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 COVID-19 pandemic has led to further acceleration of digitalization in all areas. This caused significant changes in economic and social life. Through digitalization, the need for people in business life has decreased and has forced the traditional employment structure to change. During the pandemic period, some segments enjoyed the advantages of owning digital technologies, while others remained strangers to the new world because they were deprived of digital technologies, revealing the inequality of opportunity on an individual or social basis. Although this rapid change produced positive results, it also brought about risks. To help mitigate such emerging risks, The New Digital Era's two volumes vitally generate new information in order to determine the advantages and risks in which areas this digitalization, which has increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter authors highlight the new social and economic policies that are needed to balance the effects on social and economic life and prevent possible conflicts between individuals and societies Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis publishes a series of current and relevant themed volumes within the fields of economics and finance. Both disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies are welcome.

This book sheds light on the emotional side of risk taking behaviour using an innovative cross-disciplinary approach, mixing financial competences with psychology and affective neuroscience. In doing so, it shows the implications for market participants and regulators in terms of transparency and communication between intermediaries and customers.

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'.

Mathematical techniques for trading and risk management.

"Managing Energy Risk" closes the gap between modern techniques from financial mathematics and the practical implementation for trading and risk management. It takes a multi-commodity approach that covers the mutual influences of the markets for fuels, emission certificates, and power. It includes many practical examples and covers methods from financial mathematics as well as economics and energy-related models.

This book is devoted to investigating the policy design and effectiveness of financial and market-based instruments to promote energy efficiency financing. The concept of this monograph is to present the latest results related to energy efficiency funding schemes, energy efficiency obligations, voluntary agreements, auction mechanisms, and Super Energy Services Companies (Super ESCOs) in major jurisdictions across the world. The book focuses on financial and market-based instruments as they deliver a price signal, which provides an incentive for firms to invest in innovation or implement more energy-efficient technologies and deliver energy savings while minimizing costs. Such instruments can have significant advantages for the government, supporting the fiscal sustainability of the government's energy efficiency efforts, requiring less enforcement than regulation and according the market flexibility to select the most cost-efficient technologies. This book is highly recommended to researchers, policy experts, and business specialists who seek an in-depth and up-to-date integrated overview of energy efficiency financing.

European Financial Reporting analyses the revolution that is currently taking place in the financial reporting of the major European companies, following the European Union's decision that from they must present their accounts according to the IASB's standards. The book covers both the theory of financial reporting and its practice at both national and international level. It covers the very latest developments in the EU and the IASB with a detailed analysis of the impact of the Enron scandal. MARKET 1: Academics, Researchers, Libraries and Post-graduate Students on Financial Reporting or International Accounting programmes at Universities and Business and Management Schools MARKET 2: Supplementary reading for Students on International Business or European Business programmes

This book investigates the regulation and promotion of financial inclusion and provides a comparative analysis of the regulation, promotion and enforcement of the relevant laws in the SADC (in particular, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe), as well as the challenges of financial inclusion. In turn, it evaluates financial inclusion in the context of specific challenges faced by unbanked and underbanked customers, who are easy targets for cyber criminals because they tend to have lower levels of digital literacy. The book presents novel discussions that identify the challenges and flaws associated with the enforcement of financial inclusion laws and related measures intended to promote financial inclusion in the SADC region. This is primarily done in order to reveal the current strengths and weaknesses of financial inclusion laws in relation to certain aspects of the companies, securities and financial markets in the region. For example, there is no common financial inclusion instrument/law that is effectively and uniformly applied throughout the SADC. This has impeded the enforcement authorities' efforts to effectively combat financial exclusion across the region.The book is likely the most comprehensive study to date on the regulation and promotion of financial inclusion in the SADC region and fills a major gap in SADC and African legal jurisprudence. As such, it offers a valuable asset for policymakers, attorneys, bankers, securities (share) holders, and other market participants who deal with financial inclusion, as well as undergraduate and graduate students interested in the topic.

