The remarkably successful gold standard before 1914 was the first international monetary regime. This book addresses the experience of the gold standard peripheries; i.e. regime takers with limited influence on the regime. How did small countries adjust to an international monetary regime with seemingly little room for policy autonomy?

The banking industry extensively lobbied against Basel III and governments have been keen to delay its full implementation. Chorafas' latest book takes a well-rounded approach on Basel III's strengths and weaknesses and explains how, without deep restructuring of the global banking industry, (like Basel II) Basel III will fail.

More than ever, banking competition is based on the ability to control the cost of risk and can only be managed with excellent internal rating models and very advanced risk management processes. This book is a comprehensive guide to quantitative and qualitative rating assessments with up-to-date methodologies in the international banking system.

This book introduces the reader to the 'world of finance', more exactly to one core activity: investment banking. Analysing the practices of traders, analysts, brokers and bankers it reveals how their contrasting perspectives on shares are put to use and the consequences this has for investment banks, corporations, investors and the stock markets.

Bank regulation in Africa has come to a crossroad. Whilst the transition from Basel I to Basel II was relatively smooth, there was much uncertainty as to the feasibility of the Basel II regulatory codes. In the aftermath of the financial crisis and the failure of Basel II, the industry is looking to the next wave of regulatory change in Basel III with both interest and scepticism. This book focuses on key policy issues during the transition of bank regulation in Africa, from Basel I, to the global financial crisis and collapse of Basel II, progressing towards the new financial regulatory architecture embedded in Basel III. Bank regulators in Africa, and commercial bankers on the continent, are worried about many features of Basel III but their voices seem to have gone unheard. This book reflects on the developments that led to the demise of Basel I and II and introduces the new challenges and opportunities constantly emerging in bank regulatory reform in Africa.

The remarkably successful gold standard before 1914 was the first international monetary regime. This book addresses the experience of the gold standard peripheries; i.e. regime takers with limited influence on the regime. How did small countries adjust to an international monetary regime with seemingly little room for policy autonomy?

This is the first comprehensive book on the politics and economics of financial sector consolidation in an emerging market in West Africa. It draws on the author's twenty years experience working with multinationals in this oil-rich zone, to address key issues and examine banking reform in one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

This book gives an account of the motivations behind the primacy of the City of London, both as a domestic actor and as a global financial centre. It focuses on whether the hegemonic position of the City of London can be threatened by the globalization process and how this relates to its role as an international money laundering centre.

"Lawrence H. White deals with a major issue of the 1990s--reprivatization of money. He makes a cogent argument and presents evidence that private, competing currencies would provide more monetary stability than do central banks. Surprisingly enough, modern private money may emerge first in Eastern Europe, where the gap between the economy's need and the government's money is greates."
--Richard Rahn, Vice President and Chief Economists, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Boldly, White makes a persuasive case for free banking....In time, we may well look back and regard "Competition and Currency" as crucial in the development of the economy and economic thought of the future."
-- The New York City Tribune

"White is a leading analyst of a laissez-faire monetary system featuring a privately issued money supply. HIs perceptive insights force a rethinking of our present regulated monetary system and of what kind of reforms will remedy its defects. Avery worthwhile collection of essays for all students of monetary theory."
--Philip Cagan, Columbia University

"White is a leading analyst of a laissez-faire monetary system featuring a privately issued money supply. HIs perceptive insights force a rethinking of our present regulated monetary system and of what kind of reforms will remedy its defects. A very worthwhile collection of essays for all students of monetary theory."
--Phillip Cagan, Columbia University

"Newcomers to the literature...would be recommended to start with White's volume, where each paper is self-contained in its handling of particular aspects of free banking...Highly recommended as clear, well-argued expositions of the case for free banking, challengingassumptions common to much of monetary economics. It is particularly apposite that these assumptions be questioned at a time when institutional reform is so much on the agenda."
--Sheila C. Dow, The Economic Journal

Banking with Integrity provides rich and in-depth case studies of banks which were doing well during the financial crisis of 2007-2010. While other banks went bankrupt, were nationalized, or struggled for survival some of the featured cases increased market share, attracted more customers and avoided home evictions of their clients.

This work offers a comprehensive view on bancassurance from its origin to future challenges and opportunities, considering the relevant changes currently interesting the financial services industry. It also provides a detailed review of theoretical and empirical literature dealing with financial conglomeration.

The banking industry extensively lobbied against Basel III and governments have been keen to delay its full implementation. Chorafas' latest book takes a well-rounded approach on Basel III's strengths and weaknesses and explains how, without deep restructuring of the global banking industry, (like Basel II) Basel III will fail.

In a world where conventional interest-based finance is the dominant framework, Islamic banking faces many challenges. This text is the first to address different Islamic banking issues from both the researchers and practitioners' perspective across the world, reviewing their past experiences of Islamic banks.

