It's hardly an exaggeration to claim that over the last few decades, central bankers have achieved unprecedented status. Especially since the global financial crisis of 2008, the world holds its breath whenever they announce new policy interventions. Given the opaque nature of the money supply, in the eyes of most citizens, the "mystic hand" of central bankers is felt everywhere. Never before have central bank policies been so decisive, not only for financial markets but also for national economies and public welfare in general. This book traces the way in which central bankers learned, unlearned, relearned and still have to learn the tricks of their trade. The lessons taught by nineteenth-century grands savants like Henry Thornton and Walter Bagehot, once instilled, were eventually neglected. This led directly to the policy mistakes that produced the Great Depression of the 1930s. When the financial crisis of 2008 broke out, central bankers the world over summoned Thornton's and Bagehot's wisdom and acted accordingly. This re-learning saved the world from a repetition of the Great Depression. But when the worst of the financial crisis and ensuing recession were over, central bankers continued applying unconventional monetary policies-in some areas of the world, this even extended to negative policy interest rates and massive interventions in the bond markets, which resulted in constant injections of liquidity. Once the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, most central bankers doubled down on the intensity of these kinds of policies. While the financial crisis required central bankers to act in decisive ways, it can no longer be denied that the consequences of these expansive monetary policies have become major issues. Central bank policies of the last decade and a half have resulted in a relentless build-up of leverage and debt; led to speculative bubbles in different kinds of markets; undermined the willingness of political authorities to put their fiscal houses in order; stimulated a "zombification" of the economy and the growth of shadow banking activities; and contributed to growing inequality around the world. Central bankers are at a crucial turning point for the future of their profession, and even more for the future of our economy. New lessons have to be learnt. Our future depends on these being the right lessons.

This book addresses issues in the current literature on corporate finance using historical evidence. In particular it looks at the role of universal banks in relaxing the credit constraints of firms, supervising managers and stabilizing share prices. The key issues is whether the Anglo-American asset based financing is more efective than the main-bank approach used in Germany and Japan. Earlier studies have found that firms with a close relationship with a major bank have high market value compared to book value, although it is difficult to determine whether this is cause or effect

Mutuality has become a topic of debate recently for a whole range of academics and social commentators. The 'demutualisation' of banks and building societies has been partnered by the idea of a 'new mutualism' , forming a set of social values and beliefs, and this collection looks at the manifestations of these trends and the implications for the future.

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?

In the early 1990s, the First National Bank of Keystone in West Virginia began buying and securitizing subprime mortgages from all over the country, and quickly grew from a tiny bank with just $100 million in assets to over $1.1 billion. For three years, it was listed as the most profitable large community bank in the country. It was all a fraud. All of the securitization deals the bank entered into lost money. To hide that fact, bank insiders started cooking the books, and concealing that they were also embezzling millions of dollars from the bank. This was all hidden from the bank's attorneys and auditors, federal bank examiners, and even the board of directors of the bank. To keep the examiners at bay, the bank insiders did everything possible to avoid giving them access to documents they were entitled to see, documents they knew would sink their scheme. The head of the bank even went so far as to bury four large truckloads of documents in a ditch on her ranch. Robert S. Pasley explores the failure of the First National Bank of Keystone, the intrigue involved, and the lessons that could have been learned-and still can be learned-about how banks operate, how federal banking regulators supervise financial institutions, how agencies interact with one another, and how such failures can be avoided in the future.

The quality of financial integration is one of Europe's principal concerns in the aftermath of the great crisis. The lack of risk sharing lies at the heart of the financial instability produced by the rapid retrenchment of capital flows within national boundaries. The limited cross-border banking and capital markets activity is unable to provide investors with the necessary risk diversification to allow economies to withstand asymmetric shocks. This book builds on a year-long discussion with a group of academics, policy-makers and industry experts to provide a long-term contribution to the Capital Markets Union project, launched by the European Commission in 2015. It identifies 36 cross-border barriers to capital markets integration and provides an organic plan, consisting of 33 policy recommendations, to relaunch EU financial integration. These aim to improve the key components of cross-border capital market transactions: price discovery, execution and enforcement. It also provides a comprehensive overview of the current structure and the state of integration of Europe's capital markets.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Deregulation in banking and finance may hold promise for consumers, but what actually seems to be developing is trouble. Large banks are combining into small clusters of mega-banks with national and global reach, supported by government safety nets premised on fears they are too big to be allowed to fail. One result, among several, is that retail banking suffers. Shull and Hanweck evaluate existing bank merger policy and offer workable proposals for new legislative actions that would enhance the benefits of bank mergers without exacerbating the weaknesses. They review the historical role of governments in protecting banks from competition, then the modern policy that promotes competition, and present a model to explain and highlight the problems that today's policies are causing. In the end they turn to their own research and conclude that while a special bank merger policy is still warranted, it needs to be adapted in ways that would rein in the trend toward bigness and soften the impact this has domestically and internationally. A far reaching study essential for executives in all corners of the banking and financial services industry, academic and government researchers, and teachers of business, finance, and public policy.

