Provides a systematic assessment of FSB operations, from standard setting to implementation review in order to identify the power wielded by government networks in global financial governance. Develops a novel theory of legislative reluctance as a limit to the power of government networks, showing its strong inferential leverage in comparison with a variety of competing explanations drawn from economics, political science, and law. Engages in the debate on the role of government networks in global governance with a well-founded but controversial argument that questions the role of national parliaments in managing global economic affairs in the public interest. Suggests a novel institutional solution to the effectiveness-legitimacy dilemma that global governance forums face, combining the advantages of functional specialization and electoral accountability.

This book showcases recent academic work on contemporary issues in financial institutions and markets. It covers a broad range of topics, highlighting the diverse nature of academic research in banking and finance. As a consequence the contributions cover a wide range of issues across a broad spectrum, including: capital structure arbitrage, credit rating agencies, credit default swap spreads, market power in the banking industry and stock returns. This timely collection offers fresh insights and understandings into the ongoing debates within and between the academic and professional finance communities. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Finance.

This book provides an introduction to the state of the art in financial technology (FinTech) and the current applications of FinTech in digital banking. It is a comprehensive guide to the various technologies, products, processes, and business models integral to the FinTech environment. Covering key definitions and characteristics, models and best practice, as well as presenting relevant case studies related to FinTech and e-Business, this book helps build a theoretical framework for future discussion.

The German banking system is characterized by high fragmentation, low profitability and low foreign ownership. Main reason for this is its particular structure that can best be described as forced segmentation. This structure produces local banking markets. The book argues that local bank competition is not as pronounced as national concentration ratios predict and presents a bank pricing study which indicates that local banks, banks located in less densely populated areas and less productive banks tend to charge higher prices for retail bank services than banks that operate nationally. These results as well as lessons drawn from international reforms suggest that the German banking system could benefit from cross-pillar consolidation which promises to export competition from the national to local banking markets. Last but not least, the book analyzes political economy implications of banking reforms and provides suggestions on status quo resolution by identifying ways to facilitate reform implementation in the German banking system.

Embedded finance is here and having global impact. Are you ready for it? In Embedded Finance: When Payments Become An Experience, veteran growth strategists, entrepreneurs, and fintech disruptors Scarlett Sieber and Sophie Guibaud deliver a thought-provoking and page-turning discussion on the most impactful and exciting trend of fintech yet: embedded finance. In the book, you'll explore the past, present, and future of fintech, from how embedded finance is being leveraged today by industry heavyweights like Google and Amazon to supercharge their customers' experience to the offerings of smaller, niche players who stand poised to dominate their own corners of the market as their answer unmet customers' needs. The authors present: Practical examples around the world of how embedded finance is being used today by technology companies and brands to redefine our online and offline retail experiences as we know them The key trends, players, and technologies that are paving the way for embedded finance to take a dominant position in our lives The role, opportunities, and strategies for banks, technology companies and brands, providing them with all necessary tools to define their own embedded finance strategy The impact of embedded finance on society, consumers, companies, and the economy as a whole, highlighting the dominant force that is embedded finance for our future An exciting view of how our day-to-day lives will look like in 2030, powered by embedded finance An indispensable and eye-opening exploration of one of the most exciting and influential technologies in development today, Embedded Finance details a revolution in financial services, banking, and technology that has already begun. Are you ready?

Based on both theoretical and empirical approaches, the essays in this volume emphasise the role of ethics in a globalized economy. Part I looks at the evolution of global finance and how efficiently, or otherwise, it works, while Part II focuses on the role of banking institutions. Using up-to-date research, the contributors focus on recent developments in the financial world. The current economic crisis is also taken into account, making this volume an essential and timely study of particular value to economists and financial historians as well as those with a professional interest in the monetary sector.

This title was first published in 2001. A developing country that is pursuing free market economic policies requires a modern commercial law infrastructure, which enables the emerging economy to have in place properly functioning credit and other financial systems which stimulate domestic and foreign investment. This book provides a comparative analysis of the law and practice of debt recovery in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, demonstrating that a suitable debt-recovery system for a developing economy requires not only good laws and judicial remedies, but also appropriate financial industry practices such as credit and loan supervision policies.

