The end of the Cold War put the planet on a new track, abruptly replacing the familiar world of bipolarity, red phones, and intercontinental ballistic missiles with the strange new world of the Internet, e-commerce, and Palm Pilots. The "New World Order" was defined by a U.S.-led war against Iraq, bloody ethnic strife in Bosnia and Rwanda, and religious turmoil in Central Asia. This evolving global system, however, overlooked the powerful role of credit, which functions as a critical building block for developing greater national and individual wealth. This volume examines the evolution of credit in the Western world and its relationship to power. Spanning several centuries of human endeavor. it focuses on Western Europe and the United States and also considers how the Western system became the global credit system. Six major themes run throughout: (1) the direct relationship between credit and power; (2) different kinds of political power promote different kinds of economic behavior; (3) various societal and cultural groups were often more successful in mingling credit and political power; (4) the Western credit system evolved in tandem with the development of the nation-state; (5) historically, there has been a pattern of financial crises; (6) credit spread from being the privilege of the wealthy and powerful to being available to vast numbers. MacDonald and Gastmann have broken history into five periods, ranging from early pre-modern, defining the earliest references to banking and credit as exemplified by the Code of Hammurabi, circa 1726 BC, through the Roman Empire with its creation of money and growing use of credit in trade, the barbarian invasions of the 11th century which led to a breakdown in credit networks in the West, through the establishment of the Italian city-states, to the modern period which incorporates the rise of credit in the Low Countries in the 1500s and extends through the rise of London and New York as the major international credit hubs. The final period is the global one which began in the early 1990s, reflecting the linkages of almost all points of the map, and the deepening democratization of credit in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. This highly accessible and well-written volume will engage historians and economists alike.

This book offers an in-depth analysis of the most salient features of contemporary financial systems and clarifies the major strategic issues facing the development of digital finance. It provides insight into how the digital finance system actually works in a socioeconomic context. It presents three key messages: that digital transformation will change the financial system entirely, that the State has a particularly important role to play in the whole process and that consumers will be offered more opportunities and freedom but simultaneously will be exposed to more risk and challenges. The book is divided into four parts. It begins by laying down the fundamentals of the subsequent analysis and offers a deep understanding of digital finance, including a topology of the key technologies applied in the transformation process. The next part reviews the challenges facing the digital State in the new reality, the digitalization of public finance and the development of digitally relevant taxation systems. In the third part, digital consumer aspects are discussed. The final part examines the risks and challenges of digital finance. The authors focus their attention on three key developments in financial markets: accelerated growth in terms of the importance of algorithms, replacing existing legal regulations; the expansion of cyber risk and its growing impact and finally the emergence of new dimensions of systemic risk as a side effect of financial digitalization. The authors supplement the analysis with a discussion of how these new risks and challenges are monitored and mitigated by financial supervision. The book is a useful, accessible guide to students and researchers of finance, finance and technology, regulations and compliance in finance.

While there is a vast amount of literature examining firm's networks from an industrial organization perspective, the financial implications of networking remain underexplored. This book fills this gap, by investigating the phenomenon of business networks in the context of management and governance processes, and the related effects on interactions with the financial system in general, and credit institutions in particular. Networking is examined both from the demand (firms) and supply (banking institutions) perspective, thus, the book offers several contributions. It outlines the critical issues connected to business aggregations from the point of view of the management of information flows, and addresses the problem of identifying the role of banking ecosystems, in light of the transformations taking place in the financial industry, considering the growing complementarity between bank and market instruments in corporate financing. It explores the problem of identifying rating models for business networks, as well as, for individual participants on a stand-alone basis. Further, the book analyses a sample of networks in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and profiles a number of specific business cases. The book will be of particular interest to researchers and scholars in the field of banking and finance but also entrepreneurship and small business management. It will also find an audience among scholars from a wide array of additional fields, working on the relationship between financing concerns and growth opportunities.

