As financial markets are liberalized, bank management and bank regulators and supervisors are faced with new and complex challenges. In general, bank management is faced with the challenge of managing in a competitive and volatile market environment; bank supervisors have the challenge of establishing the framework that permits risk-taking without endangering the banks' safety and soundness. The book identifies and discusses a set of specific challenges, and suggests approaches that may be used by management and supervisors to surmount them.

This is the story of how a small island on the edge of Europe became one of the world's major tax havens. From global corporations such as Apple and Google, to investment bankers and mainstream politicians, those taking advantage of Ireland's pro-business tax laws and shadow banking system have amassed untold riches at enormous social cost to ordinary people at home and abroad. Tax Haven Ireland uncovers the central players in this process and exposes the coverups employed by the Irish state, with the help of accountants, lawyers and financial services companies. From the lucrative internet porn industry to corruption in the property market, this issue distorts the economy across the state and in the wider international system, and its history runs deep, going back the country's origins as a British colonial outpost. Today, in the wake of Brexit and in the shadow of yet another economic crash, what can be done to prevent such dangerous behaviour and reorganise our economies to invest in the people? Can Ireland - and all of us - build an alternative economy based on fairness and democratic values?

For nearly two decades, countless non-profits in the U.S. were forced to pay big banks enormous sums of money to settle or terminate bilateral contracts known as Interest Rate Swaps (IRSs). Officials at non-profits had entered into these costly contracts unaware that each contract has only one winner, and that big banks did not intend to be the losers.The effects of such monetary transfers have been catastrophic. Money-strapped non-profits had to dismiss schoolteachers, shut off water supply to thousands of poor households, and downsize many other essential public services. Local and state governments, public school districts, universities, hospitals and transit authorities from New York to Los Angeles have been among the largest hit.This book presents selected cases and highlights the lack of evidence that decision makers at non-profits had fully understood the terms and complexities of IRSs. The evident unequal bargaining power thus gives rise to the high likelihood of unconscionable contracting. Additionally, for terminating these contracts, big banks collected huge sums of money for services that had not been, and will never be, rendered. Accordingly, questions arise as to whether these termination payments are tantamount to unjust enrichment.Related Link(s)

This book contains original readings on Reserves Management for central banks and sovereign wealth funds. It aims to outline best practice in respect of strategic asset allocation, facilitating knowledge-sharing across organizations and encouraging collaboration and dialogue between reserves and asset management specialists in the organizations.

The book argues that accountants overemphasise cost and liquidation value, ignore cashflow and value to a going concern; that they would 'rather be precisely wrong than roughly right'. They therefore distort the values of many tangible and intangible assets, and overstate goodwill, with serious distorting effect. The book supports these arguments, illustrates the harm they do, and discusses how values, and their impact, vary - depending on the party banker, shareholder and situation.

Financial crises have plagued economies around the globe for centuries, yet no satisfactory policy solution has been found to significantly reduce the likelihood and severity of these devastating events. Macroprudential policy, the intellectual response to
financial crisis, may provide the solution to this recurrent problem. However, what this means in practice is subject to disagreement - with radicals proposing measures to stablise the flow of credit to households and companies, and others suggesting a more conservative approach focused on the banks. Macroprudential Policy is the first book to provide a coherent and comprehensive coverage of the issues of why, when and how policymakers should intervene.
Barwell brings his considerable experience of working in both a cenral bank and the financial sector to bear in examining the practical justification for the new regime, the institutions of macroprudential policy, the instruments at policymakers' disposal, and a discussion of how policymakers will go about discharging their responsibilities. The book also reviews the economic foundations of macroprudential policy. Conventional macroeconomics is based on assumptions that may work for the analysis of price stability and the conduct of monetary policy, but which more or less rules out the possibility of financial crises. This book introduces an alternative macroeconomics where crises can flourish, identifying the market failures which justify interventions to stabilize the system.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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.

This volume focuses on current problems in banking that have the potential not only for disrupting the smooth provision of banking and other financial services, but also for adversely affecting domestic and even international macroeconomic activity. Because serious banking problems have been experienced in most countries in recent years, the papers both focus on fragility and regulation in different countries and are authored by leading financial economists in six different countries including Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. By providing an international perspective, the papers provide insights into the commonality of banking problems in different countries and the role of regulation both in attempting to prevent and in potentially, albeit unintentionally, encouraging bank crises. As such, the papers add to our storehouse of knowledge on the causes, symptoms, and consequences of banking problems across countries.