Praise for "International Economic Indicators and Central Banks"

"Anne Picker's "International Economic Indicators and Central Banks" is a tour de force. It brings together a wealth of information, explanation, and guidance, which has hitherto only been available from disparate and frequently obscure sources, and does so with great clarity and authority. It will be an invaluable resource not only for investors but for all others involved in the fields of finance and economics."
--Donald R. Anderson, OBE FRSE (UK), International Economics Advisor, formerly chief economist, Courtaulds Group

"Picker's book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date guide to the workings of key central banks, and to the economic data that informs their thinking and policy formation. The book should be required reading for those with more than a passing interest in financial markets and monetary policy formation."
--George Worthington, Chief Economist, Asia Pacific, Thomson-IFR (Australia)

""International Economic Indicators and Central Banks" is an invaluable guide for anyone doing business overseas or investing in international markets. It is thorough and precise enough for professional economists yet readily accessible to business people and investors. Anne Picker is not only an excellent communicator who demystifies central bank operations and technical economic indicators; she is also a top-notch economist with extensive experience in analyzing them. Don't read any international economic analysis without this volume close at hand."
--David A. Levy, Chairman, The Jerome Levy Forecasting Center

When European powers annexed parts of Asia, banking systems were an important part of that process. The essays in this edited collection are based on original research using primary sources in English, French, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. The book as a whole provides new insights into banking in imperial Asia and a platform for further research.

Accounting and Debt Markets: Four Pieces on the Role of Accounting Information in Debt Markets provides novel and up-to-date evidence on the role of accounting information in debt markets Companies and organisations worldwide rely heavily on debt markets for short, medium and long-term financing, and debt markets and financial intermediaries have significant effects on the real economy. Accounting information has various functions in debt markets, including inter alia, informing pricing decisions and credit ratings, determining the allocation of creditor control rights and establishing bank capital adequacy requirements. The chapters in this book provide illustrative discussion, analysis and evidence on the importance of accounting information in credit markets. The first of the four pieces reflects on how a conservative financial reporting system helps firms obtain debt funds and with better conditions, and why this is the case. The second examines the effects of accounting disclosure on credit ratings of private companies and shows that accounting information is useful for credit rating agencies. The two final pieces reflect on how banks should account for credit losses, and on how regulators are tackling this issue. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Accounting and Business Research.

The capacity of national central banks to 'step in' and bail out an economy is one which has proved to be vitally important over the years. This collection from Wood and Capie brings together important literature for the first time in book form.

This book empirically examines banking reform in the economies of Southeast Asia as they sought to adapt to major developments in the global economic system over the past three decades, including the globalisation of finance, the debt crisis of the 1980s and the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. Focusing in particular on the turbulent decade of financial boom and bust from 1994 to 2004, it explores the ways in which states respond to powerful external shocks and the implications for policy choices, demonstrating how different political systems shape economic performance and policy choices. It sets out a detailed comparative analysis of the experiences of the five major regional economies, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, considering how banking reform responded to the challenges posed by global economic integration. The countries least affected by the crisis, Singapore and the Philippines, used the crisis effectively to further liberalise long-protected domestic banking sectors. The countries the most affected by the crisis, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, all resisted external pressure to liberalise their protected banking sectors even when they experienced changes in leadership. In all five cases, the nature of the political system and their previous commitment to nationalist banking policies, more than the depth of the crisis or extent of foreign pressure, was the key determining factor in their crisis response and in the post-crisis changes to banking policy that are still playing out today.

The current literature on central banking contains two distinct branches. On the one side, research focuses on the impact of monetary policy on economic growth, unemployment, and output-price inflation, while ignoring financial aspects. On the other side, some scholars leave aside macroeconomics in order to study the narrow, but crucial, subjects of financial behaviours, and financial supervision and regulation. This book aims at merging both approaches by using macroeconomic analysis to show that financial considerations should be the main preoccupation of central banks. Eric Tymoigne shows how different views regarding the conception of asset pricing lead to different positions regarding the appropriate role of a central bank in the economy. In addition, Hyman P. Minsky's framework of analysis is used extensively and is combined with other elements of the Post Keynesian framework to study the role of a central bank.