It is common to blame the inadequacy of credit risk models for the fact that the financial crisis has caught many market participants by surprise. On closer inspection, though, it often appears that market participants failed to understand or to use the models correctly. The recent events therefore do not invalidate traditional credit risk modeling as described in the first edition of the book. A second edition is timely, however, because the first dealt relatively briefly with instruments featuring prominently in the crisis (CDSs and CDOs). In addition to expanding the coverage of these instruments, the book will focus on modeling aspects which were of particular relevance in the financial crisis (e.g. estimation error) and demonstrate the usefulness of credit risk modelling through case studies.

This book provides practitioners and students with an intuitive, hands-on introduction to modern credit risk modelling. Every chapter starts with an explanation of the methodology and then the authors take the reader step by step through the implementation of the methods in Excel and VBA. They focus specifically on risk management issues and cover default probability estimation (scoring, structural models, and transition matrices), correlation and portfolio analysis, validation, as well as credit default swaps and structured finance.

The book has an accompanying website, http: //loeffler-posch.com/, which has been specially updated for this Second Edition and contains slides and exercises for lecturers.

Victorian Insolvency explores for the first time the financial, legal, and administrative aspects of insolvency in nineteenth-century England. V. Markham Lester gives a detailed statistical analysis covering bankruptcy, imprisonment for debt, and company winding-up during the period, and traces the decline in the level of insolvency towards the end of the century. His thorough scholarship demonstrates just how significant a problem insolvency was for English society in the Victorian era. Dr Lester argues persuasively that random factors may have played as great a role as cyclical fluctuations in bankruptcy levels. Victorian Insolvency also traces the history of insolvency legislation and adds a new and important dimension to the debate on government growth by examining how the English legal system, through its administration of bankruptcy laws, increased the size and complexity of government bureaucracy. By the end of the nineteenth-century, the cost of administering bankrupt estates was one of the largest items of government expenditure. Dr Lester places Victorian management of insolvency in the context of other legal reforms, the relationship between the legal and business communities, and the development of the modern British state.

Find The Home Mortgage That’s Right For You

Finding the right mortgage can be complex, confusing, and frustrating. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for anything other than the terms you want. This indispensable and newly updated second edition of How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Your Home Mortgage spells out everything mortgage hunters need to know in clear and accessible terms. It covers more loan alternatives than any other book and examines the importance of discount points. It offers complete details on virtually every mortgage option currently available, what advantages each option offers, how to choose the right one for your needs, and how to save money in the process. New information in this edition will help you use the Internet to find a home and get a mortgage, examine automated underwriting models and conforming loan limits, and weigh new shopping strategies. Easy-to-read charts and graphs, helpful sample forms, and numerous examples will help you understand:

• First-time buyers programs
• APR, buy-downs, reverse mortgages, accelerated payoffs, and zero point loans
• Refinancing strategies
• Closing costs, lender fees, and other expenses
• How to dispute credit report errors and fix credit problems
• How to use the Internet for loan analysis

The assessment and effective management of credit risk is fundamental to the success of any financial institution. However, the increasing sophistication of financial instruments, many of which are over-the-counter products, has demonstrated that traditional methods of evaluation of risk are no longer adequate. Even "common practice" now requires advanced methodologies.

"...The first comprehensive and detailed compendium of credit risk models. This book is an absolute must for all the students and risk professionals who need to understand the modern foundations of credit risk management." Michel Crouhy, Risk Management, CIBC

"This is an impressive exposition of credit risk matters. Every angle is investigated: structural models, reduced-form models, credit risk of derivatives, and empirical results are all explained with verve and rigor. This book should be read by all credit specialists who care to venture beyond the obvious." Jamil Baz, Co-Head of Fixed Income Research, Lehman Brothers, Europe

"The measurement and management of credit risk has undergone a revolutionary transformation over the past few years. Advances in credit pricing and risk management models, together with the development of a sophisticated market for credit derivatives, have forced banks and investors alike to re-evaluate their entire approach to credit risk. Didier Cossin and Hugues Pirotte have delivered a timely, comprehensive and well-balanced synthesis of the concepts and models underpinning modern credit management." Guy Coughlan, Head of European Portfolio Research, J.P. Morgan