This edited volume explores theoretical and empirical issues related to monetary economics and policy in the Islamic financial system. Derived from the Conference on Islamic Monetary Economics and Institutions: Theory and Practice 2017 held in Male, Maldives, the enclosed papers highlights several option for authorities and regulatory bodies regarding monetary policy and regulation, as well as discussing how Islamic monetary policy effects growth, financial stability and resilience to shocks in practice. The inter-linkage between Islamic monetary policy and other markets are also explored. The subject of Islamic economics has gained considerable attention in the last four decades with the emergence of Islamic financial institutions around the world. This phenomenon has motivated economists to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework of modern monetary economics for Islamic economic system. An important characteristic of the Islamic economic system is the abolition of interest from the financial system. Islamic monetary economics is distinguished from conventional monetary economics due to the absence of interest. Therefore, under the Islamic economic system, monetary policy has to depend on other tools. In the early theoretical literature on Islamic monetary economics, many have discussed the role of money in Islamic economics system, while the number of empirical studies on Islamic monetary economics is a relatively new phenomenon. According to Islamic scholars, there are three main goals of Islamic monetary policy: a) economic well-being with full employment and optimum rate of economic growth; b) socioeconomic justice and equitable distribution of income and wealth and c) stability in the value of money. Hence, the Islamic monetary policy has several socioeconomic and ethical implications. Featuring regional case studies, this book serves as a valuable resource for academics, scholars, practitioners and policy makers in the areas of Islamic economics and finance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to further acceleration of digitalisation in all areas. This caused significant changes in economic and social life. Through digitalisation, the need for people in business life has decreased and has forced the traditional employment structure to change. During the pandemic period, some segments enjoyed the advantages of owning digital technologies, while others remained strangers to the new world because they were deprived of digital technologies, revealing the inequality of opportunity on an individual or social basis. Although this rapid change produced positive results, it also brought about risks. To help mitigate such emerging risks, The New Digital Era's two volumes vitally generate new information in order to determine the advantages and risks in which areas this digitalisation, which has increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter authors highlight the new social and economic policies that are needed to balance the effects on social and economic life and prevent possible conflicts between individuals and societies Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis publishes a series of current and relevant themed volumes within the fields of economics and finance. Both disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies are welcome.

This book presents the effects of integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) and economic processes in macroeconomic dynamics, finance, marketing, industrial policies, and in government economic strategy. The text explores modeling and applications in these fields and also describes, in a clear and accessible manner, the theories that guide the integration among information technology (IT), telecommunications, and the economy, while presenting examples of their applications. Current trends such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data technologies used in economics are also included. This volume is suitable for researchers, practitioners, and students working in economic theory and the computational social sciences.

This book examines the crisis of EMU through the lenses of comparative political economy. It retraces the development of wage-setting systems in the core and peripheral EMU member states, and how these contributed to the increasing divergence between creditor and debtor states in the late 2000s. Starting with the construction of the Deutschmark bloc, through the Maastricht process of the 1990s, and into the first decade of EMU, this book analyzes how labour unions and wage determination systems adjusted in response to monetary integration and, in turn, influenced the shape that monetary union would eventually take. Before the introduction of the Euro, labour unions were disciplined by central banks and governments, after social conflict in the north of the continent and with the use of social pacts in the others. Since controlling inflation had become the main goal of macro-economic policy, national central banks acted as a backstop to keep militant unions and profligate governments under control. Public sector wages thus were subordinated to manufacturing wages, a set-up policed by export sector unions, aided by the central bank. With the introduction of the single currency, the European Central Bank replaced the national central banks and, as a result, their capacity to control labour unions disappeared. The strong links between wages in the public sector unions and wages in the manufacturing export sector weakened dramatically in many countries, wage inflation re-emerged, and the stage was set for the current account divergences at the basis of the crisis of EMU.

