The completion of the European Single Market Programme (SMP) and the launch of "Euroland" are bold statements on the EU and its future. Within this economic process, the particular importance of the banking and financial services sectors is widely emphasized. This collection explores the strategic impact of the Single Market Programme and European Monetary Union on European banks and banking systems. The contributors examine 11 banking systems: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the UK. Thoroughly up-to-date and with a common thematic overview of major trends in European banking systems, this book covers key strategic developments, structural changes, performance trends, and strategies.

This book offers an advanced introduction to the models of credit risk valuation. It concentrates on firm-value and reduced-form approaches and their applications in practice. Additionally, the book includes new models for valuing derivative securities with credit risk, focussing on options and forward contracts subject to counterparty default risk, but also treating options on credit-risky bonds and credit derivatives. The text provides detailed descriptions of the state-of-the-art martingale methods and advanced numerical implementations based on multi-variate trees used to price derivative credit risk. Numerical examples illustrate the effects of credit risk on the prices of financial derivatives.

Microcredit is a grassroots development strategy that grants small-scale loans to poor borrowers for self-employment projects that generate income. Microcredit, along with other grassroots approaches, offers an alternative to the top-down macroeconomic approaches that have characterized policies in developing countries since World War II. Aside from a few high profile success stories, the top-down approach has failed. The vast majority of people living in developing countries still suffer from extreme poverty and underdevelopment. While effective macropolicies remain necessary for any successful development strategy, the need for complementary microstrategies at the grassroots level has become apparent. Among the various grassroots approaches, microcredit not only shows unique promise in alleviating poverty, but also offers the poor a better future through self-reliance. While positive microcredit benefits have begun to emerge in evaluations, scholars still debate the proper role of microcredit in overall development policy. The purpose of this book is to address the major policy issues surrounding the use of microcredit as a tool for economic and social development.

The Impact of Public Policy on Consumer Credit presents a collection of research papers and discussions commissioned to commemorate the silver anniversary of Georgetown University's Credit Research Center in 1999. Nine topics serve as focal points for the volume, with the general theme What do we know, what do we need to know?' about the functioning of consumer credit markets at the beginning of the 21st century. Because the growth of household debt and the consequences of household debt burden have dominated discussion in both the media and policy arenas for decades, Credit Growth and the Burden of Debt' is the theme for the first group of three papers. The papers address the cultural evolution of consumer credit in the U.S., the rise in consumer indebtedness and the alarming surge in personal bankruptcies. A second grouping of three papers takes a distinctly policy-oriented tack and examines questions regarding consumer access to credit (mortgage markets and evidence of discrimination), consumer protection through mandatory disclosure of information (Truth-in-Lending regulations), and the general state of financial literacy among the population of young consumers entering credit markets for the first time. The final three papers in this volume examine how technological innovations in risk management (through statistical risk scoring models), marketing (through use of personal information for targeted marketing) and finance (through securitization of consumer loans) have impacted the availability of credit products and sparked new public policy questions.

"..this book...gives us a history lesson and a guide on how to build commercial finance that fits the needs of the world's poorest majority. Policy makers, finance leaders, and anyone who wants to join this revolution in banking must read this book." Around the world, a revolution is occurring in finance for low-income people. The microfinance revolution is delivering financial services to the economically active poor on a large scale through competing, financially self-sufficient institutions. In a few countries this has already happened; in others it is under way. The emerging microfinance industry has profound implications for social and economic development. For the first time in history, capital is well on its way to being democratized. The Microfinance Revolution, in three volumes, is aimed at a diverse readership?economists, bankers, policymakers, donors, and social scientists; microfinance practitioners and specialists in local finance and rural and urban development; and members of the general public interested in development. This first volume, Sustainable Finance for the Poor, focuses on the shift from government- and donor-subsidized credit systems to self-sufficient microfinance institutions providing voluntary savings and credit services. "A magnificent work" Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO, Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) "A much-needed wake-up call for economists" David E. Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography, Harvard University "A major work that will unquestionably lie at the very center of microfinance literature" Robert Peck Christen, Senior Adviser, CGAP Secretariat; Academic Director, Microfinance Training Program, Naropa University "A seminal work" Ira W. Lieberman, former CEO of CGAP; Senior Manager, World Bank

From the early forms of loans to farmers to present day credit cards, consumer credit has always been part of human life and economics. However, ever since the Bible, controversy has reigned as to its legitimacy. It is the history of this controversy that is presented here by the authors. Outlining significant developments in different aspects of consumer credit from the Hammurabi Code through to current questions such as household overindebtedness, they shed some historical light on modern debates.