"This book has assembled the major results on the value of instruments that are subject to credit risk. The coverage is extensive. Therefore it should prove to be a useful text for both practitioners and graduate students who wish to work in this area." Professor Suresh M. Sundaresan, Chase Manhattan Bank Foundation Professor, Columbia Business School

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. Taking into account also its endowment and potential economic resources, the Islamic banking industry in Indonesia was expected to take on an important role in facilitating more financial resources and to contribute to the internationalization of the Islamic mode of financing particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the reality is far from the expectation. This book aims to clarify the causes and fundamental constraints leading to the extraordinarily low level of Indonesia's Islamic financial deepening. The authors draw on the traditions of Institutional Economics which are concerned with the rules or mechanisms of creating the 'incentive' and 'threat' for economic players because the rules (institutions) would matter as the determinant for economic development and economic efficiency. This book offers a fairly new analytical lens by hypothesizing that Islamic banks must earn additional profit- the authors coined as 'Islamic bank rent' - to maintain their franchise value as prudent Shari'ah-compliant lenders when compared to conventional banks. The authors argued that insufficient provision of the Islamic bank rent opportunity may have caused the Indonesia's Islamic banks the opportunity to learn and improve their skill and capacity for the credit risk management. The book also offers evidence in support of implementing economic and affirmative policy necessary for incubating and developing the Islamic banking industry in Indonesia and making Indonesia an international Islamic financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region. This book will be a useful resource for policy makers and researchers interested in Islamic banking in Indonesia.

This book provides a comprehensive guide to effective trading in the financial markets through the application of technical analysis through the following: Presenting in-depth coverage of technical analysis tools (including trade set-ups) as well as backtesting and algorithmic trading Discussing advanced concepts such as Elliott Waves, time cycles and momentum, volume, and volatility indicators from the perspective of the global markets and especially India Blending practical insights and research updates for professional trading, investments, and financial market analyses Including detailed examples, case studies, comparisons, figures, and illustrations from different asset classes and markets in simple language The book will be essential for scholars and researchers of finance, economics and management studies, as well as professional traders and dealers in financial institutions (including banks) and corporates, fund managers, investors, and anyone interested in financial markets.

"The Structured Credit Handbook" is a comprehensive introduction to all types of credit-linked financial instruments. This book provides state-of-the-art primers on single tranche collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), credit derivatives (such as credit default swaps and swaptions), and iBoxx indexes. Filled with in-depth insight and expert advice, The Structured Credit Handbook covers all aspects of the synthetic arbitrage CDO market, including new instruments such as CDO2. Readers will also gain a firm understanding of the investment rationale, risks, and rewards associated with CDO investments through this valuable resource.

The exploding use of credit derivatives and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) has transformed the world of credit, creating an $18 trillion market almost overnight and resulting in innumerable investment and career opportunities globally. "The Structured Credit Handbook" provides the reader with a comprehensive and clear roadmap to today's new credit landscape. The full spectrum of structured credit products, from single-name CDS to CDOs, is explained in a simple, clear fashion that is free from the financial jargon and mathematical complexity which characterize many other derivative texts. The handbook begins with an in-depth explanation of the building blocks of the structured credit markets, single-name default swaps and indexes, and it culminates with complex products such as credit options, synthetic tranches, CDOs based on bank loans and asset-backed securities, and CDO-squareds.

Written by experienced practitioners who have participated in this market since its infancy, each of the thirteen chapters introduces and analyzes a new product and explains its practical applications. A rich set of real-life case studies illustrate the application of each product in a concrete market setting. The book may be used in a semester-long course on structured credit as part of a business or finance curriculum. Whether you are a market professional, a university student or faculty member, or simply a financially savvy layperson, look no further for an up-to-date and thorough introduction to this rapidly growing and exciting field.

Dr. Arvind Rajan, Managing Director, Citigroup Global Markets, is engaged in proprietary trading of Structured Credit products, and until recently, was global head of Structured Credit Research and Strategy at Citigroup.Glen McDermott (New York, NY) is Director of Fixed Income Sales and the former head of CDO Research at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Ratul Roy is head of CDO Strategy for Citigroup Global Markets and has spent the prior nine years in structuring or analyzing CDOs and other structured credit products.