This text introduces upper division undergraduate/beginning graduate students in mathematics, finance, or economics, to the core topics of a beginning course in finance/financial engineering. Particular emphasis is placed on exploiting the power of the Monte Carlo method to illustrate and explore financial principles. Monte Carlo is the uniquely appropriate tool for modeling the random factors that drive financial markets and simulating their implications. The Monte Carlo method is introduced early and it is used in conjunction with the geometric Brownian motion model (GBM) to illustrate and analyze the topics covered in the remainder of the text. Placing focus on Monte Carlo methods allows for students to travel a short road from theory to practical applications. Coverage includes investment science, mean-variance portfolio theory, option pricing principles, exotic options, option trading strategies, jump diffusion and exponential Levy alternative models, and the Kelly criterion for maximizing investment growth. Novel features: inclusion of both portfolio theory and contingent claim analysis in a single text pricing methodology for exotic options expectation analysis of option trading strategies pricing models that transcend the Black-Scholes framework optimizing investment allocations concepts thoroughly explored through numerous simulation exercises numerous worked examples and illustrations The mathematical background required is a year and one-half course in calculus, matrix algebra covering solutions of linear systems, and a knowledge of probability including expectation, densities and the normal distribution. A refresher for these topics is presented in the Appendices. The programming background needed is how to code branching, loops and subroutines in some mathematical or general purpose language. The mathematical background required is a year and one-half course in calculus, matrix algebra covering solutions of linear systems, and a knowledge of probability including expectation, densities and the normal distribution. A refresher for these topics is presented in the Appendices. The programming background needed is how to code branching, loops and subroutines in some mathematical or general purpose language. Also by the author: (with F. Mendivil) Explorations in Monte Carlo, (c)2009, ISBN: 978-0-387-87836-2; (with J. Herod) Mathematical Biology: An Introduction with Maple and Matlab, Second edition, (c)2009, ISBN: 978-0-387-70983-3.

This volume contains three main themes. The first theme relates to financial developments in the MENA region, emphasizing the role of stock markets and portfolio flows, foreign direct investments and private and public savings in the growth and development experience of the region. We see echoed throughout the first few chapters the notion that financial liberalization has many benefits as well as risks not only for the countries involved, but for international investors as well. For the countries of this region, we see the promise of enhanced growth and development through more developed financial markets that can facilitate the important relationship between investors and savers. For the international investor, we see a region that is posed to offer returns that are strongly correlated to risk. In the developing economies of the MENA region commercial banks have played a prominent role in economic growth since capital markets are still underdeveloped and still lack the appropriate mechanisms to channel effectively and efficiently funds from surplus units to deficit units. The next theme of the volume relates to the role commercial banks have played in channelling funds from savings to investments, and their role in the financing for development experience of some MENA economies. Finally, and on a broader level, the conduct of monetary policy in some MENA countries is highlighted with some emphasis on exchange rate policies and the use of some exchange rate regimes and their impact on the economies of the region.

The spread of the Internet into all areas of business activities has put a particular focus on business models. The digitalization of business processes is the driver of changes in company strategies and management practices alike. This textbook provides a structured and conceptual approach, allowing students and other readers to understand the commonalities and specifics of the respective business models. The book begins with an overview of the business model concept in general by presenting the development of business models, analyzing definitions of business models and discussing the significance of the success of business model management. In turn, Chapter 2 offers insights into and explanations of the business model concept and provides the underlying approaches and ideas behind business models. Building on these foundations, Chapter 3 outlines the fundamental aspects of the digital economy. In the following chapters the book examines various core models in the business to consumer (B2C) context. The chapters follow a 4-C approach that divides the digital B2C businesses into models focusing on content, commerce, context and connection. Each chapter describes one of the four models and provides information on the respective business model types, the value chain, core assets and competencies as well as a case study. Based on the example of Google, Chapter 8 merges these approaches and describes the development of a hybrid digital business model. Chapter 9 is dedicated to business-to-business (B2B) digital business models. It shows how companies focus on business solutions such as online provision of sourcing, sales, supportive collaboration and broker services. Chapter 10 shares insight into the innovation aspect of digital business models, presenting structures and processes of digital business model innovation. The book is rounded out by a comprehensive case study on Google/Alphabet that combines all aspects of digital business models. Conceived as a textbook for students in advanced undergraduate courses, the book will also be useful for professionals and practitioners involved in business model innovation, and applied researchers.