Providing the poor with access to financial services is one of many ways to help increase their incomes and productivity. In many countries, however, traditional financial institutions have failed to provide this service. Microcredit and co-operative programmes have been developed to fill this gap. Their purpose is to help the poor become self-employed and thus escape poverty. Many of these programmes provide credit using social mechanisms, such as group-based lending, to reach the poor and other clients, including women, who lack access to formal financial institutions. With increasing assistance from the World Bank and other donors, microfinance is emerging as an instrument for reducing poverty and improving the poor's access to financial services in low-income countries. This book examines the experiences of the Grameen Bank and two other major microcredit programs in Bangladesh in order to quantify the potential and limitations of microcredit programmes as an instrument for reducing poverty and delivering financial sevices to the poor.

Provides an authoritative executive report on internal modelling and CAD II, with an overview of VAR methodologies and extreme value theory. An analysis is presented for CAD II guidelines for back testing.

Winner of the Harold Lasswell Award of the American Political Science AssociationThe FSFIC failed spectacularly during the 1980s, costing taxpayers an estimated $200 billion. In this award-winning analysis, Rom examines the political causes of this \u201cthrift tragedy.\u201d He directly confronts-and rejects-the dominant scholarly \u201cpublic choice\u201d view that public officials were motivated mainly be self-interest. Instead, Rom argues that politicians and bureaucrats generally acted in the \u201cpublic spirit\u201d by attempting to obtain the common interest as they saw it. Using new evidence and innovative methods, Rom demonstrates that FSLIC's failure unfolded because of commitments that officials had made in the past and their uncertainties about how to fulfill these obligations in the future.

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of credit risk assessment and credit risk rating that meets the Advanced Internal Risk-Based (AIRB) approach of Basel II. Credit risk analysis looks at many risks and this book covers all the critical areas that credit professionals need to know, including country analysis, industry analysis, financial analysis, business analysis, and management analysis. Organized under two methodological approaches to credit analysis-a criteria-based approach, which is a hybrid of expert judgement and purely mathematical methodologies, and a mathematical approach using regression analysis to model default probability-the book covers a cross-section of industries including passenger airline, commercial real estate, and commercial banking. In three parts, the sections focus on hybrid models, statistical models, and credit management. While the book provides theory and principles, its emphasis is on practical applications, and will appeal to credit practitioners in the banking and investment community alongside college and university students who are preparing for a career in lending.

Maximize your bankruptcy filing benefits. If you have to file a personal bankruptcy case, you can find the accessible, authoritative guidance you’ll need to do it right in order to get the fresh start you deserve. One of America’s top bankruptcy lawyers, Henry J. Sommer, clearly and carefully takes you through the process of filing under chapter 7 and chapter 13…helps you determine which course is better…alerts you to the legal protections you enjoy under the sweeping Bankruptcy Code…assists you in getting the right legal counsel…and helps remove concern about the stigma associated with bankruptcy. This plain-English version of Sommer’s definitive manual, Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice, provides you with a lucid overview of how bankruptcy works, then helps you:

• Determine if bankruptcy is finally the best path for you to take
• Select an alternative means of financial restoration if it is not
• Understand the myriad forms involved when filing
• Prepare for the sometimes complex proceedings once the paperwork is done
• Effectively use such "shields" as automatic stays and exemption provisions
• Capitalize on the many advantages of using bankruptcy court as a forum
• Work more wisely with your attorney—and much, much more!

Along the way, Consumer Bankruptcy dispels many of the tired myths surrounding bankruptcy, highlights many of its hidden advantages, assists you in devising a workable fee arrangement with your lawyer, and even alerts you to the rights you have as a creditor if you choose to make a claim against a business in bankruptcy.

Building societies occupy an important position in the U.K. financial services sector and potentially in the Continental European market, too. This book provides an in-depth examination of their structure and performance within a deregulated and increasingly competitive business environment. The authors analyse how the societies have adapted to a period of unprecedented change, and consider the future options facing the societies as they develop in the 1990s. By analysing the sector in terms of national, regional and local societies, the authors are able to provide greater insights into the dynamics of the sector. Based on the themes of structure, performance and change consideration is given to key aspects of the strategic and operational features of U.K. building societies, for example, marketing, product diversification, information technology, legal reform, relocation and organisational change. The text also provides a perspective on future involvement of building societies in the Single European Market.

