The determinants of commercial banking profitability in low-, middle-, and high-income countries

Using a broad bank-level dataset and the GMM estimator technique described by Arellano and Bover (1995), this paper analyses how bank-specific characteristics, macroeconomic variables, and industry-specific factors affect the profitability of 10,165 commercial banks across 118 countries over the period from 1998 to 2012. Grouping the countries according to three income levels, we show that the determinants of bank profitability included in our model can explain existing profitability differences among commercial banks in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. The profitability determinants vary quite widely across the different levels of income in terms of significance, sign and size of the effect. The level of income has thus an important impact on the determinants of bank profitability.     

Trade credit and the joint effects of supplier and customer financial characteristics

We examine how access to bank credit affects trade credit in the supplier–customer relationships of U.S. public firms. For identification, we use exogenous liquidity shocks to supplier firms in the form of staggered changes to interstate bank branching laws. Using a variety of tests, we show that supplier firms with greater access to banking liquidity offer more trade credit to their customers. We also show that when bank branching restrictions are relaxed in the supplier’s state, the supplier–customer relationship is more likely to survive.     

The relationship between corporate governance and foreign ownership of the banks in developing countries

The aim of this paper is to determine the effect of corporate governance on foreign ownership of the banks. Within this context, annual data of 65 developing countries for the periods between 2004 and 2013 was analyzed. In addition to this situation, 7 explanatory variables were used in this study in order to achieve this objective. As a result of the analysis, it was identified that there is a strong relationship between operations of foreign banks and governance levels of the countries. In this regard, it was determined that the factors of corruption, political stability, rule of law and flexibility in legal regulations affect foreign bank operations. Moreover, it was also analyzed that foreign bank operations are stronger in the countries that have low poverty, high political stability and efficient legal infrastructure. On the other hand, it was defined that strict legal regulation affects foreign bank operations negatively which shows that foreign banks prefer to enter into the countries that have flexible legal regulations. This study gives essential information to developing countries about the factors that affect the decisions of foreign banks in order to enter into a developing country. Therefore, by considering the results of this study, the authorities of these countries can have a chance to take necessary actions so as to attract foreign banks.     

Explaining banking stability in Sub-Saharan Africa

The study examined banking stability in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results reveal that banking spread (Net Interest Margin – NIM) is the main determinant of stability and the major means to achieve stability during crises periods. We however find the existence of a threshold effect in NIM.Crises in the banking sector consistently showed to reduce stability. While the results show that high percentage of foreign banks reduce stability, we find foreign banks help stabilize the banking sector in periods of crises. The results show that diversification could also have a positive impact on stability (Z-score) even though this relationship was not robust enough. The results also largely support the competition-fragility view. Particularly, we find that less competition during crises periods can help improve stability. Again, we find evidence for both concentration-stability and concentration-fragility hypotheses depending on the stability measure used. We however find that when large banks in concentrated markets are well regulated, stability could be improved. Weak regulatory environment reduces stability (Z-score) directly and matters during crises periods. Our results are robust to the use of different indicators of stability and estimation methods.     

The effect of banking market structure on the lending channel: Evidence from emerging markets

This paper analyses the extent to which the level of bank competition influences monetary policy transmission. Using a large panel dataset of 978 banks from 55 countries, and employing the Lerner index model as a measure of market structure, our results show that an increase in banking sector competition weakens the effectiveness of monetary policy on bank lending. The findings are robust to a broad array of sensitivity checks including control of alternative measurements of the Lerner index, different samples and different methodological specifications. By extension, these results have important policy implications for regulators in assessing the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission mechanisms.     

银行价格竞争、融资约束与企业研发投资——基于“中介效应”模型的实证研究

近年来我国利率市场化改革积极推进,实体经济发展积极向创新驱动转型,一个亟须研究厘清的关键问题是,银行业竞争如何驱动企业创新活动？本文关注银行价格竞争对企业创新的影响,以2013—2018年沪深两市的上市企业为样本,采用“中介效应”因果分析模型,实证检验了银行价格竞争对企业研发投资的影响,并识别出以融资约束为中介渠道的作用机制。研究发现,银行价格竞争不仅会提高银行的风险容忍度,直接增加R&D投资的信贷供给意愿,而且还会通过降低贷款价格和增加贷款可得性来缓解企业整体的融资约束,间接促进企业创新活动。这一机制在解除贷款利率管制之后以及在民营企业层面体现得更加明显。本文的研究结果对于深化金融市场化改革、改善金融服务实体经济效果以及实施经济创新驱动发展战略,具有明确的政策启示。     

银行危机与政府干预——基于中国金融史的研究

当银行危机到来时,政府是否应当进行干预？政府干预对银行业会产生何种影响？这些问题在金融史研究中长期以来备受关注,且具有重要的现实意义。本文以1934年白银风潮冲击下中国大规模的银行危机为背景,对比了当时中国最大的两个金融中心上海和天津的银行业同业组织在危机中的表现,发现天津银行业同业公会成员相比于非银行同业公会的成员受到了更严重的挤兑危机,且在危机期间放款额出现了更显著的下降。而上海银行同业公会则没有受到大规模挤兑,且反而在金融危机期间扩大了信贷规模。本文认为是由于政府干预程度的不同导致了津沪两地银行同业公会的不同表现。具体机制为:其一,政府干预推动了银行业信息公开,降低了信息不对称带来的恐慌和挤兑;其二,政府干预下银行组织承担了更多的财政义务。     

银行业务地域特征和银行机构集聚

由于交通成本和信息成本的存在,银行业务呈现出一定的地域特征。不同的地域特征使得各个地区适合集聚的银行业务也存在差异。地方政府应该根据经济发展水平、金融业务资源禀赋、地理环境和金融生态环境等因素的实际情况,选择合适的政策措施,促进银行业务和银行机构的集聚。     

公允价值会计:理论分析与经验证据

公允价值会计一直是会计准则制定者与银行界及其监管机构之间争论的焦点.围绕着公允价值会计的争论全面而系统地综述了国外关于公允价值会计对银行业及监管影响的相关研究成果.从历史成本向公允价值转变确实会对银行业及其监管、乃至整个金融体系产生重大影响,在决定是否采用公允价值作为财务报表的主要计量手段之前,需要对公允价值所产生的影响做出不断深入的研究.     

金融生态环境对银行监管目标的影响研究

本文选取适当指标衡量金融生态环境和银行监管目标,通过采用主成分分析(PCA)、ADF平稳性检验和格兰杰因果检验等计量分析方法,对2003~2011年间中国金融生态环境与银行监管目标之间相互作用的因果关系进行了实证研究。结果显示,金融生态环境对银行监管目标存在影响。具体地,宏观经济环境和信用环境对公平性目标具有显著影响;制度环境和监管环境对效率性目标具有显著影响;金融生态环境对于稳定性目标的影响则不太显著。