Cash policy and the bank-firm relationship

Bank health affects a firm's cash holding - a healthy bank can result in either more (because of the influential bank power) or less (because of precautionary motive) firm-level cash holding. Motivated by the contrasting views in the existing literature, this paper investigates whether bank policy determines firm-level cash policy. Using Japanese firm-level data over 2000–2014, we find that the difference in bank health effects stems from the firm's investment status. We find that healthy banks induce growing firms to hold more cash while declining firms hold more cash when borrowing from unhealthy banks. Furthermore, we find that banks with more liquidity also induce their growing borrowers to have more cash. Our results are robust to the endogeneity of bank selection. Our study indicates that bank-firm relationship can serve as an advance-signalling device for a firm's shareholder-wealth-maximizing investments and contributes to the literature that explains the cash holding puzzle.     

Are mergers among cooperative banks worth a dime? Evidence on efficiency effects of M&As in Italy

We study the intense wave of mergers among Italian mutual cooperative banks (Banche di Credito Cooperativo, BCCs) trying to assess whether those mergers were efficiency-enhancing. Specifically, we employ a two-step procedure: first estimating bank-level cost efficiency scores over 1993–2013 via a stochastic frontier approach, then trying to explain the estimated BCCs' scores with a set of merger status dummies (never merged, before the first merger, merged once, merged twice, etc.) and a vector of control variables. We find that mergers increase mutual banks' cost efficiency only in 5% of the mergers, precisely those in which a BCC has merged at least three successive times with other BCCs. Besides, we conjecture that the serial mergers led those BCCs to reach remarkably large size and this could harm especially marginal borrowers (i.e. those likely served by smaller banks but neglected by bigger ones), with strong adverse impact on development and inequality and violating BCCs' ethics and mission.     

Current Account Imbalances or Too Much Bank Debt as the Main Driver of Gross Capital Inflows? Spain During the Great Financial Crisis

Abstract:

In contrast to the widespread view which posits that large current account deficits and net international debt were at the epicenter of the crisis in the Euro Zone, with diverging competitiveness playing a central role, this article points to the huge volume of bank credit that banks refinanced in international markets.

With a focus on the Spanish economy, we ground our view in an analysis linking gross—not net—capital flows, bank credit, and gross external debt, which provides more adequate information about a country’s international financing patterns and its external exposure.

The main conclusion of this article is that the principle driver of gross external debt in Spain was bank credit, with accumulated current account deficits accounting for less than 50 percent of gross external debt. Other consequences in keeping with this view are: the measures of economic policy required to sort out current account imbalances—particularly wage devaluation to improve competitiveness—may do more harm than good and they do not prevent the problem of too much bank credit from occurring again, and the residence of debt holders in the Euro Zone crisis is relevant for the understanding of the crisis as the result of a power imbalance     

Value-at-Risk (VaR) Computations Under Various VaR Models and Stress Testing

SUMMARY

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) proposes that all banks calculate and report amount of market risk they incur and allocate sufficient amount of capital starting at the beginning of year 2002. BIS also suggests that value-at-risk (VaR) models in computing market risk should be used. The Turkish Bank Regulation and Supervision Agency already required all Turkish banks to compute and periodically report market risk and reserve adequate amount of capital since January, 2002. This study mimics an average trading marketable securities portfolio subject to market risk of the four largest Turkish banks. The publicly available quarterly financial reports of year 2001 for Isbank, Garanti, Yapi Kredi and Akbank are examined, and a mimicking portfolio composition is determined as bond investments; 60% in Turkish currency (TRL), 20% in American dollar (USD) and 20%in Euro (EUR). The VaR amounts of the mimicking portfolio are computed by applying Historical Simulation, Monte Carlo Simulation, Delta-Normal and Standard Methods. Finally, stress test is applied for each of the models by using crisis scenarios. The Turkish financial crises of November 2000 and February 2001 are simulated as stress scenarios. The results of stress testing reveal that all methods except standard method can stand the crisis in November 2000, but none of the models can stand the crisis in February 2001.     

Environmental Credit Risk Management in Banks and Financial Service Institutions

How do Canadian banks integrate environmental risks into corporate lending and where are they located compared with their global peers? In this paper we report a mixed method analysis of the integration of environmental risks into the credit management. The qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that all analyzed Canadian commercial banks, credit unions and Export Development Canada manage environmental risks in credit management to avoid financial risks. Some of the institutions even connect environmental and sustainability issues with their general business strategies. Compared with other countries, Canadian banks are best in class, as all six Canadian commercial banks, comprising over 90 percent of Canadian assets, systematically examine environmental risks for credits, loans and mortgages. We conclude that Canadian banks are proactive regarding environmental examinations of loans and that there is a need for a more accountancy related reporting on environmental risk management in financial institutions. Further research is needed to be able to calculate costs and benefits of integrating environmental and sustainability issues into the credit risk management. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

THE BLACK SOCIAL ECONOMY: PERSEVERANCE OF BANKER LADIES IN THE SLUMS

In a neoliberal world where commercial financial services are controlled by elites, poor Black women in the slums are usually excluded from financial programs – even microfinance ones. In my empirical study of 491 people in Jamaica, Guyana and Haiti, I argue that the participation in informal banking systems by the poor, not only provides coping tools for livelihood survival, but banker ladies insert a program of social connectedness and political action when they organize these local resources. Banker ladies have a clear social justice agenda: to validate the business activities of marginalized people. Informal banks are a counter project to neoliberalism because it is focused on the collective, where poor Afro‐Caribbean women are creating alternative financial programs that are squarely part of the social economy.     

台湾电视新闻评论栏目模式是否适用于大陆同类栏目——从两岸电视新闻评论员之异同说起

电子媒体时代,面对全新的两岸关系局势,各大电视新闻媒体争夺话语权,纷纷开辟电视新闻评论栏目或者新闻评论板块。然而,台湾电视新闻评论栏目相对成熟的模式,是否同样适用于大陆的同类型电视新闻栏目呢?本文试从两岸电视新闻评论员的构成不同、两岸电视新闻评论员的目的不同、两岸电视新闻评论员的言论公信力不同等方面来论证。     

我国商业银行战略发展问题分析及对策

目前,我国的商业银行特别是股份制商业银行普遍缺乏对发展研究的足够重视或重视不足,难以支持商业银行的健康发展。提升战略发展研究能力能起到增强对全局的把握、提升对未来的判断力、帮助我们作出正确的对策。     

对中小商业银行财务危机预警机制的思考

本文主要探讨了我国中小商业银行财务危机的形成原因及表现,并试图建立中小商业银行财务危机的预警机制。