Do Islamic banks shift from mark-up to equity financing when their contracting environments are improved?

Islamic banks should share their profits and losses with their customers through equity financing but most of their assets are mark-up financing, which resembles loans. Theoretically, one of the reasons is Islamic banks operate in poor contracting environments where equity financing is very risky. Using fixed-effects models, we examine whether better contracting environments induce Islamic banks to shift from mark-up to equity financing. We find no evidence that contracting environments do, which means debt-like instruments will continue dominating Islamic banks’ assets in the near future.     

关联企业制度与银行信贷风险的控制和监管

关联企业信贷风险控制在银行信贷管理中十分重要.频频发生的关联企业巨额贷款损失案件暴露出我国现行关联企业制度的缺陷以及我国商业银行关联企业信贷风险控制机制的漏洞.我国亟待借鉴国外经验,强化关联企业信贷风险控制.首先,国家要完善关联企业立法,从法律制度上保障银行债权;其次,商业银行应建立关联企业信贷风险控制机制以及关联企业信贷信息咨询系统,并做好对关联企业贷款的统一授信、贷前调查和财务分析,选择合适的借款主体和担保方式,在借款合同中设置预防性条款,加强贷后管理;最后,银行监管机构要采取措施加强对关联企业信贷风险的监管.     

An Alternative View on Regulatory Distortions in a Competitive Financial Services Industry

We present an alternative view on regulatory distortions in the banking industry. We use the duopoly model developed by Boot, Dezelan, and Milbourn (BDM, 2000), where a bank with low monitoring costs faces a bank with high monitoring costs. We show that when the initial level of the capital requirement is low, an increase of the minimum ratio between capital and total assets causes a higher decrease in profits at the bad bank than at the good bank. This finding contrasts with BDM's theorem 1, which predicts that a regulation imposing an identical increase in production costs on both banks will cause a greater loss in profits at the good bank than at the bad bank. We also look at the impact of an increase in the minimum ratio between capital and total assets on the profits of a representative bank in three other competitive environments identified in BDM. We find that the decrease in the representative bank's profit caused by an increase in the capital requirement is larger when the bank faces competition from an unregulated firm than when it faces a regulated competitor or no competitor at all. This result is consistent with BDM's theorem 2.     

Designing a central bank: Social player,monetary agent,or banking agent?

This paper reviews recent advances on the role of the central bank in the money supply process and its effects on inflation. The literature is presented according to a three-stage process, with the central bank acting first as social player, then as monetary agent, and finally as a combined monetary and banking agent.     

Comparative Performance of Chinese Commercial Banks: Analysis,Findings and Policy Implications

This paper investigates the financial performance of Chinesebanks by using financial ratio analysis. The analysis shows that the lowprofitability of state-owned commercial banks results from their higherratio for non-interest expenses and lower interest margin thanjoint-equity banks. The much lower profit margin in state-owned banksdraws down their levels of ROE and ROA, even with the offsetting effectsof more efficient utilization of their assets and higher financialleverage. Although data limitations prevent us from studying the riskprofiles of the banks in detail, it is clear that these Chinese banksgenerated lower returns with higher financial risks than their Westerncounterparts. The paper concludes with a discussion of major issuesaffecting Chinese bank performance. Significant difficulties encounteredin assessing bank performance are also identified anddiscussed.     

Does the Presence of Big Banks Influence Competition in Local Markets?

This paper examines whether the biggest organizations in the banking industry influence competition differently than their smaller rivals. Big bank financial strength, multimarket links, diversified operations, status as too big to fail, economies of scale and scope, and in some cases, weak incentives to be aggressive may result in big banks affecting competition in a given local market differently than would be suggested by market shares and other structural measures. Understanding the influence of big banks on competition has important implications for antitrust policy toward bank mergers. Empirical results reveal that, in rural markets where big banks operate, competition may be reduced, thereby enabling all banks in those markets to earn greater returns. The presence of a big bank is associated with an approximately 0.09 percentage point effect on a bank's return on assets, which represents about a 7.7% performance advantage for firms that face big banks over firms that do not. The relationship between big banks and profitability holds only when banks are classified as big if they are both very large and regionally prominent. The presence of banks that possess only one of these characteristics does not appear to substantially influence competition. Finally, no clear and consistent patterns of variation are found in the relationship between the profitability of small banks and the presence of big banks. The number of big banks, the market shares of big banks, and the level of concentration in markets with big banks do not strongly influence the relationship.     

Conflicts of Interest? The Ethics of Usury

Social attitudes toward usury (here defined using the archaic meaning as the taking of interest on loans) have changed dramatically over the centuries. From antiquity until the Protestant Reformation, usury was regarded as an inherently evil activity. Today, with few exceptions, usury is met with moral indifference. Modern objections to usury are limited to protest against "excessive" interest rates rather than interest per se. With this change in focus, the very meaning of the term "usury" has also changed. Many early pronouncements against the taking of interest emphasized the plight of the poor, but ironically, the poor actually pay the highest rates of interest in the modern American economy. Despite the universality of usury, some socio-economic subcultures still manage to avoid the taking or giving of interest. Orthodox branches of both Judaism and Islam have maintained bans on usury throughout the centuries and up to the present time. This is especially interesting in the case of Judaism, given the popular cultural image of the Jew as usurer. Jewish free loan systems may actually offer a model for modern loan programs that can be designed to aid poor borrowers, who are frequently shut out of mainstream financial services.     

我国房地产融资方式的比较、选择与调整

央行121号文件发布以来,中央政府及具体职能部门一系列紧缩房地产银行信贷的政策和措施,拉开了我国房地产融资多元化发展的帷幕。本文分析与比较了目前我国存在的银行信贷、企业债券、企业上市、境外融资、投资基金和信托等主要的房地产融资方式运作的内在机理和宏观环境,以期正确选择和有目的地调整我国房地产融资方式。据此,提出我国房地产多元化融资在近期内应选择“银行贷款 房地产信托”和“银行贷款 房地产投资基金”两种模式。同时,为保障这两种模式的有效运作,应对银行内部资产负债互动机制的构建、投资基金法的确立和信托融资中不必要限制的解禁等方面进行调整。     

当前我国银行监管职能不宜从中央银行分离

当前 ,银行监管职能是否从中央银行分离成为国内外理论界的热门话题。本文从理论角度和现实国情两个方面 ,阐明了当前我国不宜进行银行监管职能从中央银行分离的改革 ,认为我国的当务之急应是如何在现有框架下有效协调银行监管与货币政策的关系问题。     

The effect of foreign entry and ownership structure on the Philippine domestic banking market

We examine the response of domestic Philippine banks to the relaxation of foreign entry regulations that occurred in the Philippines. We find evidence that foreign bank entry is associated with a reduction in interest rate spreads and bank profits, but only for those domestic banks that are affiliated to a family business group. Foreign entry corresponds more generally with improvements in operating efficiencies, but a deterioration of loan portfolios. Overall, we conclude that foreign competition compels domestic banks to be more efficient, to focus operations due to increased risk, and to become less dependent on relationship-based banking practices.