This multi-faceted analysis of institutional investment defines `fiduciary finance' institutions as the third pillar of the financial system, alongside banks and insurers. It documents the role played by investment funds and the money management industry during the recent financial crisis, and provides an unashamedly critical review of the business disciplines which can dominate investment practices. It clarifies the economic significance of the investment industry (circa $60 trillion in assets) and the features which differentiate fiduciary finance from traditional financial institutions such as banks and insurers. Martin Gold reviews the intellectual foundations of the investment discipline and synthesizes the literature into the principal `scientific paradigms'. He explores the legal frameworks (prudential investment standards) that govern mainstream portfolio management practices which, combined with the commercial imperatives of the investment industry, can create marked differences from textbook depictions of investment management. Recent events have again called into question the worth of the now ubiquitous collective investments such as pension funds and mutual funds, and the integrity of the financial markets. Given the trillions of government funds which have been committed to financial bailouts, and the volatility experienced by investors, the author asserts that a critical analysis of fiduciary finance must question whether better outcomes can be achieved. Tellingly, most fiduciary finance institutions remain outside the perimeter of macro-prudential regulations. This challenging and multidisciplinary work promises to provide a fascinating read for academics focusing on economics and finance, money and banking, as well as for investment and financial services practitioners, policymakers and market regulators.

This book provides the conceptual and operational tools for understanding the mechanisms for assigning a rating to a network of companies. In it, the author explores the rating systems of corporate networks and analyses the link between rating and an enterprise network.

This book explains how banking institutions in Portugal were able to maintain their strength and solubility while undergoing a demanding Program of Financial Assistance from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission from May 2011 and May 2014.

The absolute and relative performance of various asset classes is systematically related to macroeconomic trends. In this new book, Robert McGee provides a thorough guide to each stage of the business cycle and analyzes the investment implications using real-world examples linking economic dynamics to investment results.

This book discusses the most critical issues relating to the recovery of bad loans - a major problem that European banks urgently need to address and resolve. The book describes, in an innovative but also pragmatic way, the new approaches, techniques, and models for optimal management of non-performing loans (NPLs) and the maximization of their recovery value. Drawing on a rigorous academic background and the latest real-life experiences of major European banks, it details a novel means of dealing with NPLs based on velocity, the holistic use of tools and "accelerators", and the active management of collaterals. Also, there is a specific focus on the smart use of "big data" and on the development of "bad banks", at both the single bank and the system-wide level. Ultimately, credit workout is defined as a core capability for any competitive bank - and as a quite interesting business opportunity for independent, specialized "alpha" players.

This useful new book contributes to the understanding of competition policy in the Mexican banking system and explains how levels of competition relate to banks' efficiency. It contrasts concepts of economic theory with empirical evidence to distill optimal policy decisions. The authors study the banking sector in Mexico, a developing country with a regulated and sound banking system and an industry with strong participation from global systemic banks. However, the Mexican banking system continues to have low financial deepening in the economy. Simultaneously, changes experienced by the Mexican financial system in recent decades have completely transformed its architecture, structure of ownership and control, and its competitive conditions, and have undeniably affected system performance and efficiency. This provides a natural laboratory in which to answer the questions of scholars, economists, and policymakers.

This book offers a comprehensive guide to the modelling of operational risk using possibility theory. It provides a set of methods for measuring operational risks under a certain degree of vagueness and impreciseness, as encountered in real-life data. It shows how possibility theory and indeterminate uncertainty-encompassing degrees of belief can be applied in analysing the risk function, and describes the parametric g-and-h distribution associated with extreme value theory as an interesting candidate in this regard. The book offers a complete assessment of fuzzy methods for determining both value at risk (VaR) and subjective value at risk (SVaR), together with a stability estimation of VaR and SVaR. Based on the simulation studies and case studies reported on here, the possibilistic quantification of risk performs consistently better than the probabilistic model. Risk is evaluated by integrating two fuzzy techniques: the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and the fuzzy extension of techniques for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution. Because of its specialized content, it is primarily intended for postgraduates and researchers with a basic knowledge of algebra and calculus, and can be used as reference guide for research-level courses on fuzzy sets, possibility theory and mathematical finance. The book also offers a useful source of information for banking and finance professionals investigating different risk-related aspects.