This revised and fully expanded edition of Understanding Investments continues to incorporate the elements of traditional textbooks on investments, but goes further in that the material is presented from an intuitive, practical point of view, and the supplementary material included in each chapter lends itself to both class discussion and further reading by students. It provides the essential tools to navigate complex, global financial markets and instruments including relevant (and classic) academic research and market perspectives. The author has developed a number of key innovative features. One unique feature is its economic angle, whereby each chapter includes a section dedicated to the economic analysis of that chapter's material. Additionally, all chapters contain sections on strategies that investors can apply in specific situations and the pros and cons of each are also discussed. The book provides further clarification of some of the concepts discussed in the previous edition, thereby offering a more detailed analysis and discussion, with more real-world examples. The author has added new, shorter text boxes, labeled "Market Flash" to highlight the use of, or changes in current practices in the field; updates on strategies as applied by professionals; provision of useful information for an investor; updates on regulations; and anything else that might be relevant in discussing and applying a concept. This second edition also includes new sections on core issues in the field of investments, such as alternative investments, disruptive technologies, and future trends in investment management. This textbook is intended for undergraduate students majoring or minoring in finance and also for students in economics and related disciplines who wish to take an elective course in finance or investments.

"Managing Credit Risk, Second Edition" opens with a detailed discussion of today's global credit markets--touching on everything from the emergence of hedge funds as major players to the growing influence of rating agencies. After gaining a firm understanding of these issues, you'll be introduced to some of the most effective credit risk management tools, techniques, and vehicles currently available. If you need to keep up with the constant changes in the world of credit risk management, this book will show you how.

Manuela Spangler deals with the default risk modelling of German covered bonds (Pfandbriefe). Existing credit risk models are not suitable for this purpose as they only consider the creditworthiness of the issuer while product-specific features are not taken into account. The author develops a multi-period simulation-based Pfandbrief model which adequately accounts for the product's most important characteristics and risks. The model provides a flexible framework for structural analyses and can be easily extended for tailor-made investigations. While the focus of the work is on the specification of the model itself, simulation results from an exemplary model calibration are also discussed. About the Author Manuela Spangler works as a quantitative risk analyst for a large asset management company and holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Augsburg. Prior to her current position, she worked as a risk manager and financial engineer in the banking and insurance sector for various years.

An easy to read by "state of the art" text containing a comprehensive review and analysis of existing corporate bankruptcy models, and their applications to real life data Covers a broad range of statistical learning models, ranging from relatively linear techniques (e.g. linear discriminant analysis) to state-of the art machine learning methods (e.g. random forests, deep learning). Explains the purpose, strength and limitations of respective models and frameworks, highlighting their major points of similarity and difference and would make this book a useful reference Much of the corporate bankruptcy literature has relied on quite simplistic classification models but this book introduces a wide range of innovative corporate bankruptcy prediction models

While much recent attention has been focused on the subprime lending and foreclosure crisis, little has been said about its radically-disparate impact. Drawing upon history as well as insight into the current crisis, this book shows that this crisis is not an anomaly, especially for people of color; nor is it over. People of color have been excluded from wealth-building opportunities via homeownership continuously throughout United States history, from the outright denial of credit and residential racial discrimination, to federally-sponsored urban renewal programs. The subprime lending and foreclosure crisis is predicted to strip a quarter of a trillion dollars in wealth from black and Latino homeowners. It has reversed home ownership gains for people of color and has decimated neighborhoods across the United States while impacting local, regional, national, and international economies. The consequences are devastating. This collection of essays provides a framework for creating equitable policy and ultimately building more stable communities for all Americans.

This edited volume on "Credit, Currency, or Derivatives: Instruments of Global Financial Stability or Crisis" contains original papers that examine various issues concerning the role, the structure and functioning of credit, currency and derivatives instruments and markets as they relate to financial crises. We stress the importance of the inter-linkages of these instruments and markets in promoting or hindering financial stability or crises as well as government policies, on a local and global level. The papers in this volume highlight various aspects of credit and currency instruments and markets, along with their interactions, for the stability of domestic and international financial systems. Particular emphasis is given on the failures of regulatory systems and their implications for systemic financial crises. Also, the papers analyze the costs of financial crises and explore the institutional and economic arrangements that could ameliorate the adverse effects of financial crises in advanced and emerging-market countries.

