performance and capital under the different major regulatory changes made to the Bank Act of Canada. Our results show that Canadian banks’ expansion into non-traditional activities had slightly decreased their risks and significantly improved their performance benefitting from income diversification. Moreover, while adhering to capital adequacy regulation, reshuffling banks’ portfolio towards non-traditional activities did not reduce Canadian banks’ capital ratio. In spite of the re-regulation towards universal banking against ring-fencing, this feature buttresses the effectiveness of capital adequacy regulation in Canada in linking banks capital allocation with their risk taking.     

模块化分解与中国金融现代化改革

金融模块化是中国金融现代化的一个思径选择.金融模块化包括模块化分解和模块化集中,本文首先论述了模块化的基本原理及其意义;其次论述模块化分解与中国金融现代化改革包括产权、信息、业务三大模块的建构和模块化分解的现实运用,即模块化分解如何促进金融产权改革、实现金融管理生产力、金融业务创新、模块化分解如何解决股权分置和国有银行分拆上市;第三阐述模块化分解与模块化集中的相互关系及其对于实现中国金融现代化的意义.其中最为创新的地方在于运用模块化原理解决股权分置和国有商业银行分拆上市的当前要务.     

大国经济体金融结构变迁的理论思考*

近30年来，无论是从规模指标、行为指标还是效率指标着眼，相对于银行而言，大国经济体的股票市场均变得更大、更活跃并更有效率，进而其金融结构总体上呈现向市场导向演进的态势。金融结构的这一演变态势并不因初始金融模式的差异而不同，存在较为显著的趋同现象。经济增长模式从增长型发展向创新型发展的转型是开放型大国经济体金融结构演变的内在根源，而开放和技术变革则是引发这些国家强化或趋同市场主导型金融模式与增长模式转型的直接动因。随着中国经济环境的变化，其现有银行主导型金融结构面临着巨大挑战，股票市场在金融体系中的地位急需提升。\     

From scratch to efficiency gains after a financial crisis? A tale of a restructured banking system

We study the efficiency of the Argentine banking system after the 2001–2002 crisis. The financial system had to be restructured from scratch and recovered jointly with the economy, but its productivity and average cost levels have been stagnant since 2007. The analysis includes efficiency frontier estimations for retail banks and a comparison of subsamples for different categories of banks for the period 2005–15. We try to determine whether public banks are more efficient than private ones, whether privatized are more efficient than always private, as well as national versus foreign entities. Our findings show a modest average efficiency of the system and quite similar efficiency rankings for the different groups of banks. On average, public tend to be slightly more cost efficient than private, and national are slightly more efficient than foreign.     

Impact of financial reforms on efficiency of state-owned,private and foreign banks in Pakistan

This article uses a unique bank level data from 1991 to 2000 and evaluates how financial reforms affect banking efficiency of domestic and foreign banks in Pakistan. The results suggest that banking efficiency falls during initial reform period when banks adjust to enhanced competition but increases in more advanced stages of reform. While in general foreign and private banks show superior efficiency and factor productivity than do state-owned banks, the relative performance of foreign banks worsens after the consolidation stage of the financial reforms is over. We show the importance of link between bank size, asset quality and bank branches with efficiency indexes and also note that every 10% increase in share of nonperforming to total loans decreases banking efficiency by 6 to 10%.     

Do bank bondholders price banks’ ability to manage risk/return?

In this paper, we empirically investigate whether bank bondholders value risk management, measured as risk-return efficiency (RRE), when pricing bond spreads. Based on a sample of 2,452 bonds issued by 78 European listed banks, for the period 2001–2015, we find evidence that the ability of banks to manage risk affects bond spreads: banks with more capable managers obtain a lower cost of debt. In particular our results show that bank bondholders are even more sensitive to RRE during the crisis period, for relatively poorly rated bonds, for unsecured/subordinated debt, and for long maturity debt. Our findings highlight that bondholders’ monitoring of banks is effective and takes into account the efficiency of risk management during financial and economic downturns, but during sound periods bank bondholders should strengthen their monitoring of risk management.