Many argue that deregulation and technological change have so intensified competition among banks that bank mega-mergers should cause little concern. Shull and Hanweck conclude, however, that a special bank merger policy is still warranted but it needs to be adapted to the way things are today, mainly, the impact that larger banks are having domestically and on the international scene as well. They provide a history of how governments in the U.S. and elsewhere sought to suppress bank competition; then, the unique procompetitive policies that developed in the second half of the Twentieth Century, including the introduction of antitrust standards and deregulation. From their theoretical and empirical evidence they show that the newly combined banks are competitively suspect. From other evidence they find that pricing of retail banking services in local markets does not reflect the improvements that deregulation and rapid technological change have led us to expect. They also describe how current bank merger policy, implemented by the Federal Reserve, other Federal banking agencies and the Justice Department, facilitates the growth of large banks and augments the new structural configuration. Can these problems be solved? Shull and Hanweck believe they can be and propose detailed, workable changes in public policy to do so.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the theory and practice of takaful, which is an Islamic alternative to insurance. The concepts are explained using real-life case studies, calculations, and exhibits to aid in reader learning and reflection. Takaful, both as an academic subject and as well as practice, is growing particularly in the world leading financial and learning hubs such as in the UK and the USA and countries with large Muslim populations in Asia, Africa, and Middle East.

With twenty-one years' experience in the investment bond business, Raymond uses his experience in this study to demonstrate the key issues related to state, county, municipal and district bonds through the use of the most recent data of the time. Originally published in 1923, this version was republished in 1936 to ensure that all figures and arguments were up-to-date. This title will be of interest to students of Business, Economics and Finance.

This study is the first in a decade to provide an overview of banking in Brazil. It is argued that the big three federal banks have long provided essential policy alternatives and, since the liberalization of the industry in the 1990s, have realized competitive advantages over private and foreign banks.

The recent banking crisis has brought into question the business model used by most large banks. This collection of essays explores the success of 'alternative banks' - savings banks, cooperative banks and development banks, using case studies from around the world and discussion of both the historical and theoretical context of banking practices.

Based on both theoretical and empirical approaches, the essays in this volume emphasise the role of ethics in a globalized economy.

Public credit was controversial in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England. It entailed new ways of thinking about the individual in relation to the State and was for many reasons a site of cultural negotiation and debate. At the same time, it required commitment from participants in order to function. Some of the debates relating to public credit, whose success was tied up in the way it was represented, find their way into contemporary fiction - in particular the eighteenth-century novel. This book reads eighteenth-century fiction alongside works of political economy in order to offer a new perspective on credible commitment and the rise of a credit economy facilitated by public credit. Works by authors such as Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Frances Burney are explored alongside lesser-known fictional texts, including some early it-narratives and novels of sensibility, to give a fully rounded view of the perception of public credit within England and its wider cultural and social implications. Strategies for representing public credit, the book argues, can be seen as contributing to the development of the English novel, a type of fiction whose emphasis on the individual can also be read as helping to produce a certain type of person, the modern financial subject. This interdisciplinary book draws from economic history and literary/cultural studies in order to make connections between the development of finance and an important facet of modern Western culture, the novel.

Central bank independence is a key issue for political and monetary authorities in many countries. In Institutions and Monetary Policy, Eric Schaling looks at the impact of different central banks on price stability and macroeconomic performance, and their optimal degree of legislative independence.After introducing and surveying the rules versus discretion debate in monetary policy, Eric Schaling then investigates the relationship between domestic monetary institutions and macroeconomic performance. The author compares central bank independence in twelve industrial countries - Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden and Switzerland - and prepares an index of his results. The relationship between central bank independence, inflation and output growth is extensively discussed and a series of propositions tested for the same set of countries over the period from 1972 to 1991. Normative issues are investigated in the later part of the book including the optimal degree of central bank independence in relation to, first, the inflation rate and, second, wage formation in a totally unionized economy. Institutions and Monetary Policy will be welcomed by scholars and policymakers concerned with the increasingly important role of institutions in monetary policy and the relation between degrees of central bank independence and political and economic outcomes.

