Judaism, Christianity and Islam all impose obligations and constraints upon the rightful use of wealth and earthly resources. All three of these religions have well-researched views on the acceptability of practices such as usury but the principles and practices of other, non-interest, financial instruments are less well known. This book examines each of these three major world faiths, considering their teachings, social precepts and economic frameworks, which are set out as a guide for the financial dealings and economic behaviour for their adherents. Religion and Finance explores the histories, denominational compositions and fundamental beliefs of each of the three religions and examines a host of key issues surrounding their relationship to finance. Consideration is given to the development of the generally disfavoured practices such as usury, and the various instruments of sales-based debt, partnerships and equity-based financial practices allowed by these religions are examined, alongside a discussion of their socio-economic teachings and traditions. This well-written, well-constructed, analysis of the financial thought of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, with its insightful analysis of key financial instruments and economic practices, will be an invaluable book for anyone who is interested in, or studying, the three major Abrahamic religions and their financial practices and philosophies.

The emergence of financial technology (FinTech)-related products is causing major disruptions in financial services that enable financial solutions and innovative business models resulting in the fusion of finance and smart mobile technology. As ASEAN is undergoing a paradigm shift from government-to-government (G2G) to community-to-community (C2C) relationships with the emphasis on integration and collaboration, the adoption of FinTech and its possible future directions needs to be studied further. Financial Technology and Disruptive Innovation in ASEAN provides an assortment of innovative research that explores the recent FinTech initiative in ASEAN with respect to its process, strategies, challenges, and outcomes and highlights new business models, products, and services that affect financial markets and institutions and the provision of financial services. While highlighting topics including blockchain technology, cloud computing, and mobile banking, this book is ideally designed for business executives, managers, entrepreneurs, financial and banking practitioners, policymakers, academicians, students, professionals, and researchers.

Conventional methods of financial modeling are often overly exact, to the point that their purpose--to aid in financial decision making--is easily lost. Tarrazo's approach, the use of approximation, gives professionals in finance, economics, and portfolio management a sound and sophisticated way to improve their decision making, particularly in such tasks as economic prediction, financial planning, and portfolio management. Tarrazo reviews how to build models, especially those with simultaneous equation systems, then provides a simple way to use approximate equation systems to solve them. Down to earth, readable, and meticulously explained throughout, the book is not only an important tool in practical problem solving situations, but it also provides valuable methods and guidance for upper level students and their instructors.

Among the book's important contributions is its chapter on portfolio optimization. Tarrazo helps clarify the theory and application of modern portfolio theory, especially in regard to its implementation with commonly available information management tools (such as EXCEL). He also provides innovative ways to optimize portfolios under realistic conditions and a method to obtain optimal weights in interval form that does not rely on probability; instead, it relies on the mathematical quality of the matrix in the optimization. Another chapter shows that approximate equations are a general-purpose optimization tool, one that subsumes all other known optimization tools such as classical and mathematical programming. Tarrazo closes with an unusually full bibliography, containing more than 200 references spanning several areas of analysis and various disciplines.

This book covers three topics that have dominated financial market regulation and supervision debates: digital finance, sustainable finance, and the Banking and Capital Markets Union. Within the first part, seven chapters will tackle specific questions arising in digital finance, including but not limited to artificial intelligence, tokenisation, and international regulatory cooperation in digital financial services. The second part addresses one of humanity's most pressing issues today: the climate crisis. The quest for sustainable finance is driven by political actors and a common understanding that climate change is a severe threat. As financial institutions are a cornerstone of human interaction, they are in the regulatory spotlight. The chapters explore sustainability in EU banking and insurance regulation, the interrelationship between systemic risk and sustainability, and the 'greening' of EU monetary policy. The third part analyses two projects that have led to huge structural changes in the European financial market architecture over the last decade: the European Banking Union and Capital Markets Union. This transformation has raised numerous legal questions that can only gradually be answered in all their intricacies. In four chapters, this book examines composite procedures, property rights of depositors in banking resolution, preemptive financing arrangements and the phenomenon of subsidiarisation in the context of Brexit. Of interest to academics, policymakers, practitioners, and students in the field of EU financial regulation, banking law, securities law, and regulatory law, this book offers a compilation of analyses on pressing banking and capital markets law problems.

Recent events, such as capital flow reversals and banking sector crises, have shaken faith in the widely held belief in the benefits of greater financial integration and financial deepening, which are typical in advanced economies. This book shows that emerging economies have occasionally weathered the storm best, despite the supposed burden of 'weak institutions'. Written by leading scholars and practitioners, the authors demonstrate that a better policy framework requires reliable indicators of vulnerability to financial instability. Using empirical evidence and case studies, the twelve chapters stress the necessity of improved policy tools and automatic stabilizers that anticipate and limit the vulnerabilities to financial crises. Cross-border capital flows, international reserves and foreign exchange markets are covered in depth. This timely book offers an insightful overview and policy solutions to the issues surrounding macroprudential regulation of economies in a globalized world. It is required reading for students and scholars of international finance and regulation. Contributors include: S. Cho, R. Cifuentes, S. Claessens, S.R. Ghosh, M.S. Gochoco-Bautista, J.-H. Hahm, A. Jara, D. Jeong, K.-C. Jung, D. Kang, J. Lee, J.-E. Lee, A. Mason, A. Munro, C. Nam, M. Reddell, C. Rhee, H.S. Shin, S. Suh

This book provides both practice-oriented and academic insights into the disruptive power of fintech for the banking industry. It explores (1) whether and how the banking industry can use newly emerging technologies in the financial sphere to its advantage while managing any associated risks, (2) how these technologies affect traditional banking service formats as well as the pricing of these services, and (3) whether the emergence of fintech in the banking industry calls for a rethinking of existing banking regulations such as the Basel Accords as well as country-specific regulations. Prior publications in this area typically examine both current applications of fintech in the banking industry, as well as its future prospects, by analyzing actual cases or exploring the impact of a single emerging technology on the banking industry. They often ignore the interdependence between emerging technologies and overlook the connection between fintech as a whole and the future of the banking industry. This book addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of various fintech applications and by analyzing what they mean for the future of banking. Given the potentially disruptive power of fintech, the book will focus on the challenges banking supervisors are likely to encounter as a result of fintech's continual ascent. It will thus encourage readers to think about and explore how to find a balance between the beneficial aspects of fintech and the challenges it creates in terms of supervision, regulation, and risk management.