This book provides an introduction to the state of the art in financial technology (FinTech) and the current applications of FinTech in digital banking. It is a comprehensive guide to the various technologies, products, processes, and business models integral to the FinTech environment. Covering key definitions and characteristics, models and best practice, as well as presenting relevant case studies related to FinTech and e-Business, this book helps build a theoretical framework for future discussion.

This open access book examines the history and role of money. Money is often defined in terms of three interrelated functions: as a medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account. Researchers frequently discuss the first two functions, but tend to ignore unit of account. This book focuses on how a unit of account or denomination can be defined and can be derived from the monetary system. In the case of paper money and coins, we know how to determine the denomination of money based on the problem of the least number of weights defined by Bachet and proved by Hardy and Wright (1960). However, in the case of digital or cryptocurrency, denomination may not matter because digital or cryptocurrency uses a wallet that is essentially denomination free: a wallet can contain any amount of currency without upper and lower limits. When people talk about the stablecoin, i.e. the stable price of digital and cryptocurrency with the major legal tender, they take a unit of account or denomination of digital or cryptocurrency as given. This arrangement destroys the nature of denomination free or decentralized autonomy as it were. Exploring how we can consolidate with these two views of denomination, this book will appeal to anyone interested in creating new digital or cryptocurrencies. It also serves as a textbook on central bank digital currency.

From the reviews: "The highly esteemed 1990 first edition of this book now appears in a much expanded second edition. The difference between the first two English editions is entirely due to the addition of numerous exercises. The result is a truly excellent book, balancing ideally between theory and practice. ....As already hinted at above, this book provides the ideal bridge between the classical (deterministic) life insurance theory and the emerging dynamic models based on stochastic processes and the modern theory of finance. The structure of the bridge is very solid, though at the same time pleasant to walk along. I have no doubt that Gerber's book will become the standard text for many years to come. Metrika, 44, 1996, 2

This book is unique in that it challenges scholarly views on financial inclusion and poverty reduction while also relating financial inclusion and poverty reduction to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The book deviates from the usual method of analyzing financial inclusion, which relies on bank accounts or microcredit as success criteria, and instead discusses how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is facilitating digital financial inclusion. With a five-fold goal, this book investigates both past and present readings and understandings of poverty and financial inclusion. To begin, it provides a thorough introduction to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and financial inclusion in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Second, the book dives quite extensively into the theories of financial inclusion in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Third, the book reconstructs the theory of financial inclusion, moving from traditional to digital financial inclusion, highlighting the role of digital financial inclusion in the transition from an informal financial money market to a formal financial system. The fourth goal is to evaluate the tools and effects of digital financial inclusion on poverty. Finally, it provides case studies of digital financial inclusion and the future of digital financial inclusion in emerging and developing countries. This book will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners in a range of disciplines, including finance, development economics, and consumer economics.

Participation in risk and reward, as an alternate to conventional risk-transfer finance, is important for achieving the higher ethical objectives of Islamic finance, called maqasid al shariah, and responsible finance in general. That is why participatory finance is advocated as the ideal form of financing and the essence of Islamic banking and finance. The Participatory Islamic Finance: The Ideals, Contemporary Practices, and Innovations presents a holistic view of both theory and practice of participatory models, constraints to its applications, success case studies of the participatory finance from multiple countries, and more importantly the recent innovations in participatory finance products. These new insights makes, the Participatory Islamic Finance: The Ideals, Contemporary Practices, and Innovations is an essential read and guide, for both Islamic finance academics and practitioners.

Why is finance so important? How do stock markets work and what do they really do? Most importantly, what might finance be and what could we expect from it? Exploring contemporary finance via the development of stock exchanges, markets and the links with states, Roscoe mingles historical and technical detail with humorous anecdotes and lively portraits of market participants. Deftly combining research and autobiographical vignettes, he offers a cautionary tale about the drive of financial markets towards expropriation, capture and exclusion. Positioning financial markets as central devices in the organisation of the global economy, he includes contemporary concerns over inequality, climate emergency and (de)colonialism and concludes by wondering, in the market's own angst-filled voice, what the future for finance might be, and how we might get there.