Banking, Politics and Global Finance presents an innovative, micro-political examination of the US banking system's response to the ongoing globalization of financial markets. This approach contrasts sharply with earlier studies which have emphasized the macro-structural aspects of politics through concentrating on elements of stability and consistency in the policy responses by advanced industrial countries to external economic pressures. By micro-political analysis of policy making, this book reveals a multitude of changes in the interests, coalitions and power constellations among private and public sector actors and institutions in the US financial system, in the absence of any macrostructural adjustment. These changes have opened alternative channels for policy making leading to substantial adjustments in the regulatory framework governing US financial markets. Using detailed discussion of the unsuccessful attempts to repeal the law that separates commercial from investment banking - the Glass-Steagall Act - and the successful raising of the capital standards of US commercial banks, Dr Reinicke's book also explains why the same policy network can respond very differently to an external economic challenge - a phenomenon usually neglected in the literature on comparative political economy.

The Great Financial Crisis, which started in 2007-08, was originally called the 'sub-prime' crisis because its origins could be traced to excessive lending in the real estate sector in the US, concentrated mostly in sunbelt states like Nevada, Florida and California. There were similar pockets of excess lending for housing in Europe, notably in Ireland and Spain. But a key difference emerged later: in Ireland and Spain, the local banking systems almost collapsed and the governments experienced severe financial stress with large macroeconomic costs. Nothing similar happened in the US. The local financial system remained fully functional and the local governments did not experience increased financial stress in the states with the biggest real estate booms, like Nevada or Florida. This book illustrates how the structure of the US banking market and the existence of federal institutions allowed regional financial shocks to be absorbed at the federal level in the US, thus avoiding local financial crisis. The authors argue that the experience of the US shows the importance of a 'banking union' to avoid severe regional (national) financial dislocation in the wake of regional boom and bust cycles. They also discuss the extent to which the institutions of the partial banking union, now in the process of being created for the euro area, should be able to increase its capacity to deal with future regional boom and bust cycles, thereby stabilising the single currency.

The Great Financial Crisis, which started in 2007-08, was originally called the 'sub-prime' crisis because its origins could be traced to excessive lending in the real estate sector in the US, concentrated mostly in sunbelt states like Nevada, Florida and California. There were similar pockets of excess lending for housing in Europe, notably in Ireland and Spain. But a key difference emerged later: in Ireland and Spain, the local banking systems almost collapsed and the governments experienced severe financial stress with large macroeconomic costs. Nothing similar happened in the US. The local financial system remained fully functional and the local governments did not experience increased financial stress in the states with the biggest real estate booms, like Nevada or Florida. This book illustrates how the structure of the US banking market and the existence of federal institutions allowed regional financial shocks to be absorbed at the federal level in the US, thus avoiding local financial crisis. The authors argue that the experience of the US shows the importance of a 'banking union' to avoid severe regional (national) financial dislocation in the wake of regional boom and bust cycles. They also discuss the extent to which the institutions of the partial banking union, now in the process of being created for the euro area, should be able to increase its capacity to deal with future regional boom and bust cycles, thereby stabilising the single currency.

China's shadow banking has been a top issue in the past few years. Scholars, policymakers, and professionals around the world are seeking deeper insight into the subject, and the authors had unique insight into the sector through their positions high up in the regulatory apparatus. "Regulating China's Shadow Banks" focuses on the regulation of shadow banks in China and provides crucial information to demystify China's shadow banking and associated regulatory challenges. This book defines "shadow banking" in the Chinese context, analyzes the impact of shadow banking on the Chinese economy, includes a full-scale analysis on the current status of Chinese financial regulation, and provides valuable advice on the regulation of China's shadow banks.

The 2008 financial crisis has severely shaken confidence in liberal economic theory and policy. However, the sharply divergent experiences of the six Anglo-Saxon 'liberal market economies' (LMEs) suggest that the reality is not so simple. This book traces the evolution of liberal capitalism, from its rebirth amidst the challenges of the 1970s to its role in the genesis of the 2008 crisis - and debates the assumptions underpinning the liberal capitalist paradigm. Close examination reveals variety within liberal capitalism. Not only was there the familiar, "hands off" libertarian approach adopted by the US, UK and Ireland, but more bounded, better regulated and apparently more stable varieties of economic liberalism also emerged, through the more pragmatic approach taken by Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The evidence is compelling. Whereas the American, British and Irish financial systems were severely damaged by the crisis, those of Canada, Australia and New Zealand proved more robust. This volume explores the degree to which these divergent experiences were a result of better and more intensive supervision, differences in business or political culture, broader commitment to social norms, and the pace of liberalisation. Detailed comparative case studies reveal fundamental differences in the economic and political environments in which economic liberalisation took place, in approaches to finance and in the degree to which it was seen to be an engine for growth. The book concludes that this had a major influence on the evolving economic and financial systems, and consequently, their relative resilience when confronted with the challenges of the 2008 crisis.