A survey of past financial crises, starting with the great banking collapses of the interwar period. The current turmoil has prompted a number of questions regarding both its origins and ways to avoid its repetition. The historical background and the evolving institutional framework of banking and financial systems are at the center of this book.

Mobile financial services (MFS) are of major interest and importance to both researchers and practitioners. The role played by nonbanking actors including telecoms and FinTech firms as well as other participants, such as PayPal and Amazon, in developing and deploying innovative financial and payment services is undeniable. Peer2peer (P2P) payments from nonbank services are becoming increasingly commonplace and will shortly be codified by EC (EU?) regulations requiring banks to provide access to consumer data for third-party app developers and service providers. Three major mobile financial systems-mobile banking, mobile payments, and branchless banking-currently dominate the electronic retail banking sector. Although interconnected and interrelated, their business models, regulatory frameworks, and target markets are distinct. This book provides a unified perspective on MFS and discusses its evolution, growth, and future, as well as identifying the frameworks, stakeholders, and technologies used in financial information systems in general and MFS in particular. Academics and researchers in digital and financial marketing will find this book an invaluable resource, as will bank executives, regulators, policy makers, FinTech professionals, and anyone interested in how mobile technology, social media and financial services will increasingly intersect.

Despite considerable progress on political and economic convergence over the last decade, financial structures of individual countries within the EU remain diverse. This book considers the future prospects of the banking industry in the context of enlargement, application of the IFRS and a potential new member country, Turkey.

"The financial crisis focused unprecedented attention on ethics in investment banking. This book develops an ethical framework to assess and manage investment banking ethics and provides a guide to high profile concerns as well as day to day ethical challenges"--

This book shows that a special bank bankruptcy regime is desirable for the efficient restructuring and/or liquidation of distressed banks. It explores in detail both the principal features of corporate bankruptcy law and the specific characteristics of banks including the importance of public confidence, negative externalities of bank failures, fragmented regulatory framework, bank opaqueness, and the related asset-substitution problem and liquidity provision. These features distinguish banks from other corporations and are largely neglected in corporate bankruptcy law. The authors, an assistant professor for money and finance and a research economist at the Dutch Central Bank, propose changes in both prudential regulation and reorganization policies that should allow regulators and banking authorities to better mitigate disruptions in the financial system and minimize the social costs of bank failures. Their recommendations are complemented by a discussion of bank failures from the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

This book charts the consequences for banking supervision of two stylized developments that over the last decade have characterized the global financial landscape: the integration of cross-sector and cross-border financial services. Both developments inevitably call for a supervisory response and the authors discuss what form and direction this should take. They also address a number of other important subjects including the new Capital Accord (Basel 2), the convergence of supervisory practices, procyclicality, financial conglomerates, deposit insurance and a brief history of the interplay between banking supervision and bank behaviour.The important practical and theoretical issues highlighted in this volume clearly demonstrate that banking supervision currently stands at a crossroads. The detailed, objective discussions of these themes and the sensible conclusions drawn will undoubtedly help policymakers to decide which path to take. The original contributions from high-level practitioners and academics from around the world will also be of great interest to commercial bankers, and academics and researchers of banking, finance and monetary economics.

This text comprises a selection of papers that provide state-of-the-art insights into research focusing on dimensions of bank strategy, governance and the role of credit rating agencies that were presented at the European Association of University Teachers of Banking and Finance Conference, September 2010.

This text comprises a selection of papers that provide state of the art insights into bank performance, risk and firm financing post crisis that were presented at the European Association of University Teachers of Banking and Finance Conference (otherwise known as the Wolpertinger Conference) held at Bangor University, Wales, 2010.

Is structured finance dead? Many have asked this question after the financial crisis. Or is structured finance evil and therefore should it be dead? This book suggests neither nor. Even if structured finance can be misused or applied under inappropriate conditions, it can also be an effective tool for reaching development objectives. The authors in this volume focus on the potential of structured finance in the aftermath of the financial crisis. They explore the conditions under which structured finance is suitable for emerging markets highlighting both its benefits and risks. The book combines professional and scientific perspectives and points towards various useful applications of structured finance in support of small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance. This also includes activities as diverse as infrastructure development, remittances, rural livelihood, and Shari ah-compliant Islamic finance.

"This book focuses on the relationship between FDI and FS liberalization in the context of the WTO. By conducting an economic assessment on the extent of GATS liberalization in one type of FS --commercial banking -- it seeks to empirically clarify if the multilateral liberalization efforts under the WTO promote FDI"--

Restructuring the balance sheets of Western governments, banks and households is an important issue in the recovery after the recent crisis. Chorafas' latest book focuses on sovereign debt, sovereign risk and the developing economic and financial business climate and explains why the year of the big crisis may fall in the middle of this decade.

Chinese banks have been making headlines recently, but what lies beneath? "Banking in China" appears different. What explains the current arrangement? What can we expect from such a banking industry in the future? This book answers these two questions in a fully revised second edition and contributes to a new understanding of Chinese banks.