How might one determine if a financial institution is taking risk in a balanced and productive manner? A powerful tool to address this question is economic capital, which is a model-based measure of the amount of equity that an entity must hold to satisfactorily offset its risk-generating activities. This book, with a particular focus on the credit-risk dimension, pragmatically explores real-world economic-capital methodologies and applications. It begins with the thorny practical issues surrounding the construction of an (industrial-strength) credit-risk economic-capital model, defensibly determining its parameters, and ensuring its efficient implementation. It then broadens its gaze to examine various critical applications and extensions of economic capital; these include loan pricing, the computation of loan impairments, and stress testing. Along the way, typically working from first principles, various possible modelling choices and related concepts are examined. The end result is a useful reference for students and practitioners wishing to learn more about a centrally important financial-management device.

The authors examine various aspects of Japanese financial markets. This analysis is interspersed with the relevant institutional/historical background on Japanese financial markets necessary for the non-specialist. Principal chapters include: an institutional overview, a chapter on comparative cost of capital (both internationally and among Japanese firms); causes and implications of the high degree of financial intermediation in Japan and an invaluable analysis of the most recent trends in the Japanese/Asian financial markets.

The cooperative banks' business model is unique in the financial market. It is featured by democratic foundations (one-head-one-vote principle), proximity to the members and the community they serve, limited profit-seeking nature, and prudent management. However, these principles are applied in a variety of organisational structures and economic and regulatory contexts, making cooperative banks significantly different from one country to another. This book expands existing knowledge on the European cooperative banking sector by analysing recent trends affecting cooperative banks. Namely, the book discusses the role of cooperative banks in the policy and societal movement towards sustainability, including in adopting sustainable finance practices. It explores the digital transformation journey of cooperative banks and the impact of the consolidation of Fintech players in the financial services markets. It further showcases the need to evolve the cooperative banks' governance structures and processes in order to foster (and in some cases restore) democracy and transparency in the decision-making. Lastly, the book debates the specific role of cooperative banks in the economic crisis that has followed the unfolding of the Covid-19 pandemic vis-a-vis their members and the communities they serve. Of interest to scholars, professors, students, and practitioners of banking and finance, this book will build on the existing research and explore the latest trends in the space.

The monetary system is at a turning point. The question is no longer if, but how soon countries will roll out a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This book discusses the recomposition of the money supply from the present bank money regime to a monetary system determined by CBDC. As the book sets out, the future of money is going to be digital and sovereign. Nonetheless, the relationship between the various types of money is competitive rather than being the peaceful coexistence that was officially envisaged. CBDC competes with the incumbent bank money as well as with private cryptocurrencies that are challenging both central-bank money as well as bank money. For technological and political reasons, bank money will not be able to emulate the superior properties of sovereign digital tokens. Uncovered and unwarranted cryptocurrencies, too, will not stand the competition in the long run. The shifts in the monetary system are changing the role of central banks in the interplay of monetary, fiscal and private-creditary functions and open up improved options for monetary policy. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policymakers in monetary and financial economics, and digital currencies.

The injustices committed against millions of Europe's Jews did not end with the fall of the Third Reich. Long after the Nazis had seized the belongings of Holocaust victims, Swiss banks concealed and appropriated their assets, demanding that their survivors produce the death certificates or banking records of the depositors in order to claim their family's property--demands that were usually impossible for the petitioners to meet. Now the full account of the Holocaust deposits affair is revealed by the journalist who first broke the story in 1995. Relying on archival and contemporary sources, Itamar Levin describes the Jewish people's decades-long effort to return death camp victims' assets to their rightful heirs. Levin also uncovers the truth about the behavior of Swiss banking institutions, their complicity with the Nazis, and their formidable power over even their own neutral government.

From the first attempt to settle the fate of German property in neutral countries at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, through the heated negotiations following publication of Levin's investigative article in 1995, to the Swiss banks' ultimate agreement to a $1.25 billion payment in 1997, the pursuit of restitution is a story of delaying tactics and legal complications of almost unimaginable dimensions. Terrified that the traditional and highly marketable wall of secrecy surrounding the Swiss banks would tumble and destroy the industry, the banks' managements were dismissive and uncooperative in determining the location and extent of the assets in question, forcing the United States, other European countries, and Jewish organizations worldwide to apply tremendous pressure for a just resolution. The details and the central characters involved in this struggle, as well as new information about Switzerland's controversial policies during World War II, are fascinating reading for anyone concerned with the Holocaust and its aftermath.