Since 2000, the Gulf Coast states - Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida - have experienced a series of hurricanes, multiple floods and severe storms, and one oil spill. These disasters have not only been numerous but also devastating. Response to and recovery from these unprecedented disasters has been fraught with missteps in management. In efforts to avoid similar failures in the future, government agencies and policy practitioners have looked to recast emergency management, and community resilience has emerged as a way for to better prevent, manage, and recover from these disasters. How is disaster resilience perceived by local government officials and translated into their disaster response and recovery efforts? Ashley D. Ross systematically explores and measures disaster resilience across the Gulf Coast to gain a better understanding of how resilience in concept is translated into disaster management practices, particularly on the local government level. In doing so, she presents disaster resilience theory to the Gulf Coast using existing data to create county-level baseline indicators of Gulf Coast disaster resilience and an original survey of county emergency managers and elected municipal officials in 60 counties and 120 municipalities across the Gulf States. The findings of the original survey measure the disaster resilience perceptions held by local government officials, which are examined to identify commonalities and differences across the set of cases. Additional analyses compare these perceptions to objective baseline indicators of disaster resilience to assess how perceptions align with resilience realities. Local Disaster Resilience not only fills a critical gap in the literature by applying existing theories and models to a region that has experienced the worst disasters the United States has faced in the past decade, but it can also be used as a tool to advance our knowledge of disasters in an interdisciplinary manner.

This book sheds new light on the role played by European banks in the economic colonization of much of the globe. Based on previously unused archival material, it examines the origins and development of imperial banking systems. Contributors utilize new developments and methodology in business history to explore a broad range of countries including Cuba, Brazil, Portugal, South Africa and Algeria. The central topic of interest in this book is the institutional history of central, issuing and rediscounting banks. While much attention has been paid to the British, Dutch and French banks and financial instituions, this book is unique in its focus on colonial and overseas banking. Using a range of case studies, this book highlights both the immense variety and cohesion that defined colonial banking practices. This book will be of interest to researchers concerned with international finance and banking and economic history.

Recent failures and rescues of large banks have resulted in colossal costs to society. In wake of such turmoil a new banking union must enable better supervision, pre-emptive coordinated action and taxpayer protection. While these aims are meritorious they will be difficult to achieve. This book explores the potential of a new banking union in Europe. This book brings together leading experts to analyse the challenges of banking in the European Union. While not all contributors agree, the constructive criticism provided in this book will help ensure that a new banking union will mature into a stable yet vibrant financial system that encourages the growth of economic activity and the efficient allocation of resources. This book will be of use to researchers interested in Banking, Monetary Economics and the European Union.

This book proposes a bank risk aggregation framework based on financial statements. Specifically, bank risk aggregation is of great importance to maintain stable operation of banking industry and prevent financial crisis. A major obstacle to bank risk management is the problem of data shortage, which makes many quantitative risk aggregation approaches typically fail. Recently, to overcome the problem of inaccurate total risk results caused by the shortage of risk data, some researchers have proposed a series of financial statements-based bank risk aggregation approaches. However, the existing studies have drawbacks of low frequency and time lag of financial statements data and usually ignore off-balance sheet business risk in bank risk aggregation. Thus, by reviewing the research progress in bank risk aggregation based on financial statements and improving the drawbacks of existing methods, this book proposes a bank risk aggregation framework based on financial statements. It makes full use of information recorded in financial statements, including income statement, on- and off-balance sheet assets, and textual risk disclosures, which solves the problem of data shortage in bank risk aggregation to some extent and improves the reliability and rationality of bank risk aggregation results. This book not only improves the theoretical studies of bank risk aggregation, but also provides an important support for the capital allocation of the banking industry in practice. Thus, this book has theoretical and practical importance for bank managers and researchers of bank risk management.

Understanding Credit Derivatives and Related Instruments, Second Edition is an intuitive, rigorous overview that links the practices of valuing and trading credit derivatives with academic theory. Rather than presenting highly technical explorations, the book offers summaries of major subjects and the principal perspectives associated with them. The book's centerpiece is pricing and valuation issues, especially valuation tools and their uses in credit models. Five new chapters cover practices that have become commonplace as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, including standardized premiums and upfront payments. Analyses of regulatory responses to the crisis for the credit derivatives market (Basel III, Dodd-Frank, etc.) include all the necessary statistical and mathematical background for readers to easily follow the pricing topics. Every reader familiar with mid-level mathematics who wants to understand the functioning of the derivatives markets (in both practical and academic contexts) can fully satisfy his or her interests with the comprehensive assessments in this book.