This book provides state-of-the art analysis of banking and financial systems in the Arab world. The early chapters of the text present an overview of Arab economies linking banking and financial sector trends in the Arab world over the last twenty years. The rest of the text examines in detail the financial systems of the major Arab countries, focusing on banking sector and capital market developments. This text will be the first to provide a rigorous analytical evaluation of banking sector developments in the Arab world.

Investing in Corporate Bonds and Credit Risk is a valuable tool for any corporate bond investor. All the most recent developments and strategies in investment in corporate bonds are analyzed included with qualitative and quantitative approaches. A complete and up-to-date investment process is developed through the book, using many examples taken from banking practice. The growing significance of derivative instruments and credit diversification to bond investors is also analyzed in detail. Investment professionals; Corporate finance staff; Portfolio Managers; Senior Managers; Risk Managers; Consultants; Trading and Sales Staff; Quantitative Analysts; Credit Analysts; Regulators MBA courses

Reinhard H. Schmidt The impressive development of the finance literature with its emphasis on asset pricing and the formal modeling of incentive systems during the past three decades, has largely relegated the business and operational aspects of banking as an industry from the agenda of academic research. Though this is understandable, it is especially regrettable in view of the dynamic dev- opments in the banking industry which have started about a decade ago and are currently in full swing. Fortunately, there are now signs of a change to the effect that banking is back on the research agenda. The p- sent book by Professor De Laurentis and his co-authors is a highly inno- tive and interesting manifestation of this reorientation. Banking is an important part of any financial system, and it is especially important in the financial systems of the countries of Continental Europe, such as Italy, France, and Germany, which have been bank-based for d- ades and which are, in my view, likely to remain bank-based for the fo- seeable future. There are many reasons, based on empirical and theoretical considerations, to believe that strong banks are not only important for the banking industry itself, but also for the respective national economies.

Much critical attention has been given in recent years to market and credit risks, which have a significant effect on corporate and financial operations and must be understood and managed with care. While these areas have rightly received considerable scrutiny, another critical dimension of financial risk - based on corporate liquidity - has been largely overlooked. Liquidity risk is the risk of loss arising from an inability to quickly realise asset value or obtain funding and can be damaging if not properly considered or actively managed. Lack of liquidity can lead to large losses in asset/liability portfolios and off balance sheet activities and in extreme cases can trigger financial distress and insolvency. Liquidity Risk is a comprehensive treatment of the topic focusing on the nature of the risk, problems that arise in asset and funding liquidity and mechanisms that can be developed to monitor, measure and control such risks.

The sequel to two in-depth studies of the management of excellent banks written in the 1980s, this new volume addresses the key issues that preoccupy the leadership of today's most admired banking institutions. After reviewing the lessons learned from the previous studies, the author examines best practice in addressing issues such as culture, leadership, risk management, managing size and complexity, and sustaining revenue growth. The book concludes with the views expressed by the interview sample on the future evolution of the banking sector, following by the author's own forecasts based on twenty years of study of the world of financial services.

This book provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of research outcomes on the equity home bias puzzle - that people overinvest in domestic stocks relative to the theoretically optimal investment portfolio. It introduces place attachment - the bonding that occurs between individuals and their meaningful environments - as a new explanation for equity home bias, and presents a philosophically multi-paradigmatic view of place attachment. For the first time, a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the extant literature is provided, demonstrating that place attachment is a contributing factor to 22 different topics in which variations of home bias are present. The author also analyses the social-psychological underpinnings of place attachment, and considers the effect of multi-culturalism on the future of equity home bias. The book's unique approach discusses the issues in conceptual terms rather than through data and statistical methods. This multi- and inter-disciplinary book is an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers interested in economics, finance, philosophy, and/or methodology, introducing them to a new line of research.

Other publications that exist on this topic, are mainly focused on the general aspects and methodologies of the field and do not refer extensively to bank ALM. On the other hand the existing books on goal programming techniques do not involve the ALM problem and more specifically the bank ALM one. Therefore, there is a lack in the existing literature of a comprehensive text book that combines both the concepts of bank ALM and goal programming techniques and illustrates the contribution of goal programming techniques to bank ALM. This is the major contributing feature of this book and its distinguishing characteristic as opposed to the existing literature.

This volume would be suitable for academics and practitioners in operations research, management scientists, financial managers, bank managers, economists and risk analysts. The book can also be used as a textbook for graduate courses of asset liability management, financial risk management and banking risks.

