Dino Falaschetti and Michael Orlando unify the treatment of the many deeply related topics in money and banking in this wide-ranging book. By continually building on the assumption that economic actors are maximizers, they explain how monetary and financial services, as well as related governance mechanisms, influence economic performance. In this manner, Money, Financial Intermediation and Governance not only lets readers make sense of today's monetary authorities and financial markets, it lets them see through superficial complexities to the fundamental influences that will shape those organizations for years to come. Mastering this analytical process is important for scholars and professionals, as well as individuals who are interested in their own financial security. Successful readers will enjoy an enduring ability to productively anticipate, respond to, and even shape macroeconomic and related political developments. This book's greatest contribution may thus be to help readers enjoy the lasting advantages of becoming careful thinkers. This book is an ideal text for undergraduate, graduate and MBA students in courses on banking and financial markets as well as in macroeconomics. It is also a useful resource for researchers and professionals in the financial, legal and policy sectors.

This volume investigates African-American employment in banking and insurance in the United States. The authors describe how these once almost all-white industries are now employing large numbers of African-American and what problems remain to be solved before equal employment opportunity can be fully attained. Appendices tell the story of African-American-owned banking and insurance companies and their status today. Located in primarily urban areas, banks and insurance companies may soon be among the largest employers of African-Americans. The centralized personnel structure of banks gives them a significant advantage in employing African Americans, but the authors find that both banks and insurance companies have been slow to employ black managerial personnel. This study is based upon individual reports first published in the Racial Policies of American Industry series. A final chapter compares and contrasts the situations in banking and insurance, paying particular attention to the reasons for varying progress in the two industries. Founded in 1921 as a separate Wharton department, the Industrial Research Unit has a long record of publication and research in the labor market, productivity, union relations, and business report fields. Major Industrial Research Unit studies are published as research projects are completed. This volume is Study no. 47.

The purpose of this book is to evaluate the debate on partnership, using original research data. Samuel provides a novel categorisation with which to synthesise and clarify a highly diverse literature on labour-management partnership, thus helping to refine the contemporary partnership debate. Secondly, he clarifies the circumstances under which effective labour-management partnership is possible, while simultaneously elaborating why the achievement of mutual gains is highly improbable in a liberal-market context. Thirdly, the book presents an integrated analysis of the interplay between macro-, meso- (industry) and micro-level factors. Fourthly, the research design enables the study to go beyond the case studies to make defendable empirical generalizations at the level of the industry. Finally, it advances a theoretical explanation of labour-management partnerships in liberal market economies by bridging two opposing neo-institutional positions in the social sciences.

Virtually all large banks and other financial institutions in the UK and internationally are public limited liability companies whose shares are listed on one or several stock exchanges. As such, their corporate governance and, in particular, the incentives faced by their directors and senior managers are to a significant extent determined by corporate and securities law rules such as directors' duties, directors' liability in insolvency, takeover regulation, disclosure obligations, shareholder rights and rules on executive remuneration. At the same time, systemically important financial institutions in the UK are licensed, regulated and supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). This book explores the relationship between, on the one hand, the broader corporate law, corporate governance and securities law framework and, on the other, the prudential regulatory framework. Although the book's main focus is on UK law, much of the policy argumentation is relevant globally and therefore appropriate international comparisons are drawn, and analysis of EU law and regulation is included. The book argues that the corporate law regime, which focuses on shareholder empowerment and profit maximisation, operates as an antithesis to prudential regulatory objectives thus undermining the safety and soundness of banks and other financial institutions by encouraging risky behaviour that may be in the best interests of their shareholders, but is clearly not in the public interest.

