Research on MFI performance is still in its infancy. MFIs are hybrid organizations with dual objectives. Performance studies in microfinance are therefore less straightforward compared to performance studies in traditional banking research. This book contains new MFI performance research by top scholars from across the globe.

Financial reporting is becoming more onerous and complex, particularly for listed companies. Accounting scandals have led to a greater regulatory focus on the role of audit committees, non-executive directors, risk management and internal control which put the Finance Director under new and more stringent pressures.
This quick reference manual provides extensive information on recent changes and authoritative coverage of all the financial operations a busy Finance Director has now to undertake. All the key business critical information is here in one book everything a busy Finance Director needs access to. Written by professionals for professionals so that key information is easily accessed, assimilated and used. Detailed sections are devoted to audit, cash flow management, corporate transactions, financial reporting, management accounting, taxation and treasury and risk management.
* the vast range of business critical issues is constantly changing - to help you stay up to date, included in the price of the book are free regular on-line downloads of updates to legislation/standards
* packed with over 1000 pages, on key areas such as audit, company law, corporate governance, financial reporting, investor relations - you'll never be stuck for an answer again
* stay on top of the waves of legislation and standards as they roll in with the help of specialists in the field"

A guide to stochastic calculus as the basis behind mathematical finance An increasingly popular field of study at universities and an essential skill for investment bank employees, mathematical finance has changed dramatically in recent years, but its roots remain in stochastic calculus. Problems and Solutions in Mathematical Finance: Volume 1 provides a comprehensive explanation of stochastic calculus and probability theory focusing on their relationship with mathematical finance. Quantitative analysts Dr. Eric Chin and Dian Nel and Professor Sverrir Olafsson portray stochastic calculus' role in generating partial differentiation equations for pricing options and constructing probability measures in conjunction with martingale theory. Mathematical and computational finance rely on computational intelligence, numerical methods, and computer simulations to make trading, hedging, and investment decisions, to determine the risk of those decisions, and to define price derivatives. -Includes chapter-by-chapter introduction of the fundamental tenets, essential definitions, and detailed explanations needed to solve financial problems -Offers advice from experts in price testing methodologies, model calibration, energy markets, hedging in incomplete markets, and risk management Problems and Solutions in Mathematical Finance: Volume 1 functions as either an independent information text or a study supplement for students and practitioners eager to recover the basics of mathematical finance.

In managerial literature the challenges of ramping-up, growing and enhancing a (Finance) Shared Services Organization are regularly neglected. Therefore, the compilation will address two objectives: First, based on a generic phase model of an SSO s development, frequently arising questions related to the management of SSOs shall be systematically discussed and practicable solutions derived. Secondly, a picture of the future of SSOs shall be elaborated, resulting in new future management implications.

This book focuses on identifying and explaining the key determinants of scenario analysis in the context of operational risk, stress testing and systemic risk, as well as management and planning. Each chapter presents alternative solutions to perform reliable scenario analysis. The author also provides technical notes and describes applications and key characteristics for each of the solutions. In addition, the book includes a section to help practitioners interpret the results and adjust them to real-life management activities. Methodologies, including those derived from consensus strategies, extreme value theory, Bayesian networks, Neural networks, Fault Trees, frequentist statistics and data mining are introduced in such a way as to make them understandable to readers without a quantitative background. Particular emphasis is given to the added value of the implementation of these methodologies.

The world economy is caught in a money trap. Existing monetary arrangements meet the needs neither of the ageing societies of the West nor of younger emerging economies. This in-depth analysis explains how the world got into the grip of global finance - and how it can escape, with a growing demand for reform.

The world is changing rapidly. The global economic crisis has called into question the political decisions that have been made by all countries for decades and has led to a re-formulation of tools and aims. Adjustments to the new situation are necessary and entail considerable economic and social costs. The Balkan and Black Sea area is an important reference point for the European and global economy. Accordingly, the study of the economic development in the area is of great interest, engaging politicians and scientists alike. Under this framework, the matter of the relation between the area's countries and the E.U., the role of the banking system and the importance of the primary sector of the economy as an important developmental factor for the countries' economies are of great importance. "

From Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert Shiller, a groundbreaking account of how stories help drive economic events-and why financial panics can spread like epidemic viruses Stories people tell-about financial confidence or panic, housing booms, or Bitcoin-can go viral and powerfully affect economies, but such narratives have traditionally been ignored in economics and finance because they seem anecdotal and unscientific. In this groundbreaking book, Robert Shiller explains why we ignore these stories at our peril-and how we can begin to take them seriously. Using a rich array of examples and data, Shiller argues that studying popular stories that influence individual and collective economic behavior-what he calls "narrative economics"-may vastly improve our ability to predict, prepare for, and lessen the damage of financial crises and other major economic events. The result is nothing less than a new way to think about the economy, economic change, and economics. In a new preface, Shiller reflects on some of the challenges facing narrative economics, discusses the connection between disease epidemics and economic epidemics, and suggests why epidemiology may hold lessons for fighting economic contagions.