The8thAnnualFinancialCryptographyConferencewasheldduring9-12Feb- ary 2004 in Key West, Florida, USA. The conference was organized by the - ternational Financial Cryptography Association (IFCA). The program committee, which comprised 25 members, reviewed 78 subm- sions, of which only 17 were accepted for presentation at the conference. This year's conference di?ered somewhat from those of previous years in its c- sideration of papers devoted to implementation, rather than purely conceptual research; one of these submissions was presented at the conference. This rep- sented a movement in the conference toward practical problems and real-world perspectives as a complement to more traditional academic forms of research. In this spirit, the program included a number of excellent invited speakers. In the opening talk of the conference, Jack Selby threw down the gauntlet, - scribing some of the achievements of the PayPal system, but also enumerating reasons for the failures of many elegant e-cash schemes in the past. Ron Rivest, in contrast, described an emerging success in the cleverly conceived Peppercoin micropayment system. Jacques Stern enlightened us with his experience in the cryptographic design of banking cards in France. Simon Pugh unveiled some - tailsofanewgenerationofwirelesscreditcard. Finally, indeferenceto themany consumers in the world lacking either techno-savvy or technological resources that we often too easily take for granted, Jon Peha described a ?elded banking system that avoids reliance on conventional ?nancial infrastructures. Thanks to all of these speakers for rounding out the conference with their expertise and breadth of vision.

The U.S. dollar has served as the key currency of the international economic/financial system for over fifty years. This study assesses the proposition that the series of U.S. current-account deficits over the last twenty years will shortly exhaust the capability of the dollar to continue as the key currency. The evidence in support of the proposition is strong. The implications of exhaustion will be serious and need to be addressed quickly.

This book deals with the political philosophy that underpins theories of European integration and develops an understanding of Europeanization based on downloading and up-loading. Downloading is the means by which EU policy is amalgamated with domestic legislation and institutions. Up-loading indicates the use of national governments or sub-national interests in the development of European integration processes. European integration takes place at the supranational level and in general, is distinct from Europeanization. Through a study of financial services regulation these processes are made explicit.

By 'marketing mind prints', this book is not attempting to map the future by indicating the nature of the marketing terrain and the ways to traverse it. The maps and the terrain are already well known. Instead, leading authors develop their own 'mind print' - in other words, a picture of a segment of the marketing terrain they consider to be important now and in the future. The aim is for readers to ponder upon a specific 'mind print', and to consider how and in what ways the print can be incorporated or developed within their own business.

"Euro on Trial looks back - to the aspirations of the founders - and forward - to the possibility of reform or splitting up. After five years of experience with the new currency, new insights are possible into the old arguments for and against union. Monetary union is reversible in part or in whole and this book assesses the costs and benefits. Brown examines several mainstream scenarios for the future of the euro in these essential readings for market practitioners as well as academics. For example, how long will the euro survive? The author shows that the answer depends principally on Germany. Any of the small or medium-sized economies could leave monetary union without threatening its existence. But were Germany to pull out it is highly doubtful whether there would be a core of countries that would perserve inside. Germany's membership so far has brought much disappointment. How many more years of disillusion are required before the question of EMU reform or break-up enters the mainstream of German political debate?

Banking Reform in India and China seeks to explore the ways in which banking reform is conditioned by a variety of institutional mechanisms. To uncover these dynamics, Saez draws primarily from analytical tools developed in modern game theory and institutional economics. He provides a multidimensional analysis that covers microeconomic, macroeconomic, and institutional aspects of these two countries banking systems. It ties together three themes of corporate governance, financial deregulation, and central bank independence to banking reform. These unique approaches make this an important contribution to the literature o comparative banking reform in transitional economies.

Euro on Trial looks back - to the aspirations of the founders - and forward - to the possibility of reform or splitting up. After five years of experience with the new currency, new insights are possible into the old arguments for and against union. Monetary union is reversible in part or in whole and this book assesses the costs and benefits.

This book arises from an event on the future of banking which included leading figures in the industry. It addresses current trends influencing competition including globalization, market structure, technology and demographics and how these will impact upon companies and their organization, business opportunities, revenue streams, branding and customer behaviour. It will also show banks how to develop strategic initiatives for future competition. This will represent essential thinking for the banking and financial services industry.

The sequel to two in-depth studies of the management of excellent banks written in the 1980s, this new volume addresses the key issues that preoccupy the leadership of today's most admired banking institutions. After reviewing the lessons learned from the previous studies, the author examines best practice in addressing issues such as culture, leadership, risk management, managing size and complexity, and sustaining revenue growth. The book concludes with the views expressed by the interview sample on the future evolution of the banking sector, following by the author's own forecasts based on 20 years of study of the world of financial services.