In the present financial world, various niche markets play an increasingly important role. One of the fastest-growing niches is, without a doubt, Islamic finance. Indeed, sustainable finance needs constantly evolving innovations, and this book offers valuable insights into Islamic capital structure and Shari'ah equity screening enriching academic discourse. "In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of a new generation of academics and professionals specializing in various aspects of Islamic finance as knowledge and practice. This has brought about a new dynamism and also further sophistication. This book is one of such contributions, as it develops knowledge which is then transformed into practice whereby practical impact is also achieved. Being an academic book, it provokes readers' thoughts, offering a critique of the implications of the currently applied Shari'ah screenings methodologies. As a transformative practical piece, by developing an innovative screening ratio, in this book, Dr. Yildirim extends his focus on the risk-sharing based financing hierarchy, covers thoughts and the underlying philosophy, and proposes an Islamic version of a pecking order hierarchy. This framework can be considered the foundation for developing an Islamic capital structure theory. This book will benefit academics, professionals, investors, as well as policymakers working in the Islamic finance industry and would like to explore more." (Professor Dr. Mehmet Asutay, Durham University Business School, UK) "This book offers, for the first time after the inception of Shari'ah screening methodologies, a groundbreaking new stock screening solution that is comprehensible, practical, and foremost entirely derived from the primary sources of Islam (Qur'an and Sunnah). Congratulations to Dr. Ramazan for his outstanding contribution to Islamic finance and capital markets." (Associate Professor Dr. Ahcene Lahsasna) "This excellent book is a must-have for all corporate finance students/researchers interested in the theoretical aspect of capital structure and the religious discussion of Shari'ah equity screening. This book should become a companion to those involved in a quantitative research environment and aim to conduct a comparative analysis; an ideal resource for everyone, from Shari'ah scholars to Islamic finance practitioners and beginners to experts." (Professor Dr. M. Kabir Hassan, University of New Orleans, USA)

This book is about retirement income security. This income security is provided by national public pensions, corporate pensions, and individual and reverse mortgages. However, these systems vary greatly from country to country and, in many countries, do not provide sufficient coverage. Ensuring income security in old age is an important issue that must be resolved in the rapidly aging environment of the world. From the perspective of financial consumers, this book cross-sectionally surveys public pensions, corporate pensions, individual pensions and reverse mortgages and compares them among many important nations. This gives many implications from the perspective of designing an overall income security for each individual. In addition, it presents many of the issues needed for these sustainable and comprehensive income security.

Pricing of export credit is a challenge in the globalised world trade. Annual premia represent billions of euros or dollars and may determine competition. This book develops a rigorous new framework for pricing export credit products, e.g. buyer and supplier credit insurance and performance and working capital guarantees , based on well-known financial and actuarial theories. It introduces the products, the theories and the different data sources in order to apply the mathematical and financial ideas, e.g. discounting, risk-neutral valuation and Merton type defaults. It shows the differences of historical experience and implicit market pricing assumptions. The well-known OECD Arrangement is used as a benchmark for some part of the framework. Short code snippets in R are given in order to re-perform the results and have a basis to try own ideas. Many unprecedented exhibits give new insights into the subject matter. The book is targeted at practitioners and actuaries in the field with a good quantitative background.

This is the first book-length study of Islamic financial services in the United Kingdom. It describes the ways in which British examples of Islamic financial provision illustrate both the main characteristics of Islamic financial teaching and some key issues in the situation of British Muslims. Coverage of the subject is comprehensive: there are chapters on the history of Islamic finance in the UK and on personal accounts, home purchase finance, the equivalents of personal loans and insurance, investment, commercial funding and the relatively new bond-like instruments of sukuk. The author's approach is broadly sympathetic to the general spirit and aims of the Islamic financial tradition but critical of some of its manifestations in practice. The book is especially topical at present, following the crisis in the UK banking industry and the unprecedented level of public debate about the appropriate aims and techniques of the financial markets. Some commentators have recently expressed disappointment that Islamic finance in the UK has failed to live up to the high expectations surrounding it. This book attempts to give a balanced account of the sector's strengths and weaknesses.