Tymoigne argues that central banks should be included in a broad policy strategy that aims at achieving stable full employment. Their sole goal should be to promote financial stability, which is the best way they can contribute to price stability and full employment. Central banks should stop moving their policy rate frequently and widely because that creates inflation, speculation, and economic instability. Instead, Tymoigne considers a pro-active financial policy that does not allow financial innovations to enter the economy until they are certified to be safe and that focuses on analyzing systemic risk. He argues that central banks should be a guide and a reformer that allow a smooth financing and funding of asset positions, while making sure that financial fragility does not increase drastically over a period of expansion.

This book will be of interest to students and researchers engaged with central banking, macroeconomics, asset pricing and monetary economics.

Banks of all sorts are troubled institutions. The cost of public bail-outs associated with the subprime crisis in the United States alone may be as high as US$5 trillion. What is the problem with banks? Why do they seem to be at the centre of economic and financial turmoil down through the ages? In this provocative and timely book, Rethel and Sinclair seek answers to these questions, arguing that banks suffer from perennial problems, and that developments in the financial markets and government in recent decades have simply exacerbated these issues. The book examines banking activity in America, Asia and Europe, and how specific historical circumstances have transformed banks' behaviour and attitude to risk. While many see government as a constraint on banks, Sinclair and Rethel argue that what governments do in terms of regulation shapes banks and their motivations, as can be seen in the shortcomings of current reform proposals. Instead, more far-reaching, alternative ways of regulating and shaping banks are needed. A concise, essential overview of a pressing global issue.

As an income contingent loans bill is considered by the US Congress, income contingent loans (ICL) have risen to the forefront of economic discourse. ICLs are collected through the income taxation system and are repaid only when future incomes exceed a specified level. ICLs were first introduced in Australia in 1989 to help college students finance their tuition costs, and since then many countries have followed this policy approach. Bruce Chapman, Timothy Higgins and Joseph E. Stiglitz along with a host of internationally recognised experts who have been instrumental in impacting national policy in this field, explore the theory of ICLs, and the prospect of applying the basic principles to many other potential areas of social and economic policy such as paid parental leave; recompensing poor countries for skilled migrant emigration; legal aid for civil disputes; business innovation for small and medium enterprises; out-of-pocket health care expenditure needs; and for periods of unemployment.
The text describes an alternative approach to ICLs, which takes the form of human capital contracts or graduate taxes, as well as examining hybrid schemes that combine the attractive aspects of both arrangements. Case studies are used to examine the prospects for ICLs for higher education in Malaysia, Germany, Thailand, Chile and Colombia, and there is discussion of the barriers for adoption of ICLs in countries that lack efficient institutions for debt collection.
A key message from the contributions is that in countries with appropriate institutions for taxation administration, there are considerable transactional efficiencies associated with ICLs. These efficiencies, combined with the improvements in risk and incentives that well-designed ICL programs can provide, suggest that such programs can play an important role in a modern welfare state.

How America's global financial power was created and shaped through its special relationship with Britain The rise of global finance in the latter half of the twentieth century has long been understood as one chapter in a larger story about the postwar growth of the United States. The Political Economy of the Special Relationship challenges this popular narrative. Revealing the Anglo-American origins of financial globalization, Jeremy Green sheds new light on Britain's hugely significant, but often overlooked, role in remaking international capitalism alongside America. Drawing from new archival research, Green questions the conventional view of international economic history as a series of cyclical transitions among hegemonic powers. Instead, he explores the longstanding interactive role of private and public financial institutions in Britain and the United States-most notably the close links between their financial markets, central banks, and monetary and fiscal policies. He shows that America's unparalleled post-WWII financial power was facilitated, and in important ways constrained, by British capitalism, as the United States often had to work with and through British politicians, officials, and bankers to achieve its vision of a liberal economic order. Transatlantic integration and competition spurred the rise of the financial sector, an increased reliance on debt, a global easing of regulation, the ascendance of monetarism, and the transition to neoliberalism. From the gold standard to the recent global financial crisis and beyond, The Political Economy of the Special Relationship recasts the history of global finance through the prism of Anglo-American development.