Three dominant forces worldwide are driving change today in our financial markets: competition, technology and regulation. But their collective impact in reshaping the markets, though they may be viewed individually as desirable or well-intentioned, is producing challenging results that are difficult to predict, hard to control and not easy to understand. Extreme market turbulence has underlined the key issues as much attention turns to the appropriate regulatory response. That is the backdrop for this thought-provoking book, emerging from a Baruch College Conference on equity market structure in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, and featuring contributions from an acclaimed panel of international scholars, policymakers, regulators, and industry leaders. The result presents emerging perspective and ideas that illuminate the dynamics of financial regulation today and into the future. The Zicklin School of Business Financial Markets Series presents the insights emerging from a sequence of conferences hosted by the Zicklin School at Baruch College for industry professionals, regulators, and scholars. Much more than historical documents, the transcripts from the conferences are edited for clarity, perspective and context; material and comments from subsequent interviews with the panelists and speakers are integrated for a complete thematic presentation. Each book is focused on a well delineated topic, but all deliver broader insights into the quality and efficiency of the U.S. equity markets and the dynamic forces changing them.

A comprehensive book on shipping derivatives and risk management which covers the theoretical and practical aspects of financial risk in shipping. The book provides a thorough overview of the practice of risk management in shipping with the use of theoretical examples and real-life applications.

This book investigates the contemporary functioning of financial institutions and monetary policies in order to assess their effects in different economic situations. It advances some proposals to improve their contribution towards a more stable and vigorous economy in the context of both developed and developing countries. This book includes important contributions on the theory and econometric testing of monetary policy strategies, hedging by firms, financial liberalization in Latin America and the role of financial institutions in promoting economic development.

There has been an increasing recognition that financial knowledge (i.e., literacy) is lacking across the population. Moreover, there is recognition that this lack of knowledge poses real problems as credit, mortgages, health insurance, retirement benefits, and savings and investment decisions become increasingly complex. Financial Decisions Across the Lifespan brings together the work of scholars from various disciplines (family and consumer sciences, economics, law, finance, sociology, and public policy) to provide a broad range of perspectives on financial knowledge, financial decisions, and policies. For consistency across the volume each chapter follows a similar format: (1) what individuals know or need to know (2) how what they know or need to know affects financial decisions and outcomes (3) ways in which policies or programs or financial innovations can enhance their knowledge, or decisions, or outcomes. Contributors will provide both new and existing research to create a valuable picture of the state of financial literacy and how it can be improved.

Behavioral finance is the study of how psychology affects financial decision making and financial markets. It is increasingly becoming the common way of understanding investor behavior and stock market activity. In this 2nd Edition Hersh Shefrin examines the reigning assumptions of asset pricing theory and reconstructs them to incorporate findings from behavioral finance. In other words, he takes the traditional tools in asset pricing and behavioralizes them. He constructs a solid, intact structure that challenges classic assumptions and at the same time provides a strong theory and efficient empirical tools. Building on the models developed by both traditional asset pricing theorists and behavioral asset pricing theorists, Shefrin's book takes the discussion to the next step. He provides a general behaviorally based intertemporal treatment of asset pricing theory that extends to the discussion of derivatives, fixed income securities, mean-variance efficient portfolios, and the market portfolio, based on all the latest research and theory.
* The second edition continues the tradition of the first edition by being the one and only book to focus completely on how behavioral finance principles affect asset pricing, now with its theory deepened and enriched by a plethora of research since the first edition
* A companion website contains a series of examples worked out as Excel spreadsheets so that readers can input their own data to test the results

It wasn't all that long ago when the notion of selling your life insurance policy was considered strange. Things sure do change fast. Investor demand for secondhand "used" life insurance policies has grown into a $15 billion market. Analysts are predicting that that figure will grow to $160 billion by 2030. Millions of seniors have turned their life insurance policies into a financial windfall, with many earning six-figure payments or even more by selling their policies. But beware deals like these can be full of traps and pitfalls. This book will steer you through the rocky waters of the life insurance market. We'll tell you everything you need to know to invest safely and securely. We'll explain what the market for used life insurance is and where it came from. We'll step through the entire process of a policy sale, from applying for life insurance to selling your policy to investors. And we'll show you exactly how you can keep more money in your hands and away from brokers, investors and middlemen. It's your life insurance policy, after all. Shouldn't you be the one who profits most when you Invest in Your Life?