The Nine Years' War with France was a period of great institutional innovation in public finance and of severe monetary turmoil for England. It saw the creation of the Bank of England; a sudden sharp fall in the external value of the pound; a massive undertaking to melt down and recoin most of the nation's silver currency; a failed attempt to create a National Land Bank as a competitor to the Bank of England; and the ensuing outbreak of a sharp monetary and financial crisis. Histories of this period usually divide these events into two main topics, treated in isolation from one another: the recoinage debate and ensuing monetary crisis and a 'battle of the banks'. The first is often interpreted as the pyrrhic victory of a creditor-dominated parliament over the nation's debtors, one that led very predictably to the ensuing monetary crisis. The second has been construed as a contest between whig-merchant and tory-gentry visions of the proper place of banking in England's future. This book binds the two strands into a single narrative, resulting in a very different interpretation of both. Parliamentary debate over the recoinage was superficial and misleading; beneath the surface, it was just another front for the battle of the banks. And the latter had little to do with competing philosophies of economic development; it was rather a pragmatic struggle for profit and power, involving interlocking contests between two groups of financiers and two sets of politicians within the royal administration. The monetary crisis of summer 1696 was not the result of poor planning by the Treasury; rather it was a continuation of the battle of the banks, fought on new ground but with the same ultimate intent - to establish dominance in the lucrative business of private lending to the crown.

The challenges of affordable housing are manifold. However this presents an opportunity to private investors, real estate companies, and developers. With the growing global trend for impact-based investments, many institutional investors have begun to consider the merits of this asset class. This book examines not only the profitability of these assets, but also whether these assets rely on government subsidy. It discusses why investors have become more interested in this product and which investment criteria influence the financial performance of these assets. The authors employed a mixed method approach to collect data at two tiers, first through surveys and afterwards through interviews of 8 firms (3 publicly listed companies, 3 private equity companies, 1 foundation, and 1 state bank) across Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Investment criteria are analyzed using inferential statistics, specifically the Hierarchical Algorithm Cluster Analysis. The financial characteristics of the companies are examined and compared using descriptive statistics and the qualitative interview output is explored using the thematic Latent Coding Analysis. Furthermore, the book explains how the bond-like nature of affordable housing is a profitable impact investment option, and how this strategy is particularly worthwhile for institutional investors. It also describes that profitability of affordable housing products is not dependent on subsidy. Still, affordable housing products supported by government incentives in the United Kingdom and United States are most attractive. The book illustrates six important investment strategies identified by veterans in this field to have an influence on the financial feasibility of affordable housing products.

The internet is dramatically transforming the way business is done, particularly for financial services. Digital Finance takes a thoughtful look at how the industry is evolving, and it explains how to integrate concepts of digital finance into existing traditional finance platforms. This book explores what successful companies are doing to maximize their opportunities in this context and offers suggestions on how to introduce digital finance into a firm's structure. Specific strategies for a digital future are presented, alongside numerous case studies that explore key attributes of success. In recognition of the rapidly evolving nature of finance today, Digital Finance is accompanied by a website maintained by the author (PerryBeaumont.com), as well as links to other content with insightful articles, analyses, and opinions. For both practitioners and students of finance, Digital Finance provides a rich context for a better understanding of the landscape of finance today, and lays the foundation for us to process and create the financial innovations of tomorrow.

This book provides a coherent Blockchain framework for the business community, governments, and universities structured around microeconomics, macroeconomics, finance, and political economy and identifies how business organizations, financial markets and governmental policies are changed by digitalization, specifically Blockchain. This framework, what they authors call "disintermediation economics," affects everything by providing a paradigm that transforms the way we organize markets and value chains, financial services, central banking, budgetary policies, innovation ecosystems, government services, and civil society. Bringing together leading and experienced policy makers, corporate practitioners, and academics from top universities, this book offers a road map of best practices that can be immediately useful to firms, policy makers as well as academics by balancing theory with practice.

