An Analysis of State-Owned Banks’Behavior in NPL Disposition

I. NPL Asset Settlement in China’s State-Owned Banks Non-performing loans(NPLs)represent the most serious problem hindering China’sbankingsystem, especially the fourstate-owned banks (SOBs).According to statisticsfrom China’sBanking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the banking system has accumulated NPLs tothevalueof3,158 billion RMB,whilethefourSOBsaccountedfor51 percentofthattotalbytheend of 2003 (seeTable 1). While the banking sector disposeslessthan 300 billion NPLevery year…     

Compound gamma bivariate distributions

Summary Bivariate distributions, which may be of special relevance to the lifetimes of two components of a system, are derived using the following approach. As the two components are part of one system and therefore exposed to similar conditions of service, there will be similarity between their lifetimes that is not shared by components belonging to different systems. The lifetime distribution for a given system is assumed to be Gamma in form (this includes the exponential as a special case; extension to the Stacey distribution, which includes the Weibull distribution, is straightforward). The scale parameter of this distribution is itself a random variable, with a Gamma distribution. We thus obtain what might be termed a compound Gamma-Gamma bivariate distribution. The cumulative distribution function of this may be expressed in terms of one of the double hypergeometric functions of Appell.Generalised hypergeometric functions play an important part in this paper, and one of Saran's triple hypergeometric functions is obtained when generalising the above model to permit the scale parameters of the distributions for the two components to be correlated, rather than identical.Work started while the author was with the Transport Studies Group, University College London.     

Attracting potential blood donors: The role of personality and social marketing

Globally, society has been facing several and growing health problems, which increased the importance of efforts towards social change. In this context, using social marketing to create and implement programs that foster behavioural change has increased in the public health community. One of the health problems that society has been facing is the unceasing need for blood products, so the subject of blood donation became an important research topic in the area of social marketing, as social marketing strategies can contribute to solving this problem. It is essential to understand the factors that motivate individuals to donate blood, to enhance the recruitment and retention of blood donors. Our study aims at evaluating the key personality factors that influence blood donation behaviour to reach a higher understanding of what concerns this global issue. The method used to analyse the data is ANOVA. We conclude that the Personality of potential donors is significantly different from the non-donors' regarding Openness to Experience and Agreeableness. These results suggest that potential donors might perceive blood donation, as well as the associated barriers, differently from non-donors. Based on our findings, we suggest some perspectives for future research in this area.     

Reconsidering Procedural Consolidation for Multinational Corporate Groups in the Context of the Recast European Insolvency Regulation

Procedural consolidation, as a solution to the rescue of insolvent multinational corporate groups (‘MCGs’), is said to be able to preserve group value for creditors. This article explores the desirability of procedural consolidation in the EU in the light of theories of corporate rescue law, cross‐border insolvency law, multinational enterprises and relevant EU cases with reference to the European Insolvency Regulation. It argues that, based on current cross‐border insolvency rules in the EU, there is an inherent difficulty for procedural consolidation in balancing the goal of preservation of group value and the goal of certainty. The article also considers the new ‘group procedural coordination proceedings’ offered by the Recast European Insolvency Regulation and argues that it may help to supplement the gap left by the procedural consolidation in the EU. Copyright © 2017 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development and Pricing of a New Participating Contract

Abstract

This article designs and prices a new type of participating life insurance contract. Participating contracts are popular in the United States and European countries. They present many different covenants and depend on national regulations. In the present article we design a new type of participating contract very similar to the one considered in other studies, but with the guaranteed rate matching the return of a government bond. We prove that this new type of contract can be valued in closed form when interest rates are stochastic and when the company can default.     

A Direct Approach to the Discounted Penalty Function

Abstract

This paper provides a new and accessible approach to establishing certain results concerning the discounted penalty function. The direct approach consists of two steps. In the first step, closed-form expressions are obtained in the special case in which the claim amount distribution is a combination of exponential distributions. A rational function is useful in this context. For the second step, one observes that the family of combinations of exponential distributions is dense. Hence, it suffices to reformulate the results of the first step to obtain general results. The surplus process has downward and upward jumps, modeled by two independent compound Poisson processes. If the distribution of the upward jumps is exponential, a series of new results can be obtained with ease. Subsequently, certain results of Gerber and Shiu [H. U. Gerber and E. S. W. Shiu, North American Actuarial Journal 2(1): 48–78 (1998)] can be reproduced. The two-step approach is also applied when an independent Wiener process is added to the surplus process. Certain results are related to Zhang et al. [Z. Zhang, H. Yang, and S. Li, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 233: 1773–1 784 (2010)], which uses different methods.     

The Influence of Reputation and Sector on Perceptions of Brand Alliances of Nonprofit Organizations

Brand alliances long have been used in the private sector and are being more frequently engaged by nonprofit organizations. It is assumed that the alliance benefits both organizations, particularly the focal nonprofit organization that strategically forms the partnership. But care must be taken in selecting partners. A quasi‐experimental design examines the relationship between partner reputation and sector (private or nonprofit) on subject willingness to contribute to a focal nonprofit organization. Partner public reputation was systematically varied using created organizations and a positive reputation enhanced willingness to contribute. Partnering with private sector organizations was only slightly less desirable than nonprofit organizations.     

Developing a Marketing Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations: An Exploratory Study

Nonprofit organizations have grown tremendously in the last three decades. With this growth has come a greater interest from the nonprofit sector in the importance of marketing. Nonprofits did not apply marketing techniques until 1960–1970, but it is now a well accepted practice. Traditional marketing strategies do not work for nonprofit organizations, and this study proposes the development of a new marketing strategy specifically for this sector. Through the use of interviews and surveys, the authors examine issues of marketing strategy that are distinct for nonprofits. Unlike previous studies, this study examines these issues from the viewpoint of the nonprofit organization. The perception of marketing is different in nonprofit organizations, and the strategic implications of this finding are discussed.