The calculus of IT support for the banking, securities, and insurance industries has changed dramatically and rapidly over the past few years. Consolidation and deregulation are creating opportunities and challenges never before seen. Unheard of just a few years ago, e-commerce has given birth to new infrastructures and departments needed to support them. And the Internet/Intranet/Extranet triple-whammy is the most critical component of most financial IT shops. At the same time, new intelligent agents stand ready to take on such diverse functions as customer profiling and data mining.
Get a handle on all these new and newer ripples with Financial Services Information Systems. Here, in this exhaustive new guide and reference book, industry guru Jessica Keyes gives you the no-nonsense scoop on not just the tried and true IT tools of today, but also the up-and-coming "hot" technologies of tomorrow, and how to plan for them.
Financial Services Information Systems addresses challenges and solutions associated with:
o supporting the self-service revolution by servicing kiosks and ATMs efficiently and economically,
o straight-through processing for the securities industry,
o outsourcing business communications in the insurance industry,
o distributed integration as a cost-effective alternative to data warehousing, and
o putting inbound fax automation to work in financial organizations.

The book covers alternative lending using the emergence of Debt Funds in the EU as a case study. The book explores the risks that they can pose to financial stability, and the regulatory and supervisory tools available to mitigate these risks. Through this analysis, the book uncovers the risks and potential risk mitigation tools that can be applied to the alternative lenders-including debt funds and other potential alternative lenders. After identifying the reasons behind the growth of alternative lenders (using as example the assets of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) and in particular debt funds) and the simultaneous decrease of the banks' assets, the book analyses the systemic importance of the alternative lenders and the risk channels through which the systemic risk can spread to the banking sector and the financial system. Then, the book deals with the financial innovation-market failure theory and demonstrates that financial innovations (e.g. debt funds, securitisations) can cause market failures, resulting in regulatory interventions. Of interest to banking and financial regulation academics, researchers, and practitioners this book analyses the regulatory provisions in place for both credit institutions and debt funds, including the Basel Accords, the Capital Requirements Directives and Regulations, and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and its implementation in various EU jurisdictions, before offering a proposal for a new three-defensive framework applicable to debt funds and to other potential alternative lenders.

Compliance is a fundamental control function within regulated industries globally. This book provides an expert introduction to corporate compliance using cases, examples and insights from the financial services sector and beyond. The author, an experienced compliance practitioner and academic, highlights compliance challenges, using examples such as Wells Fargo, whistleblowing in the financial services and the mis-selling of payment protection insurance in the UK banking sector. The book explores strategies for creating compliant cultures and fostering regulatory trust, whilst practical guidance is provided on anticipating regulatory changes. Addressing organisational obstruction and delay, the author presents a series of valuable tools and techniques for real-world practice. An essential professional development resource for board directors, compliance officers and other senior managers, the book also provides a unique learning and development resource for students of corporate compliance globally.

Cryptocurrencies have had a profound effect on financial markets worldwide. This edited book aims to explore the economic implications of the use of cryptocurrencies. Drawing from chapter contributors from around the world, the book will be a valuable resource on the economics of cryptocurrencies. The intended audience is composed of academics, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, government leaders, consultants and policy makers worldwide. Over the past few years, the topic of cryptocurrencies has gained global attention and has been the subject of discussion in various news media, in policy-making bodies and government entities, and in financial institutions, classrooms and boardrooms. Despite widespread interest, much remains unknown on what the economic implications of cryptocurrencies are. This book enhances the reader's understanding of cryptocurrencies, its impact on industry and its implications on the political and economic environment. Drawing from chapter contributions from leading academics and thought leaders from around the world, this book is the definitive guide on the economics of cryptocurrencies. There is scarcity of well conceived, academically grounded literature on the impact of cryptocurrencies on industry, politics and economics. This pioneering book provides up-to-date and in-depth analysis on the subject. The book will be appealing to academic communities, business professionals and entrepreneurs in their quest for better understanding the challenges and opportunities brought about by cryptocurrencies. Consultants, government officials and policy makers will find the information helpful in defining strategic pathways into the future.

Why does the City of London, despite an apparent commitment to recruitment and progression based on objective merit within its hiring practices, continue to reproduce the status quo? Written by a leading expert on diversity and elite professions, this book examines issues of equality in the City, what its practitioners say in public and what they think behind closed doors. Drawing on research, interviews, practitioner literature and internal reports, it argues that hiring practices in the City are highly discriminating in favour of a narrow pool of affluent applicants, and future progress may only be achieved by the state taking a greater role in organizational life. It calls for a policy shift at both the organizational and governmental level to address the implications of widening inequality in the UK.