The 'shadow banking system' refers to a system of credit-provision occurring outside of the official regulatory perimeter of commercial banks. Facilitated by securitization vehicles, mutual funds, hedge funds, investment banks and mortgage companies, the function and regulation of these shadow banking institutions has come under increasing scrutiny after the subprime crisis of 2007-8. Matthias Thiemann examines how regulators came to tolerate the emergence of links between the banking and shadow banking systems. Through a comparative analysis of the US, France, the Netherlands and Germany, he argues that fractured domestic and global governance systems determining the regulatory approach to these links ultimately aggravated the recent financial crisis. Since 2008, shadow banking has even expanded and the incentives for banks to bend the rules have only increased with increasing regulation. Thiemann's empirical work suggests how state-finance relations could be restructured to keep the banking system under state control and avoid future financial collapses.

The book examines the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the subprime mortgage crisis. The CRAs are blamed for awarding risky securities '3-A' investment grade status and then failing to downgrade them quickly enough when circumstances changed, which led to investors suffering substantial losses. The causes identified by the regulators for the gatekeeper failure were conflicts of interest (as the issuers of these securities pay for the ratings); lack of competition (as the Big Three CRAs have dominated the market share); and lack of regulation for CRAs. The book examines how the regulators, both in the US and EU, have sought to address these problems by introducing soft law self-regulation in accordance with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions Code and hard law statutory regulation, such as that found in the "Reform Act" and "Dodd-Frank Act" in the US and similar provisions in the EU. The highly topical book examines these provisions in detail by using a doctrinal black-letter law method to assess the success of the regulators in redressing the problems identified. It also examines the US case law regulation relating to the legal liability of CRAs. The book examines whether the regulations introduced have had a deterrent effect on the actions of CRAs, whether investors are compensated for their losses, and how the regulators have dealt with the issues of conflicts of interest and an anti-competitive environment. Should liability be introduced for CRAs through changes in the law so as to compel them to issue reliable ratings and solve the current problems? The book seeks to simplify the complex issues involved and is backed by concrete evidence; as such, it will appeal to both the well-informed and the lay general public who are interested in learning more about the role of CRAs in the sub-prime mortgage crisis and regulators' attempts to remedy the situation. Novice readers can familiarise themselves with the legal and financial terminology used by referring to the glossary at the end of the book.

In the mid-1980s the international development community helped launch what was to quickly become one of the most popular poverty reduction and local economic development policies of all time. Microcredit, the system of disbursing tiny micro-loans to the poor to help them to establish their own income-generating activities, was initially highly praised and some were even led to believe that it would end poverty as we know it. But in recent years the microcredit model has been subject to growing scrutiny and often intense criticism. The Rise and Fall of Global Microcredit shines a light on many of the fundamental problems surrounding microcredit, in particular, the short- and long-term impacts of dramatically rising levels of microdebt. Developed in collaboration with UNCTAD, this book covers the general policy implications of adverse microcredit impacts, as well as gathering together country-specific case studies from around the world to illustrate the real dynamics, incentives and end results. Lively and provocative, The Rise and Fall of Global Microcredit is an accessible guide for students, academics, policymakers and development professionals alike.

Many years on after the 2007-8 financial crisis, most developed nations still find themselves in a state of weak recovery, high debt pile-up and distributive disparity. The intriguing question that we face is whether the golden days of modern capitalism are over, or if capitalism is just undergoing another period of adjustment characteristic of its past. What is disheartening is that the twin economic goals of sustainable growth and equality, which the world has now come to recognise as of paramount importance but mutually conflicting, remain, more now than ever, illusive and unattainable. Growth Without Inequality attempts to address this issue and to provide a pragmatic solution especially for nations in the current policy gridlock. By offering a unified framework of factors that drive growth, it shows how growth also gives rise to an array of "anomalous market forms" (defined by different degrees of value and risk visibility) that subvert distributive equity between labour and capital. It debunks both the pure free market solution and the mixed economy approach on the ground that they fail to arrest the growth propelling yet subversive power inherent in the "corporate forms" under the present capitalistic regime. Having shown that effective reform can hardly take place within the system itself, this book proposes to build a separate sector (Economy II) and partition it from the existing system (Economy I). The solution is easy to implement and quick to take effect. By one single stroke, this "Non-Marxist" solution can happily achieve the ideals of both "competitive capitalism" and "egalitarian socialism".