Against the backdrop of China's increasingly influential role in the international financial architecture, this book seeks to characterize and evaluate China's financial power potential. It does so by analyzing the relationship between domestic financial repression and international financial power in the context of the political economy of the developmental state. On the basis of a novel theoretical framework for the analysis of the financial power potential of developmental states, the book provides an in-depth analysis of China's approach to currency internationalization, its creditor status and its policies towards the Bretton Woods institutions while contrasting the country's present role in global finance with the position of the Japanese developmental state in the 1980s and 1990s.

This book presents a hotly debated issue concerning the ownership of trust property in China. The book describes various conventional interpretations of Chinese Trust Law submitted by legal scholars and compares diverse approaches regarding the ownership of trust property provided by jurisdictions globally. The book does not directly answer the question "Who is the owner of trust property in China?" Instead, using a social capital perspective, it develops a more practical perspective to explain why Chinese trust business has grown rapidly even in lack of legal certainty regarding the location of ownership of trust property. The book also further predicts under what conditions is the time ripe to clarify the location of the ownership of trust property in China. By employing those sociological concepts often used to depict and analyze society, this book outlines the structure of the Chinese trust business and related social relations in different stages, i.e., the current rapid development stage, and the possible transitional stage in the near future. The focus is on how the social network structure affects the behavior of actors (such as the settlor, the trustee, and the beneficiaries, and/or their potential candidates) within the relevant section of Chinese society. The book provides readers with an intensive analysis of the impacts of historical, cultural, and social elements on the legislation and development of trust law in China. It will appeal both to lawyers interested in the Chinese trust business and to comparative law researchers and social scientists.

The field of household finance seeks to understand how households use financial instruments. Financial economists have long studied how corporations utilize financial instruments, yet relatively little is understood about how individual consumers and households utilize various credit alternatives in managing their consumption and savings objectives. However, with the increasing interest in issues surrounding behavioral finance, research into household financial decision making processes is becoming increasingly important. In response to the growing interest in household finance, this book contains a collection of essays by leading researchers studying issues involving household and consumer use of credit instruments. This collection, featuring a foreword by John Y. Campbell, will provide readers with a greater understanding of what is currently known about household credit utilization and suggest possible areas for future research.

An accessible guide to handling the unforeseeable consequences of becoming an entrepreneur in today and tomorrow's economy

The spirit of an entrepreneur is often characterized as one of unbridled passion and a sense of fearlessness. But what about the consequences of choosing to become an entrepreneur? The occupational hazards associated with this endeavor range from maintaining focus, balancing work with your personal life, and finding good partners to burnout and boredom. Despite the abundance of entrepreneurial guides written, few focus on the essential aspect of dealing with the unexpected personal and professional costs of starting and financing a business. This new book will help you answer these tough questions.

Engaging and informative, this book skillfully examines what usually goes wrong on the road to entrepreneurship, revealing what business owners regret and what you can do to address these issues. Along the way, it provides an overview of the personality traits and qualities that make success in entrepreneurship more likely, and also explores how the weight of wearing the entrepreneurial hat can affect you.Covers the seven principal obstacles that can arise at any level in the entrepreneurial gameFilled with the valuable insights of an author who has experience as an entrepreneur and as a corporate attorney representing hundreds of entrepreneurs over his twenty-six year legal careerTouches on issues associated with everything from the nerve-wrecking start-up phase to the disenchanted later stages when success does not necessarily guarantee personal or professional contentment

If you're looking for a better way to manage and minimize some of the most prominent problems you'll face as an entrepreneur, look no further than this book.

There have been important advances in monetary economics and macroeconomics recently. In macroeconomics there has been the paramount development of the New Consensus Macroeconomics along with significant policy implications, thereby giving rise to the notion of New Monetary Policy. This book deals with the key aspects of these developments and further ones such as money, credit and the business cycle. Adding to the analysis are developments that focus on issues for open and spatial macroeconomics.