Since the 2007 2008 global financial crisis, there has been much debate about the role of financial regulation and the causes of financial instability in the industry. Where studies commonly question the value of a regulated rather than free market , this book focuses on the differentiation of 'good regulation' and 'bad regulation'. This book highlights the need for financial regulation to combat corruption, and the integral link that exists between corruption and financial instability. The author evaluates the benefits and shortcomings of specific types of regulation, drawing on recent examples to illustrate each argument. The book presents compelling arguments for the regulation of leverage, liquidity, payday loans and securitisation; and debates the negative aspects of the regulation of short selling, and high-frequency trading, and of Basel-style banking regulation. The author argues that there is no free-market solution to financial instability, and rejects the idea of 'too big to fail'.

This book provides systematic comparative research of antifraud laws and context at EU countries using a Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to predict illegal activities in ERDF and CF. It also details a map of corruption risk with the goal of reducing corruption and fraud in the management of European Regional Development Funds and Cohesion Funds through the incorporation of adequate measures and strategies derived from the resulting of EUMODFRAUD EU Project. The authors analyse the specific situations, observe the risks and finally, propose an innovative method that allows predicting fraudulent acts, which will be of interest to both academics, researchers, and policy makers in financial services, public finance, and financial crime.

This book explores gender diversity in the financial system, focusing especially on regulations, disclosure standards, theories and literature on the relationship between women in atypical positions and bank performance, female representation in governance bodies of banks and insurance companies, the gender pay gap and the gender balance in Central Banks. The topics are examined highlighting the progress towards gender equality (SDG 5) and the room for improvement in financial services with implications for policymakers, regulators and researchers in both finance and gender studies.

FinTech is an emerging field and most of the existing literature appears in the form of industry reports, consulting reports, working papers, and policy recommendations. Although FinTech has been widely discussed for many years, there is a paucity of literature on some categorizations of FinTech. This edited volume distinguishes itself by focusing on academic works of scholars with a different area of specialization in the FinTech field including technology, innovation and regulation. In particular, the book focuses on the laws and technologies necessary to comprehend the role of the legal system in technological innovations and will be helpful for regulatory policymaking. A practical compendium that explains concepts and follows through on applications in FinTech including its challenges and evolving nature, this book will be of interest to students, scholars, practitioners as well as regulators and policy makers.

Banks are frequently considered usurers. Is it possible to talk about ethics when you analyse banking activity? This book focuses on this question and starts with the history and the philosophy. Philosophers like Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill proposed different theories about the need for ethics in finance. If we accept Mill's thought, the production of wealth in society is driven by the personal pursuit of profit. But - unfortunately - this does not, on its own, ensure collective well-being. It must be guided by a superior mechanism which transforms it into wealth for all. This introduces the role of financial institutions, which often have to comply with legal obligations. The book focuses on the role that these institutions have in supporting the 'ethical' use of money. The author analyses a number of cases in banks and the financial industry and discusses topics like anti-money laundering, anti-usury, islamic finance, microcredit and bank rescue systems, including not only best practices but also examples of unethical financial management.

Written in an accessible style from a consumer perspective and blends academic research with professional insights. Deals with all essential aspects of financial services that affect consumers and how they can exploit opportunities. Each of the chapters contain a list of learning objectives; a range of scenarios, case studies, examples and articles to provide a "real world" context to the discussion; a key points summary with referencing and further reading and useful on-line resources, as well as, a selection of short self-review questions. Enables readers to understand how the operations, complexity and dynamism of an ever-changing financial services industry shape the financial opportunities and risks they face.

Financial analysis is concerned with the study of capital flows over time and space. This book presents a new theory of multi-sector, multi-instrument financial systems based on the visualization of such systems as networks. The framework is both qualitative and computational and depends crucially on the methodologies of finite-dimensional variational inequality theory for the study of statics and equilibrium states and on projected dynamical systems for the study of dynamics and disequilibrium behavior. Moreover, it adds a graphical dimension to the fundamental economic structure of financial systems and their evolution through time.

This book addresses contemporary and modern topics around business growth and economic development in Southeastern Europe. It covers a wide range of business issues focusing on the adoption of new technologies, finance of SMEs, place marketing, value co-creation, contribution to economic growth, and internationalization. Moverover, it sheds new light on the micro- and macroeconomic developments and monetary policy issues in the Eastern European and Balkan countries. This book is a useful tool for scholars in economics and finance interested in the further economic development of the Balkans and Eastern European countries as well as to professionals in the business, financial and insurance sectors.