With diminishing profits in traditional areas of banking, security houses are turning to other means in order to remain competitive. This book examines the changes in the world of international security lending as European financial markets move towards a more global perspective, and the market for international securities lending continues to develop. New opportunities are appearing for institutions to increase their yields on international equity and debt securities by lending out securities for a fee. Securities lending enables institutions to offset settlement costs as well as custodian fees. In this manner, a back office operation can be transformed into a profit generating concern.;Borrowers, lenders and intermediaries should be aware of the implications of these cross-border transactions. Important issues include the tax treatment of international lending transactions, what type of transactions are available and most importantly, what the financial risks involved are and the profitable opportunities for arbitrage.

This book suggests how good loans can be made to individuals and firms at the 'frontier'. This frontier is not geographic, but market based. On one side are those parts of the legitimate economy that are not usually considered creditworthy by formal financial institutions, and on the other are the generally more prosperous entities that do have access to formal finance. Good loans are loans that are repaid according to the terms agreed on when they were issued. It examines how lending at the frontier can be remunerative to commercial banks, development banks and other development finance agencies that retail credit and assume credit risk. Remunerative lending is important because most lenders, regardless of their ownership and institutional form, tend to avoid activities that are not attractive. Unremunerative lending is transitory, unstable, and not robust in the face of adversity. Credit markets function poorly when lenders are not adequately rewarded. Experience at the frontier clearly indicates that weak financial institutions do not do a good job serving society in general and firms and individuals at the frontier in particular. This book is intended for readers interested in the relationship between finance and development at the firm and household levels and in the use of credit by individuals in low-income countries.

How the American government has long used financial credit programs to create economic opportunities Federal housing finance policy and mortgage-backed securities have gained widespread attention in recent years because of the 2008 financial crisis, but issues of government credit have been part of American life since the nation's founding. From the 1780s, when a watershed national land credit policy was established, to the postwar foundations of our current housing finance system, American Bonds examines the evolution of securitization and federal credit programs. Sarah Quinn shows that since the Westward expansion, the U.S. government has used financial markets to manage America's complex social divides, and politicians and officials across the political spectrum have turned to land sales, home ownership, and credit to provide economic opportunity without the appearance of market intervention or direct wealth redistribution. Highly technical systems, securitization, and credit programs have been fundamental to how Americans determined what they could and should owe one another. Over time, government officials embraced credit as a political tool that allowed them to navigate an increasingly complex and fractured political system, affirming the government's role as a consequential and creative market participant. Neither intermittent nor marginal, credit programs supported the growth of powerful industries, from railroads and farms to housing and finance; have been used for disaster relief, foreign policy, and military efforts; and were promoters of amortized mortgages, lending abroad, venture capital investment, and mortgage securitization. Illuminating America's market-heavy social policies, American Bonds illustrates how political institutions became involved in the nation's lending practices.

"Clark and Mingyuan start with an insightful and comprehensive description of how market participants contributed to the current crisis in the residential mortgage markets and the root causes of the crisis. They then proceed to develop a new residential mortgage lending system that can fix our broken markets because it addresses the root causes. The most impressive attributes of their new system is its commonsense return to the basics of traditional underwriting, combined with factors based on expert judgment and statistics and forward-looking attributes, all of which can be updated as markets change. The whole process is transparent to the borrower, lender, and investor." --Dean Schultz, President and CEO, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

"The credit market crisis of 2008 has deeply affected the economic lives of every American. Yet, its underlying causes and its surface features are so complex that many observers and even policymakers barely understand them. This timely book will help guide nonspecialists through the workings of financial markets, particularly how they value, price, and distribute risk." --Professor William Greene, Stern School of Business, New York University

"This book is a well-timed departure from much of what is being written today regarding the current foreclosure and credit crisis. Rather than attempting to blame lenders, borrowers, and/or federal regulators for the mortgage meltdown and the subsequent impacts on the financial markets, Clark and Mingyuan have proposed a groundbreaking new framework to revolutionize our current lending system. The book is built on the authors' deep understanding of risk and the models used for credit analysis, and reflects their commitment to solve the problem. What I find most profound is their passion to develop a system that will facilitate new and better investment, especially in underserved urban markets that have been disproportionately impacted in the current crisis. I applaud the authors for this important work, and urge practitioners and theorists alike to investigate this new approach." --John Talmage, President and CEO, Social Compact

"In the wake of the credit crisis, it is clear that transparency is the key to not repeating history. In Credit Risk Assessment: The New Lending System for Borrowers, Lenders and Investors, Clark Abrahams and Mingyuan Zhang describe a new lending framework that seeks to connect all the players in the lending chain and provide a more holistic view of customers' risk potential. As the financial services industry recovers from the mortgage meltdown, the Abrahams/Zhang lending model certainly offers some new food for thought to laymen and professionals alike." --Maria Bruno-Britz, Senior Editor, Bank Systems & Technology magazine