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.

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in index number and aggregation theory, since the two previously divergent fields have been successfully unified. The underlying aggregator functions which are weakly separable subfunctions of utility and production functions, are the building blocks of economic theory, and the derivation of index numbers based upon their ability to track those building blocks is now called the "economic theory of index numbers."

William Barnett, the coeditor of this volume, introduced modern economic index number theory into monetary economics. His merger of economic index number theory, with monetary theory was based upon the use of Diewert's approach to producing "superlative" nonparametric approximations to the theoretically exact aggregator functions. This book comprises a focussed and unified collection of Barnett's most important publications in this area.

The papers in the book have been organized into logical sections, with unifying introductions and overviews. The result is a systematic development of the state of the art in monetary and financial aggregation theory. The sections cover the origin of the user cost price of monetary services. Exact aggregation of monetary assets on the demand side for consumers and firms, and on the supply side for financial intermediaries, general equilibrium of all economic agents' demands and supplies, dynamic solution of the exact system, and extension to monetary aggregation under risk. The extension of index number theory to the case of risk is completely general, and can be applied to tracking any exact economic aggregator under risk. In all cases, the criterion used for evaluation isthe tracking ability of the approximation to the exact aggregator function of economic theory.

Many of the empirical and policy puzzles in monetary economics disappear when simple sum monetary aggregates are replaced by index numbers that are coherent with theory. Simple sum monetary aggregates became incoherent with theory, when monetary assets began paying interest and therefore could no longer be viewed as perfect substitutes.

This is a useful tool to those associated with economics departments within universities, business schools, central banks and federal governments, financial institutions including underwriters, bankers and stockbrokers.

It is becoming more and more difficult to find well-managed companies in today's business world. The recent financial blowups demonstrate the overriding lack of respect for shareholders. For their own benefit, management risks shareholder assets without restraint. If the risky bets pay off, bonuses are awarded. If the risky bets fail, it is no loss to management and they may just get a hefty severance package in the process. However, from back in the 1960s, one man, Warren Buffett, has dedicated himself completely to his shareholders. In managing Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett took a company worth $40 per share and built it into an empire worth close to $100,000 per share in today's market. In spite of this incredible success, very few of Buffett's actions are replicated in modern business practices. Building the Next Berkshire Hathaway outlines the business principles that helped establish this company as one of the best run in U.S. history. Whether you are an investor who wants to be able to recognize the potential for business success or an executive ready to establish policies that benefit your shareholders, this book is an indispensable resource. There are a number of books that will tell you how to invest like Warren Buffett-this book takes it a step further to show how his success as a CEO was tied to his treatment of shareholders.

Critically acclaimed investigative reporter and CNBC personality Charles Gasparino demonstrates how the ongoing tumult in financial markets is part of a much larger story that entails some of the world's most esteemed financial institutions selling out their responsibility - not just to their own shareholders, but to millions of outside investors and to the American public. "The Sellout" shows how and why America's largest investment banks have suffered staggering losses in assets and influence, triggering the vast financial crisis that is now devastating the United States and institutions across the globe. This page-turning narrative captures how avarice, arrogance, and sheer stupidity eroded Wall Street's dominance, made many of the US' most fabled financial institutions vulnerable to significant new foreign control, and profoundly weakened the financial security of millions of poor and middle-class American families.

Building upon Feltham and Ohlson models, this book examines positive loss-earnings within the context of the dot.com bubble during the boom years of the late 1990s bull market. The strong demand for equity financing captured the imagination of investors from Europe and U.S. like never before. With a focus on U.S. Internet companies, the book explores both the birth and the death of the new economy, and how negative earnings and losses still garnered large investments and successful IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). As Internet based ventures and the digital economy keep attracting large amounts of equity financing, this book explains that there is something unique in the valuation and pricing of tech companies. The book was written for corporate financiers, capital market professionals, and academics to further their understanding of equity valuation and the effects of equity trading.