The 2008 financial crisis all but brought down the financial system and real economies of industrial countries. The Banking Union took a broad approach to resolve the structural fragmentation and distortions in the European banking system which were major obstacles to a working single market for financial services. This book examines the numerous changes happening to European legislations for the prevention and management of banking crises. What emerges is a changing picture of regulations and institutions, of goals, tools and opinions, public and private, European and national all involved in the task. The book focuses on the new framework for banking crisis management, starting from the foundations of banking regulation and supervision. It explores the institutional architecture of banking supervision and crisis management, the powers of the authorities, the tools for administrative actions, the complexities of business and bankruptcy laws, individual rights and their legal guarantees.

In the current economic scenario, the intangible assets contribute significantly to the construction of the competitive positioning of a company. It follows that this intangible information must be appropriately considered in the internal rating system (IRSs). Currently key aspects of business risk and operational risk such as potential for growth, competitive capabilities, core competencies, role in the supply chain of membership, and governance are being considered as secondary in this system. Intangible factors such as the milieu of the company and the environment in which it operates, are not being appropriately considered. In this book, Vincenzo Formisano proposes new guidelines aimed to set desirable IRSs in which the weight of intangible assets is appropriately and properly valued. He addresses practical rules for achieving a rating system capable of understanding and enhancing the intangible assets of a company and for the assessment of creditworthiness. The first part of the book focuses on existing practices; the second part exposes a general model for the classification and interpretation of intangibles. The third part provides practical guidelines designed to configure desirable rating models in which the weight of intangible assets is correctly considered. This book offers theoretical and practical insights and an easy-to-read approach which provides a valuable source of information for teachers and students in Finance. It is also a useful reference point for the Banking, Accounting and Finance managerial communities.

This book argues that the World Bank, far from being a unitary actor, is fundamentally plural, internally fragmented and dispersed, with cascading chains of delegation, authority and controls, and with considerable discretion delegated to the staff.

The role of central banks as a hinge on which the financial system rests has returned to the top of the political agenda in recent years. The global financial crisis has resulted in many changes for central banks, including renewed power in financial supervision and reduced restrictions in their implementation of monetary policies. This book argues that central banks play a key role in financial systems, presenting the European Central Bank as a specific example of an institution that uses its uniquely independent position and wide margins of discretion to provide an array of important functions. It illustrates how central banks promote the security and efficiency of payment systems, pursue price stability, and accommodate the optimal utilization of the resources, labour and capital available to an economy. Stabilising Capitalism demonstrates how these institutions also aid in dealing with the risk of financial collapse and permit the continuity of public expenditure when the government is unable to place securities in the bond market. The author concludes by suggesting that although many consider the idea of this role for central banks to be outdated, these institutions form the root of the capitalist market economy and act as a bastion against financial instability.

Every criminal act anywhere that involves obtaining money illegally produces funds which need to be laundered. The IMF estimates that 2-5% of global GDP ($590bn and $1.5 trillion) is laundered every year - $590bn is the equivalent of Spain's yearly output. Globally, regulations have come in which affect certain businesses, especially banks and other financial institutions. These businesses have been required to put in place specific arrangements to prevent and detect money laundering and the criminal activity that underlies it. As money launderers have resorted to more sophisticated ways of disguising the source of their funds, so employees have to be ever more aware of what they are dealing with, and how to deal with it. * At present books on money laundering deterrence tend to focus on the detailed regulations and therefore do not provide much in the form of practical advice and guidance. The books also tend to look at money laundering regulation from a single perspective - say that of the UK. * Legislation requires firms to provide all relevant employees with adequate training on that legislation, and to recognise and deal appropriately with transactions where money laundering is suspected. * This book will look at a series of types of money laundering, explain how they are used and what controls, if any, could be used by an institution to protect itself. * What should make a banker suspicious, how would suspicion appear to a court or regulator, and what will the impact be on controls and reputational risk.