A history of US involvement in late twentieth-century campaigns against global poverty and how they came to focus on women A War on Global Poverty provides a fresh account of US involvement in campaigns to end global poverty in the 1970s and 1980s. From the decline of modernization programs to the rise of microcredit, Joanne Meyerowitz looks beyond familiar histories of development and explains why antipoverty programs increasingly focused on women as the deserving poor. When the United States joined the war on global poverty, economists, policymakers, and activists asked how to change a world in which millions lived in need. Moved to the left by socialists, social democrats, and religious humanists, they rejected the notion that economic growth would trickle down to the poor, and they proposed programs to redress inequities between and within nations. In an emerging "women in development" movement, they positioned women as economic actors who could help lift families and nations out of destitution. In the more conservative 1980s, the war on global poverty turned decisively toward market-based projects in the private sector. Development experts and antipoverty advocates recast women as entrepreneurs and imagined microcredit-with its tiny loans-as a grassroots solution. Meyerowitz shows that at the very moment when the overextension of credit left poorer nations bankrupt, loans to impoverished women came to replace more ambitious proposals that aimed at redistribution. Based on a wealth of sources, A War on Global Poverty looks at a critical transformation in antipoverty efforts in the late twentieth century and points to its legacies today.

This book examines the Federal Trade Commissions' (FTCs) study on the accuracy and completeness of consumer credit reports. The FTC contracted a research team to conduct two pilot studies and collect the data for the main study described in this book. The study was designed to be the first to engage all the primary groups that participate in the credit reporting and scoring process; consumers, lenders/data furnishers, the Fair Isaac Corporation, and the CRAs; and to provide an overview of the credit reporting industry, the dispute process, and the need for an accuracy study.

The SSBCI provides funding to states, territories, and eligible municipalities to expand existing or to create new state small business investment programs, including state capital access programs, collateral support programs, loan participation programs, loan guarantee programs, and venture capital programs. This book examines the SSBCI and its implementation, including Treasury's response to initial program audits conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and Treasury's Office of Inspector General. These audits suggested that SSBCI participants were generally complying with the statute's requirements, but that some compliance problems existed, in that, the Treasury's oversight of the program could be improved; and performance measures were needed to assess the program's efficacy.

Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) constitute a heterogeneous lot of privately-owned, small-sized financial intermediaries which provide a variety of services including equipment leasing, hire purchase, loans, investments and chit fund activities. These companies play an important role in providing credit to the unorganised sector and to the small borrowers at the local level. Hire purchase finance is by far the largest activity of NBFCs. NBFCs have been the subject of focussed attention since the early 1990s. The rapid growth of NBFCs has led to a gradual blurring of dividing lines between banks and NBFCs, with the exception of the exclusive privilege that commercial banks exercise in the issuance of cheques. NBFCs are widely dispersed across the country and their management exhibits varied degrees of professionalism. Furthermore, the depositors have varied degrees of perceptions regarding safety of their deposits while making an investment decision. This book provides an exhaustive account of the functioning of and recent reforms pertaining to NBFCs in India. It also includes an all-India list (as on January 15, 2010) of 314 NBFCs which have been issued certificates of registration by the Reserve Bank of India to hold/accept deposits from public.

Credit rating agencies (CRAs) assess the creditworthiness of debt issuers on financial markets. They are private companies and the ratings they issue are judgements about the prospect of repayment of debt by an issuer in time and in full. A rating is not an investment recommendation, but it is an opinion about the creditworthiness of a financial product or an issuing bank, government, supra- or sub-national institution. In recent years CRAs have gained an authority in bond markets that far surpasses their original design. The financial crisis of 2008 thrust the CRAs into the spotlight as their highly rated financial products turned out to be toxic assets. CRAs were blamed not only for their excessively optimistic ratings, but also for their complicity in creating them. This short book introduces and explores the complex world of the credit rating industry: how it works, how it has evolved, the role it played in the financial crisis, and how it is regulated. Giulia Mennillo shows, as constitutive actors of global financial capitalism, CRAs have a social and political relevance that reaches well beyond finance into areas of transport, infrastructure, education and health and their impact is emblematic of the increasing financialization of our world.

Why do lenders time and again loan money to sovereign borrowers who promptly go bankrupt? When can this type of lending work? As the United States and many European nations struggle with mountains of debt, historical precedents can offer valuable insights. "Lending to the Borrower from Hell" looks at one famous case--the debts and defaults of Philip II of Spain. Ruling over one of the largest and most powerful empires in history, King Philip defaulted four times. Yet he never lost access to capital markets and could borrow again within a year or two of each default. Exploring the shrewd reasoning of the lenders who continued to offer money, Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth analyze the lessons from this important historical example.