Gorrod examines the many challenges for the next generation risk management system. Dramatic changes in market conditions, budgetary constraints, the evolving nature of risk within the financial organization, as well as the requirements of increasing regulation in the global market place have resulted in a totally different environment for risk systems. These applications must be functionally richer, have greater performance, provide seamless and improved integration, as well as being quick to deploy and cheaper to deliver and support. Recent advances in technology have provided a number of tools to help the risk technologist. This book summarizes these new trends and also arms the reader with the knowledge, tools and approaches required to survive in this new environment. Covering the requirements of the trader and risk manager, to how to decide whether and how to out-source or develop in-house, this book acts as the handbook for risk technologists to survive these challenges.

Corporate accountability must be examined within the perspective of a company's business challenges. There is a synergy between shareholder value and the responsibilities of management. This book is based on an extensive research project done by the author in the 2001 to 2003 timeframe in the United States, England, Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. It includes a great deal of case studies in corporate accountability and governance, particularly among financial institutions. Significant attention is also paid to good governance of pension funds.

The book is an analysis of corporate treasury and cash management with the principal financial instruments used by the corporate treasurer. The objectives of the book are to describe how corporate treasury departments should establish a framework for the identity, measurement and management of risk and to describe how corporates should manage and control the operation of their treasury function. Robert Cooper brings his extensive experience as Corporate Treasurer of a large multinational to bear in this comprehensive work.

How to avoid taxpayers paying for bank failures and banking crises? This book provides a proposal and a critique by twelve independent experts. It is addressed particularly to the threat posed in Europe by having large international banks, a history of bailouts and limited means of resolving any future banking crises. It shows how political imperatives and legal constraints currently result in economic losses in many countries round the world.

How to avoid taxpayers paying for bank failures and banking crises? This book provides a proposal and a critique by twelve independent experts. It is addressed particularly to the threat posed in Europe by having large international banks, a history of bailouts and limited means of resolving any future banking crises. It shows how political imperatives and legal constraints currently result in economic losses in many countries round the world.

This book has been written as a practical guide for finance markets professionals to explain US monetary policy and to make forecasts of future interest rate levels. Aimed at market players, familiar with US policy instruments, "Explaining and Forecasting the US Federal Funds Rate" will provide a means of making independent interest rate forecasts as well as explaining current rate levels.

The analysis in this book reflects various aspects of financial sector transformation in selected Central European countries that are expected to join the EU in 2004. The authors are Central European financial experts who provide, among other things, a detailed overview of the following main topics: Banking Regulation and Supervision; Concentration and Efficiency of the Banking Sectors; Financial (banking) crises in selected Central European countries; and Monetary and Exchange Rate Development. The results of the research done by these authors reflect an interesting fact: that there exist important differences in the financial sector development even in the relatively homogeneous group of selected Central European countries, namely the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, countries in East Asia have made efforts to promote regional monetary and financial cooperation to complement the evolving international financial architecture. This increased interest in regional monetary and financial cooperation has resulted in several initiatives - the ASEAN Surveillance Process, the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers Process including its Chiang Mai Initiative of 2000, the Manila Framework Group and the Asia-Europe Finance Ministers Process to name a few. These developments in some ways represent a significant break from the past. Going forward the key challenge is how to set priorites and sequence developments so as to smooth the path to a new regional financial architecture. This two-volume set takes up the issue of developing a road map of policy options, both at the regional and country levels, for carrying forward the ongoing efforts in monetary and financial cooperation in East Asia. Building on a series of core reports and background papers by eminent economists and policymakers around the world commissioned under an ADB technical assistance project, the books explore what is feasible and desirable in regional monetary and financial cooperation and lays out a road map for putting the concept into action over the next several years. Volume 1 contains an overview by Peter Montiel, and three core studies by Olam Chaipravat, Eric Girardin, and Takatoshi Ito and Yung-Chul Park. Volume 2 contains background papers by Robert J. Barro; Elbliog'onore Boiscuvier and Alfred Steinherr; Barry Eichengreen; Jeffrey A. Frankel; Eric Girardin; Jong-Wha Lee; Yung-Chul Park and Kwanho Shin; Ronald McKinnon; Eiji Ogawa, Takatoshi Ito, and YuriNagataki Sasaki; Ramkishen Rajan and Reza Siregar; Yunjong Wang and Wing Thye Woo; and Charles Wyplosz. The volumes and the study on which they were based were conceptualized, supervised, and coordinated by Pradumna B. Rana and Srinivasa Madhur.

This book arises from an event on the future of banking which included leading figures in the industry. It addresses current trends influencing competition including globalization, market structure, technology, and demographics and how these will impact upon companies and their organization, business opportunities, revenue streams, branding, and customer behavior. It will also show banks how to develop strategic initiatives for future competition. This will represent essential thinking for the banking and financial services industry.