Starting with Medici and Fugger and ending with Barings and Royal Bank of Scotland under neo-liberal de-regulation, the author gives an account of how a number of banks failed over a 500 year-period. The author offers an explanation of the leading ideas about the world and good society at the time, and summarizes this narrative using Streeck & Schmitter's three bases for regulation of society: Community (spontaneous solidarity), State (hierarchical control), and Market (dispersed competition). The bank failures are presented in the context of social philosophies of the day (scholasticism, mercantilism, neo-liberalism, and libertarianism), and the changing business practices (Bills of Exchange, rents and financial instruments of various kinds). The dominating explanation of financial crises has been market-related. Here, the author argues that managerial failures are an important contributor. He demonstrates the failure of management to act on early signals such as existential risk, strategic stress syndrome, and lack of proper oversight by top management. The author encourages a return to ethical principles for banks, suggesting that his ethical aspect should be at the core of the credit process of banks in the future. With its interdisciplinary approach, this book will be an important contribution to the discussion surrounding bank failures. It will interest any scholar looking at the origins of financial crises and will be particularly useful for post-graduate students of economic and financial history, banking, finance and accounting.

This is a comprehensive biography of Clarence Charles Hatry, 1888-1965, an enigmatic and charismatic public figure. Hatry was the son of Jewish immigrant parents who became a company promoter and whose companies collapsed in 1929, leading to a crash on the London stock exchange. He was brought down by a desperate fraud. At his trial three months later, the judge said that he could not imagine a worse crime. Analysing transactions in detail, the book reveals Hatry's brilliance as a manipulator and a world-class networker and persuader. It also demonstrates his vain belief in his ability to overcome any risks and his insecurity which led him to surround himself with sycophants who would not challenge his ideas. It shows how others used Hatry to make money, and, as he destroyed himself, as a scapegoat who distracted from the City's failings. Despite his deepest ambitions, he remained an outsider. Until now there has been no full biography of Clarence Hatry, which may be attributable to the lack of records, as his business papers are believed all to have been destroyed. This comprehensive biography is based on examination of the memoirs of Hatry's contemporaries, the archives and records which they and their companies preserved, and press reports of Hatry's activities. Marking the 90th anniversary of Hatry's collapse, this book will be important reading for academics and researchers looking to gain a greater understanding of the context of the 1929 crash, or of financial crises generally.

Under the rule of the current economic order, social injustice is ever-increasing. Issues such as poverty, inhumane working conditions, inadequate wages, social insecurity and an unhealthy labor market continue to persist. Many states are also unable to produce policies capable of resolving these problems. The characteristics of the capitalist system currently render it unable to provide social justice. In fact, on the contrary, the system reinforces these injustices and prevents economic and social welfare from reaching the masses. Many Muslim scholars have analyzed and, indeed, criticized this system for years. This book argues that an alternative and more equitable theoretical and practical economical order can been developed within the framework of Islamic principles. On the other hand, the experiences of societies under the rule of Muslim governments do not always seem to hold great promise for an alternative understanding of social justice. In addition, the behaviors of Muslim individuals within their economic lives are mostly shaped by the necessities of daily economic conditions rather than by the tenets of Islam that stand with social justice. Until 1990s, studies of Islamic economics made connections between finance and the notion of social justice, but work conducted more recently has neglected this issue. It is therefore evident that the topic of social justice needs to be revisited in a more in-depth manner. Filling an important gap in existing literature, the book uniquely connects social justice and Islamic finance and economics on this topic. Theory, practice and key issues are presented simultaneously throughout this book, which is based on the writings of a number of eminent scholars.

When it was founded back in 1944 no one could possibly have foreseen how the World Bank - known more formally as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) - would flourish. Today, with 188 members, it is by far the largest lender for projects in agriculture, health, infrastructure and many other fields in developing countries around the world, with a budget of billions of dollars and a staff of more than 9,000, and its advice is usually heeded by both the developing countries which borrow from it and the advanced ones which contribute. This second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the World Bank shows the substantial progress the Bank has made, this mainly through the dictionary section with concise entries on its component institutions, related organizations, its achievements in various fields, some of the major projects and member countries, and its various presidents. The introduction explains how the Bank works while the chronology traces the major events over nearly 70 years. Meanwhile, the list of acronyms reminds us just who the main players are. And the bibliography directs readers to useful internal documentation and outside studies.