In The Seven Mindsets of Success, readers will not only explore topics like embracing discomfort, healthy conflict, time management, perspective, safety nets, and future self, but the intrinsic motivation behind their success. They will learn secrets and steps that are easily overlooked in business today. They will weigh the cost of their success and ask themselves, "Am I willing to do everything it takes?" What if success could be as easy as changing your mindset to see your business or job differently, and in turn, see the world differently? Sten Morgan has become one of the youngest, top financial advisors in the country, and he built his business all in just three years. He is in the top percentile of people in his business, and more successful than advisors with thirty years or more experience, and he believes these seven psychological mindsets will unlock success for you too. What's stopping you from reaching Rapid, Top-Level Success in your industry? The answer lies inside.

In The Seven Mindsets of Success, readers will not only explore topics like embracing discomfort, healthy conflict, time management, perspective, safety nets, and future self, but the intrinsic motivation behind their success. They will learn secrets and steps that are easily overlooked in business today. They will weigh the cost of their success and ask themselves, "Am I willing to do everything it takes?" What if success could be as easy as changing your mindset to see your business or job differently, and in turn, see the world differently? Sten Morgan has become one of the youngest, top financial advisors in the country, and he built his business all in just three years. He is in the top percentile of people in his business, and more successful than advisors with thirty years or more experience, and he believes these seven psychological mindsets will unlock success for you too. What's stopping you from reaching Rapid, Top-Level Success in your industry? The answer lies inside.

The 2008 financial crisis led the whole world to ask questions of the financial industry. Why are wages in the financial industry so high? Are bonuses responsible for the financial crisis? Where do bonuses come from? Politicians and others urged people to believe that the crisis was the price of Wall Street's greed and blamed the "bonus culture" prevalent in the financial industry. However, despite widespread condemnation and the threat of tighter regulation, bonuses in the industry have proven remarkably resilient. Wages, Bonuses and Appropriation of Profit in the Financial Industry provides an in-depth inquiry into the bonus system. Drawing on examples from France, the City and Wall Street, it explains how and why workers in the financial industry can receive such large bonuses. The book examines issues around incentives, morality and wealth-sharing among employees, including the rise of "the working rich" - those who have benefited the most from the high wages and large bonuses on offer to some employees. These people have achieved wealth through their work thanks to new forms of exploitation in our ever-more dematerialised economy. This book shows how the most mobile employees holding the most mobile assets can exploit the most immobile stakeholders. In a world where inequalities are rising sharply, this book is therefore an important study of one of the key contemporary issues. It will be of vital interest to those studying finance, banking or political economy.

How championing consumers led to ING Direct's revolutionary rise in the banking industry

In an industry dominated by big banks with little patience for their customers, ING Direct has always strived to be different-a rebel with a cause, if you will-and in doing so, they've become the most successful online banking venture in history.

"The Orange Code" recounts ING Direct's intriguing story, explaining the philosophy of its founder Arkadi Kuhlmann-who believes in the power of individuals to control their financial destiny-and his long-running partnership with Bruce Philp, the branding consultant who helped him make ING Direct a cause to its own people and a household name across North America.Discusses the unconventional approach to business strategy, leadership, and management that built ING DirectWritten by the company's CEO, Arkadi Kuhlmann, the driving force behind this unique company and its approach and Bruce Philp, the branding expert who has worked with some of the world's most well-known and valuable brandsReveals how the cause of personal financial empowerment has made everyone a winner in the ING Direct story

The level of success achieved by ING Direct holds some important lessons and offers some much-needed inspiration to a business world that could use a little of both right now.

This book provides an approach to sustainable decision-making rooted in financial and economic literature. Financial economic techniques have the power to frame the discussion of sustainability to explain who, how, and why sustainability is a growing phenomenon in business and investing. Financial concepts in a sustainable framework provide a theoretical basis to approach research and business questions on sustainability. The framework provides for a better understanding of the different definitions of sustainability and the role those differences have on decisions that will lead to the future of sustainable business. A future which relies on growth driven by expanding its markets' reach (demographics), its innovation or creation of new products, and its capital structure (leverage). Third party certification and governmental regulation become the constraints on that growth as well as the proof of sustainable growth. Finally, the ability and methods for investors to support sustainable growth is addressed in a modern portfolio theory analysis.