Modelling credit risk accurately is central to the practice of mathematical finance. The majority of available texts are aimed at an advanced level, and are more suitable for PhD students and researchers. This volume of the Mastering Mathematical Finance series addresses the need for a course intended for master's students, final-year undergraduates, and practitioners. The book focuses on the two mainstream modelling approaches to credit risk, namely structural models and reduced-form models, and on pricing selected credit risk derivatives. Balancing rigorous theory with examples, it takes readers through a natural development of mathematical ideas and financial intuition.

Mortgage banking is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. In the next few years, home purchases are expected to run into the trillions, creating more opportunity than ever for people seeking a career in this profitable industry. Real estate author, columnist, and veteran mortgage banker. David Reed offers practical advice on licensing and educational requirements, as well as valuable guidance on the different career options available as a mortgage broker, mortgage banker, correspondent mortgage banker, and more. Aspiring mortgage brokers will also discover how to: * Quote interest rates * Get approved by wholesale lenders * Negotiate the steps of the loan process * Market and prospect successfully Detailed and informative, Your Successful Career as a Mortage Broker is an invaluable tool for creating a brilliant career in an ever-changing, ever-growing field.

To get the biggest return, real estate investors need the right financing. And as they buy multiple properties, their debt to equity rises, making it more difficult to get the kind of deal they need. As many investors have learned the hard way, getting the wrong financing can wipe out their profits, hold them back from selling because of a lack of equity, or force them to try to sell for more than the market will bear. The Real Estate Investor's Guide to Financing is the one book that shows readers how to get the right financial package for the biggest return on their investment. As a respected author and mortgage banker, David Reed has spent more than 20 years helping investors finance their properties. Here, he offers advice on such crucial topics as: * financing options for different property types * the financial implications of renting vs. flipping * setting rental rates * the challenges and benefits of being a landlord, including rent loss coverage * the pros and cons of having partners * tips on financing a second home, duplex, multi-family unit, or condo Complete with essential advice on financing and a glossary of investment terms, this is the one guide that will help readers start making real money.

In recent years, the European Commission has attached increasing importance to the use of financial engineering instruments rather than traditional grant-based financing for the microcredit sector, considering these to be the most efficient option available. This book presents a study of capacity building and structural funds in public managing authorities for the microcredit sector. It presents two surveys to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the managing authorities' capacity building. The first survey investigates the authorities' need for and interests in capacity building activities, assessing the areas in which capacity building support is needed, and explores the different types of support offered. The second survey analyses the results of the microcredit and microfinance programming activity, investigating its target groups and other operational features. It examines the key monitoring and reporting issues involved in this activity, before analysing the regulatory framework of the microcredit and microfinance sector. This book presents an in-depth analysis of structural funds and their management by policy-makers in the European convergence regions. It explores the interests of managing authorities, microcredit institutions, operators and other financial intermediaries involved in microcredit programming activities, and offers some core strategic and operational recommendations for the use of structural funds in the microcredit sector.

This book discusses women-oriented microfinance initiatives in India and their articulation vis-a-vis state developmentalism and contemporary neo-liberal capitalism. It examines how these initiatives encourage economically disadvantaged rural women to make claims upon state-provided microcredit and connect with multiple state institutions and agencies, thereby reshaping their gendered identities. The author shows how Self-Help Group (SHG)-based microfinance institutions mobilise agency and create channels of empowerment for women as well as make them responsible for alleviating poverty for themselves and their families. The book also brings out the importance of factoring in women's dissenting voices when they negotiate developmental projects at the grassroots level. Rich in empirical data, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of development studies, gender studies, economics, especially microeconomics, politics, public policy and governance.