The Federal Reserve System has been widely criticised for its response (or lack of response) to the economic and financial problems of 1928-1933. This period was one of frantic speculation followed by the collapse of the stock market, the banking system and the economy at large. How did the Fed let this happen, and was it to blame? This book, first published in 1993, carries out an in-depth statistical analysis of the relevant data supporting the various theories surrounding the Fed's behaviour at the time, and is a key work in understanding the thinking of the period.

This book, first published in 1989, is a valuable addition to the literature on the study of American business history. Most previous historians, however, have studied the management of business in a vacuum, separating the internal affairs of particular companies from the social and political environments in which corporations existed. From 1799 to 1842 the Manhattan Company had three distinct divisions: a water works, a main bank in New York City, and bank branches in upstate New York. To successfully manage this complicated and decentralised business, the Manhattan Company's directors had to be particularly sensitive the social and political environments. This book traces the history of banking in New York, an examination of the nature and significance of the Company's charter, and a detailed analysis of the Company's three divisions.

This study of bank behaviour and banking regulation, first published in 1993, continues to provide through its close analysis valuable insights into the issues of modern banking. The effects of regulatory restriction and liberalisation are examined in detail, and California's banking history, while a fascinating topic in its own right, offers several messages for policy makers today.

The Stock Exchange has been described as the mart of the world; as the nerve-centre of the politics and finances of nations; as the barometer of their prosperity and adversity; and as the bottomless pit of London, worse than all the hells. This book, first published in 1904, examines the London Stock Exchange in its purest sense, as the market for stocks and shares.

This book, first published in 1921, is intended to serve as an introduction to the study of the historical background of modern industrial and social questions. It deals with the evolution of English industrial conditions from the close of the Napoleonic War to the outbreak of the First World War. Particular attention is paid to social consequences and growth of opinion.

These important essays, first published in 1918, consider the various economic aspects of the reign of Edward III. They support George Unwin's contention that the measures of the king and parliament were mainly opportunist rather than the expression of a definite financial policy.

First published in 1916, this work is still recognised as a valuable historical and analytical study of the rise and development of finance as a centralised, coordinated force during the period 1385 to 1915. It examines the evolution of the modern money market, and describes amongst other things the decline of the anti-usury sentiment, the beginnings of banking, and the early stock exchange. In detail the author goes on to discuss everything from the rise of the joint stock banks to the post-banking evolution.

This book, first published in 1985, is a study of the functioning of one sector of American capital markets - non-reserve city national banks - between 1870 and 1900. The unusually wide and deep expansion of the American economy in this period was impelled in part by the growth and development of agriculture, and this study examines the role of one source of loanable funds - banks chartered under the National Banking Acts - in providing American farmers with loans to expand and capitalize.

This book, first published in 1992, explores the role of the Federal Reserve System in the Great Depression. Several theories of the causes of the Great Depression are discussed. What the Federal Reserve did, how they defended their actions, and how business writers, businessmen and economists viewed these actions are important. Analysis of these opinions sheds light on how aware of the appropriateness of Federal Reserve policy concerned participants of that time period were.

Between 1875 and 1900, the assets of trust companies in New York City grew at a compound annual rate of 9.6%, compared with 4.1% for national banks. The purpose of this book, first published in 1986, is to bring to light the entrepreneurial, economic and political forces which prompted the growth of the trust companies and resolved the movement into a well-defined financial intermediary and eventually led to the merging of the trust movement with commercial banks.

This book, first published in 1993, examines in detail the bureaucratic and political manoeuvring surrounding the enactment of banking and monetary reforms in the 1930s. Although banking reform influenced the politics of both the Hoover and Roosevelt presidencies, most surveys devote only a few pages to monetary disturbances and the reforms passed as a result.

This book, first published in 1904, is an early examination of England's monetary system: what it is, how it was founded, grew and developed. It analyses the role of trade in this development, and works from the assumption that the material well-being of the country and all its inhabitants is largely dependent upon the money market.