Instructional FlexibilityBank management instructors vary in their approaches to teachingthis course, and this text includes elements of business financialtheory, along with practical institutional material that distinguishesfinancial businesses from non-financial ones.Practical ContentThe authors use end of chapter problems and case exercises toshow students that the course goes beyond computation to requireanalysis and critical thinking skills.* Flexibility in Level of PresentationChapters progress from patient introductions of fundamentals tomore challenging applications and then to appendices that containadvanced and often rigorous concepts and applications.
This book gathers selected high-quality papers presented at the 31st European Conference on Operational Research, which was held in Athens, Greece on June 11-14, 2021. It highlights the latest advances in the application of operations research (OR) to technology-driven areas in business, finance, and economics, covering both theoretical and methodological developments, as well as real-world case studies. It also explores the connections between OR and other analytical disciplines, such as soft computing and computer science, which can promote the development of new decision support technologies.
This paper explores insurance as a source of financial system vulnerability. It provides a brief overview of the insurance industry and reviews the risks it faces, as well as several recent failures of insurance companies that had systemic implications. Assimilation of banking-type activities by life insurers appears to be the key systemic vulnerability. Building on this experience and the experience gained under the FSAP, the paper proposes key indicators that should be compiled and used for surveillance of financial soundness of insurance companies and the insurance sector as a whole.
There is an increasing awareness that access to financial services can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. This study focuses on the delivery of financial services in Brazil, one of the world's most important emerging financial markets. It examines different aspects of financial service provision, and explores approaches to address problems of financial exclusion. Topics discussed include: microfinance schemes; private banking; rural finance systems; institutional infrastructure; and the role of government policy.
Global competition has caused fundamental changes in the competitive environment of the manufacturing and service industries. Firms should develop strategic objectives that, upon achievement, result in a competitive advantage in the market place. The forces of globalization on one hand and rapidly growing marketing opportunities overseas, especially in emerging economies on the other, have led to the expansion of operations on a global scale. The book aims to cover the main topics characterizing operations management including both strategic issues and practical applications. A global environmental business including both manufacturing and services is analyzed. The book contains original research and application chapters from different perspectives. It is enriched through the analyses of case studies.
In response to a clear need by low-income people to gain access to the full range of financial services including savings, a growing number of microfinance NGOs are seeking guidelines to transform from credit-focused microfinance organizations to regulated deposit-taking financial intermediaries. In response to this trend, this book presents a practical 'how-to' manual for MFIs to develop the capacity to become licensed and regulated to mobilize deposits from the public. 'Transforming Microfinance Institutions' provides guidelines for regulators to license and regulate microfinance providers, and for transforming MFIs to meet the demands of two major new stakeholders regulators and shareholders. As such, it focuses on developing the capacity of NGO MFIs to mobilize and intermediate voluntary savings. Drawing from worldwide experience, it outlines how to manage the transformation process and address major strategic and operational issues inherent in transformation including competitive positioning, business planning, accessing capital and shareholders, and how to 'transform' the MFI's human resources, financial management, MIS, internal controls, and branch operations. Case studies then provide examples of developing a new regulatory tier for microfinance, and how a Ugandan NGO transformed to become a licensed financial intermediary. This book will be invaluable to regulators and microfinance NGOs contemplating institutional transformation and will be of tremendous use to donors and technical support agencies supporting MFIs in their transformation.
Economic literature pays a great deal of attention to the performance of banks, expressed in terms of competition, concentration, efficiency, productivity and profitability. This book provides an all-embracing framework for the various existing theories in this area and illustrates these theories with practical applications. Evaluating a broad field of research, the book describes a profit maximizing bank and demonstrates how several widely-used models can be fitted into this framework. The authors also present an overview of the current major trends in banking and relate them to the assumptions of each model, thereby shedding light on the relevance, timeliness and shelf life of the various models. The results include a set of recommendations for a future research agenda. Offering a comprehensive analysis of bank performance, this book is useful for all of those undertaking research, or are interested, in areas such as banking, competition, supervision, monetary policy and financial stability.
This first report deals with some of the major development issues confronting the developing countries and explores the relationship of the major trends in the international economy to them. It is designed to help clarify some of the linkages between the international economy and domestic strategies in the developing countries against the background of growing interdependence and increasing complexity in the world economy. It assesses the prospects for progress in accelerating growth and alleviating poverty, and identifies some of the major policy issues which will affect these prospects.