Over the past two decades, the banking industry has expanded and consolidated at a stunningly unprecedented speed. In this time banks have also moved from focusing purely on commercial banking activities to being heavily involved in market-based and transaction-oriented wholesale and investment banking activities. By carrying out an all-encompassing set of activities, banks have become large, complex, interconnected, and inclined to levels of risk-taking not previously seen. With the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis it became apparent that there was an issue of institutions being too big to fail. This book analyses the too-big-to-fail problem of banks in the EU. It approaches the topic from an interdisciplinary perspective using behavioural finance as a tool to examine the occurrence of the global financial crisis and the emergence of the structural problem in large banking institutions. The book draws a comparison between the EU, the US and the UK and the relevant rules to assess the effectiveness of various approaches to regulation in a global context. Chen Chen Hu goes on to use behavioural analyses to provide new insights in evaluating the current structural reform rules in the EU Proposal on Bank Structural Regulation and the newly adopted bank recovery and resolution regime in the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) in the Single Resolution Regulation.

The collapse of Barings' Bank was a commercial catastrophe that resonated worldwide, showing what kind of secrets can lie behind an apparently successful organization. Following Nick Leeson's arrest and subsequent conviction for fraud, investment banks anxiously reviewed their risk management controls to make sure that it could never happen again. Helga Drummond's exploration is conducted against a backdrop of social and psychological theories of decision error that seeks to go beyond media style accusations of greed and incompetence. She challenges the myth that Barings 'must have known' that mischief was afoot. The book offers lessons for all organizations as it shows how easily managers can end up living in a world of fantasy believing that everything is under control when the precise opposite may be true. It is not risk and uncertainty that should worry organizations, concludes Drummond, but what they are most sure of. The collapse of Barings Bank had international ramifications, and this scholarly analysis will have an international audience as a result. The book will be of great interest to all those interested in social psychology, the application of psychology in management theory, sociology, and organizational behaviour. It is also suitable as recommended reading for a management or organization behaviour course.

This book analyses the formation of the Spanish banking system. It provides a general overview of European financial systems in operation during the mid-nineteenth century, followed by a detailed analysis of the economic and institutional changes that gave rise to a new form of banking in Spain. The chapters analyse changes on banking regulation; study the social origin of banks' promoters; investigate the economic results of banks; and evaluate the interaction between banks and the economy as a whole. Finally, the causes, extent and consequences of monetary plurality in Spain and its European context are discussed. As such, this book covers the gap that exists in the Spanish banking historiography. Until now only the Bank of Spain and its predecessors had been adequately examined. As the Bank of Spain acted mostly as the state's financial agent, we know very little about private-sector financing. This text provides data and analysis for a more comprehensive view of early Spanish financial development in a comparative European framework. The Origins of Modern Banking in Spain should be considered essential reading for financial history students and scholars, as well as anybody interested in longview approaches to modern financial development.

Financial markets across the Arabian Peninsula have gone from being small, quasi-medieval structures in the 1960s to large world-class groupings of financial institutions. This evolution has been fueled by vast increases in income from oil and natural gas. The Financial Markets of the Arab Gulf presents and analyzes the banks, stock markets, investment companies, money changers and sovereign wealth funds that have grown from this oil wealth and how this income has acted as a buffer between Gulf society at large and the newfound cash reserves of Gulf Cooperation Council states (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain) over the last fifty years. By assessing the development of institutions like the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, the Public Investment Fund and the National Bank of Kuwait, The Financial Markets of the Arab Gulf evaluates the growth of the markets and provides a detailed, critical, snapshot of the current form and function of the Gulf's financial markets. It argues that the markets have been controlled by various state institutions for socio-political reasons. In particular, the Saudi state has used its sophisticated regulatory regime to push for industrialization and diversification, which culminated in the Vision 2030 plan. The UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman have also been strongly involved in establishing modern markets for similar purposes but have done so through different means, with varying results, and each in line with what has been considered their respective comparative advantages. Along with critically surveying these institutions and their role in global finance, the book also presents case studies depicting transactions typical to the region, including the highly profitable documentary credits of commercial banks, the financial scandal of certain financiers and their regulatory arbitrage between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, a review of the Dubai's trade miracle, and an assessment of the value and importance of the privatization of Saudi Aramco.