State guarantees commonly function as financial panacea, allowing states to consolidate banking systems and create intergovernmental funds. Rules surrounding state guarantees were relaxed during the 2007-2008 financial crisis, allowing states to use them for financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and workers' severance payments. Despite many multi-level interventions in many areas after the financial crisis, from international treaties to EU regulations, no specific regulation has been put in place to control state guarantees. This book addresses the subject of state guarantees in the Eurozone, and questions the stability of the instruments implemented so far by states and by the European Union. Using a methodology combining law and finance, it examines the tools adopted by European institutions and Member States in the EU's evolving institutional context, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the tools themselves as well as of the new European institutional framework. It also addresses the unconventional measures adopted by the European Central Bank, its role as safeguard for European state guarantees and its interaction with the European Union and national courts. In From Saviour to Guarantor the authors suggest that the absence of specific regulatory interventions and the variety and vagueness of existing rules has resulted in state guarantees further destabilising public international finance.

This book presents research from leading researchers in the European banking field to explore three key areas of banking. In Bank Risk, Governance and Regulation, the authors conduct micro- and macro- level analysis of banking risks and their determinants. They explore areas such as credit quality, bank provisioning, deposit guarantee schemes, corporate governance and cost of capital. The book then goes on to analyse different aspects of the relationship between bank risk management, governance and performance. Lastly the book explores the regulation of systemic risks posed by banks, and examines the effects of novel regulatory sets on bank conduct and profitability. The research in this book focuses on aspects of the European banking system; however it also offers wider insight into the global banking space and offers comparisons to international banking systems. The study provides in-depth insight into many areas of bank risk, governance and regulation, before finally addressing the question: which banking strategies are actually feasible?

This book features contributions from leading researchers into the effect of the recent financial crisis on lending in the banking sector. They explore the emergence of alternative methods of firm financing, including crowdfunding, firm network financing and venture capital, and analyse the performance of listed European innovative firms. The book discusses related topics such as the role of loan dynamics and structure for Central and Eastern European economic growth, the liquidity policy of the European Central Bank during the Euro crisis, sovereign pensions and social security reserve funds. Lending, Investments and the Financial Crisis addresses the ways in which the strategies of institutional investors have been impacted by the crisis. The study focuses on Western, Central and Eastern Europe, while providing a wider context in terms of comparison with the Chinese banking system.

Collected here for the first time in English, this comprehensive book, written by an experienced insider privy to the inner workings of China's vigorous financial reforms, examines China's most important markets (money, bonds, foreign exchange, and stock) and the policies that regulate them.

This book explores some relevant distortions and market failures in financial and banking markets caused by the recent financial crisis and offers important insights to policymakers as well. After having introduced the reader to the economic background behind the origin of the present financial turmoil, the book proposes a distinct angle to look at some macro and microeconomic aspects. The volume discusses whether and to what extent policies, implemented by governments and monetary authorities to countervail bank defaults and avoid a disastrous financial instability, have in some way determined opportunistic conducts (moral hazard), changes in banks' behaviour, distortive incentives and market failures. Furthermore, the book offers a viewpoint on the effects of the evolution of regulation for the banking sector. Finally, the book assesses how the increase in the cost of funding and the shrinking in credit supply (credit crunch) has modified the financial structure of small and medium firms. To illustrate this, some specific cases at Italian regional level are examined.

A 2009 G20 official document stated that the era of banking secrecy is over but is it? If banking secrecy is the result of market mechanisms, it suggests that worldwide demand and supply are likely to remain for a long time to come. Since the Global Financial Crisis, many countries have fought to combat banking secrecy, yet it permeates both national and international industries, and global efforts to prevent banking secrecy have been ineffective or at worst counterproductive. In this book, the authors show how the growth of criminal activity has systematically generated a demand for banking secrecy. They explore how national politicians and international banks have been motivated to supply banking secrecy through economic and political incentives, and shed light on the economics and politics of banking secrecy. This book takes a multidisciplinary approach to reveal the variety of behaviours and processes involved in making dirty money appear clean, providing an in-depth study of financial transactions which are characterized by a special purpose: hiding the originally illegal sources. This work will be of interest to students and scholars of economics and finance, and those with an interest in banking secrecy, global finance, international banking, and financial regulation.