Using detailed new evidence collected from sixteenth-century archives, Drelichman and Voth examine the incentives and returns of lenders. They provide powerful evidence that in the right situations, lenders not only survive despite defaults--they thrive. Drelichman and Voth also demonstrate that debt markets cope well, despite massive fluctuations in expenditure and revenue, when lending functions like insurance. The authors unearth unique sixteenth-century loan contracts that offered highly effective risk sharing between the king and his lenders, with payment obligations reduced in bad times.

A fascinating story of finance and empire, "Lending to the Borrower from Hell" offers an intelligent model for keeping economies safe in times of sovereign debt crises and defaults.

Praise for Chain of Blame

The truth behind America's housing and mortgage crisis

"Two of the smartest, most entertaining investigative reporters alive, describe one of the most important financial stories of our time. If you had any skin at all in the housing boom, you've got to read the story of exactly how that boom went bust. As Paul Muolo did with the S&L crisis of the '80s, he and Mathew Padilla have now become the chief chroniclers of the subprime crisis."
--David Asman, Host of America's Nightly Scoreboard on Fox Business Network and Forbes on Fox on Fox News Channel, and former op-ed editor of the Wall Street Journal

"Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla display their deep knowledge of the mortgage industry and all its players. Chain of Blame is a comprehensive examination of a crisis that affects us all."
--Scott Cohn, Senior Correspondent, CNBC

In the summer of 2007, the subprime empire that Wall Street had built all came crashing down. On average, fifty lenders a month were going bust--and the people responsible for the crisisincluded not justunregulated loan brokers andcon artists, but also investment bankers and home loan institutions traditionally perceived as completely trustworthy.

Chain of Blame chronicles this incredible disaster, with a specific focus on the players who participated in such a fundamentally flawed fiasco. Authors Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla, well-regarded journalists for National Mortgage News and the Orange County Register respectively, reveal the truth behind how this crisis occurred, what individuals and institutions--from lenders and brokers to some of the biggest investment banks in the world--were doing during this criticaltime, and who is ultimately responsible for what happened.

How do you quadruple the size of an 85-year-old company in one decade without changing its cultural DNA? How do you accomplish this while keeping your original base of customers wildly loyal and your employees passionately engaged? With Cutler Dawson at the helm for the last 14 years, Navy Federal Credit Union, the world's largest credit union, has quadrupled the size of the organisation and made it an industry leader in customer service. A retired Navy vice admiral with an esteemed 34-year career commanding ships and fleets, Cutler arrived at the venerable and conservative credit union and Set it on a course for meteoric growth. It is now one of the most fiercely trusted and smoothly run financial institutions in the world ranked by Fortune magazine as a Best Place to Work for eight years. How did Cutler and his team at Navy Federal do it? What did he learn on the ship's bridge that that helped him successfully run a bank--a credit union, actually? What did he learn leading ships and crews into harm's way that helped him weather the storms of the 2008 financial crisis without a layoff? And what can you learn from his leadership experience that began when he took command of his first ship at the age of 27? This book reveals an honest and straightforward look at Cutler's leadership philosophy and guiding principles, offering tangible and practical insights for readers who want to learn how to chart a similar course of success--one of exponential growth without compromising a company's bedrock principles.

This fully revised, updated and expanded edition of the industry standard text takes the reader through the complete life cycle of a syndicated loan. Beginning with the opening phase of mandating a lead bank, Syndicated Lending delves through negotiation, documentation, syndication and closing transactions to conclude with the secondary market. This seventh edition includes new supplements dealing with: * regional syndicated loan markets * growing regulatory framework * the influence of Brexit on the market * the challenges thrown up by the transition from LIBOR-based pricing to the proposed risk-free rate environment. The practice of syndicated lending is similarly explored in its historical context, by following the ups and downs of this most flexible, and enduring, financial market. Plus, while the market moves toward digitisation, summaries are provided for the leading technology solutions being developed. With practical explanations, reflecting practices developed by the LMA, from borrowers, bankers and investors, this book offers insight from industry professionals with decades of experience as well as detailed examples of pricing methodology. There is also an up-to-date discussion of documentary issues, including annotated term sheets and loan documents, contributed by Clifford Chance. This is the essential guide to the commercial and documentary aspects of syndicated lending for lenders, borrowers, investors, lawyers, regulators and service providers.