Many books have addressed the economic and financial history of Hong Kong, and the imperialist conflicts in the key Chinese port-cities but very few books have explored French initiatives and performance in this area, beyond diplomacy, geopolitics or cultural issues. In this book, Hubert Bonin confronts arguments about "the great divergence", "the first globalisation", and forms of "economic patriotism". He gauges the competitive edge of French companies and banks, their struggle with British domination (HBSC, Chartered, shipping, trade houses/hongs) and their resistance against competitors from other countries (Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, USA, or Russia). The book delves into studies of management abroad, therefore mixing broad geo-economic issues with precise business history and deep banking history. The connections between French interests in China and Hong Kong and the colony of Indochina are established too. A second part of the book is dedicated to the case study of Hong Kong, as the British colony acted as a hub for Asian and European interests at the heart of connections with mainland China and some neighbouring territories (Indochina, etc.). This is essential reading for academics interested in banking and business history, the history of entrepreneurship, as well as, those involved in the contemporary history of China and Hong Kong, in the assessment of world-wide geo-economic competition between European powers in Asia (Great-Britain, and France), and in the first stages of economic "modernity", along European models, in emerging modern China.

Given the significant changes in the banking environment and the resultant pressures on banks to change their systems and procedures, this book is a timely reference that provides a comprehensive analytical overview of changes in the performance measurement system (PMS) of banks in the post-financial crisis era. It explores the factors that influence such changes and examines banks' consequential responses to institutional pressures. It is an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners to gain insights into the concept of PMS change in both developed and developing economies.

The Basel Accord - now commonly referred to as "Basel I" - has exerted a profound influence on international financial politics and domestic prudential financial sector regulatory policy yet great controversy has always surrounded the Accord's impact on the safety and competitiveness of the world's largest financial institutions and the evolution of trans-national regulatory convergence.

The author provides a comprehensive examination of the impact of the 1988 Basel Accord on the capital adequacy regulations of developed economies. The study seeks to understand if the Accord affected broad or isolated convergence of 18 developed states' bank credit risk regulations from 1988 to 2000, and also to understand what political economic variables influenced levels of regulatory isomorphism. Quillin creates a quantitative database of developed states' interpretations of the Basel rules which shows that some persistent distinction remained in the way states implemented the Accord. He also explores why convergence emerged among a subset of states, yet not others, by testing a battery of political economic explanations.

The World Bank is one of the most important and least understood major international institutions. This book provides a concise, accessible and comprehensive overview of the World Bank's history, development, structure, functionality and activities.

These themes are illustrated with a wide variety of case studies drawn from the Bank's international activities. Also discussed are the controversial challenges that the Bank now faces in the light of the criticism from campaigners and NGOs.

Businesses, investors, and consumers are grappling with the seismic daily changes technology has brought to the banking and finance industry. The Money Hackers is the story of fintech's major players and explores how these disruptions are transforming even money itself. Whether you've heard of fintech or not, it's already changing your life. Have you ever "Venmoed" someone? Do you think of investing in Bitcoin--even though you can't quite explain what it is? If you've deposited a check using your iPhone, that's fintech. If you've gone to a bank branch and found it's been closed for good, odds are that's because of fintech too. This book focuses on some of fintech's most powerful disruptors--a ragtag collection of financial outsiders and savants--and uses their incredible stories to explain not just how the technology works, but how the Silicon Valley thinking behind the technology, ideas like friction, hedonic adaptation, democratization, and disintermediation, is having a drastic effect on the entire banking and finance industry. Upon reading The Money Hackers, you will: Feel empowered with the knowledge needed to spot the opportunities the next wave of fintech disruptions will bring. Understand the critical pain points that fintech is resolving, through a profile of the major finsurgents behind the disruption. Topic areas include Friction (featuring founders of Venmo), Aggregate and Automate (featuring Adam Dell, founder of Open Table and brother of Michael Dell), and Rise of the Machines (featuring Jon Stein, founder of robo-advisor Betterment). Learn about some of the larger-than-life characters behind the fintech movement. The Money Hackers tells the fascinating story of fintech--how it began, and where it is likely taking us.