The banking sector is undergoing a process of fundamental transformation - mainly due to the challenges of digitalization, insistent customers, regulation and a volatile economic environment. This book provides an in-depth understanding of the underlying logic of 21st century's banking environment and helps to develop a roadmap for the successful transformation of contemporary business models. The authors introduce the 'Zurich model for a customer-centric banking architecture enabling the reader to develop a sustainable business model which copes with the challenges of this information age. They identify customer behavior traps in such an environment; introduce adequate strategic instruments and cornerstones for providing added value through financial services, and provide core factors for conducting a successful transformation process.

The 2012-2013 economic crisis in the Republic of Cyprus is commonly attributed to a number of factors, including the exposure of Cypriot banks to over leveraged local property companies; the knock-on effect of the Greek government debt crisis; and international credit rating agencies downgrading the Cypriot government's bond credit status. What followed was unexpected and controversial: a bailout on condition of a one-time bank deposit levy on all uninsured deposits in the country's second-largest bank, the Cyprus Popular Bank; and on the uninsured deposits of large proportion of the island's largest commercial bank, the Bank of Cyprus. Many have questioned the implications of Cyprus' ties with the Russian financial system, as well as the draconian and unprecedented bailout terms imposed on the Cypriot population by the Eurozone. There has been little written from the Cypriot perspective on these events. This book presents a study of the events surrounding the recent Cypriot Financial Crisis and its impact on the Eurozone. It incorporates insights from leading protagonists in the Cypriot government and banking sectors and focuses on qualitative research to assess the events that formed the backdrop of the crisis. The book analyzes the policies of many public and private institutions and presents the crisis alongside other Eurozone bailouts to compare and contextualize the ongoing issues. Cyprus and the Financial Crisis also explains the political and historical backdrop of the events, including the wider Cypriot experience since the 1974 invasion, and the unravelling financial relationship between Cyprus, Greece and Russia. It incorporates the views of Cypriots from a wide and diverse spectrum, and presents the resilience of the island in fighting back to beat forecasts for recovery, helped by the Eldorado of gas finds off its southern shores.

Banking market integration in the Asia Pacific has greatly accelerated in recent years, in an environment of many other rapid advances in banking and finance. This has increased competition between domestic and foreign banks, and made the measurement of bank efficiency, competition, and liquidity creation a critical issue for both policy makers and bank managers. This book investigates important policy-related issues in Asia Pacific banking. It analyses the link between competition and stability, examining the cases of fourteen Asia Pacific countries between 2003 and 2010, and goes on to discuss whether bank shareholder value is influenced by cost and profit efficiency changes over time. The authors explore the different ways in which banks in Asia-Pacific create liquidity, and whether this is linked to capital generation. This book provides valuable insight for researchers, policy makers and bank managers with an interest in financial rationalization, restructuring and consolidation.

This book describes the history of the IMF from its birth, through the Bretton Woods era, and in the aftermath. Special attention is paid to integrating IMF history with the macro-economic policies of member countries and of other international institutions as well. This collection of work presents a clear understanding, inter alia, of the influence of the United States over IMF policy via the National Advisory Committee; the dealings of the IMF with the UK on pound sterling policy; the institutional change of the IMF brought about by Per Jacobsson, the third managing director; and France, Italy, Germany, Canada, and Japan vis-a-vis IMF consultations. It also provides the reader with topics concerning the bankers' acceptance market function and international liquidity issues in relation to IMF policy; the final chapter sheds light on the long-standing relations between the IMF and China, from the Bretton Woods Agreement to the contemporary period. All the chapters are archive-based academic studies providing deep insights with historical background, which makes this book the first thoroughly independent achievement in the field of IMF history. This book is highly recommended to readers interested in contemporary monetary and financial history and those who seek to obtain a coherent image of postwar international institutions and markets.

The author provides a theoretical framework of the global political economy of banking regulation and analyses the policies and politics of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. He demonstrates how global governance has contributed to the onset of the Great Recession and continues to increase the likelihood of future global financial crises.

The 2007-2009 financial crisis has had a worldwide impact on banks and financial systems. It has also brought about major changes in Europe's financial regulatory framework which could lead to financing problems for SMEs. The book explores the restructuring process of banking and financial systems to its impact on the financing of SMEs.