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1 – 10 of 761Free banking theory, as developed in Adam Smith’s 1776 treatise, “The Wealth of Nations” is a useful tool in determining the extent to which the “invisible hand of the market”…
Abstract
Purpose
Free banking theory, as developed in Adam Smith’s 1776 treatise, “The Wealth of Nations” is a useful tool in determining the extent to which the “invisible hand of the market” should prevail in regulatory policy. The purpose of this study is to provide a timely review of the literature, evaluating the theory’s relevance to regulation of financial technology generally and cryptocurrencies (cryptos) specifically.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is qualitative, applying free banking theory as developed in the literature to technology-defined environments. Recent legislative developments in the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the UK, European Union and the USA, are drawn upon.
Findings
Participants in volatile cryptocurrency markets should bear the consequences of inadvisable investments in accordance with free banking theory. The decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies and the exchanges on which these are traded militate against coordinated oversight by central banks, supporting a qualified free banking approach. Differences regarding statutory definitions of cryptos as units of exchange, tokens or investment securities and the propensity of these to transition between categories across the business cycle render attempts at concerted classification at the international level problematic. Prevention of criminality through extension of Suspicious Activity Reporting to exchanges and intermediaries should be the principal objective of policymakers, rather than definitions of evolving products that risk stifling technological innovation.
Originality/value
The study proposes that instead of a traditional regulatory approach to cryptos, which emphasises holders’ safety and compensation, a free banking approach combined with a focus on criminality would be a more effective and pragmatic way forward.
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Brendan Luyt and Karryl Sagun-Trajano
In this study, the authors look at the case of Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines between 1965 and 1986. Documenting the life and career of Marcos on Wikipedia…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, the authors look at the case of Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines between 1965 and 1986. Documenting the life and career of Marcos on Wikipedia provides an excellent example of the pitfalls confronting those seeking to address disinformation without first reflecting deeply on the reasons why people subscribe to views deemed outlandish by the intellectual or cultural mainstream.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors sampled the version of the Marcos article on Wikipedia as it existed after the first edit of each year since its inception (2002). This resulted in 22 texts for analysis. Content and thematic analyses were conducted on these texts as well as on the entire body of talk page comments for the article.
Findings
The authors' work suggests that the basic elements of responsible encyclopedic writing have prevailed in the case of Wikipedia's biography of Marcos. However, this is not an unalloyed victory, as issues of polarization remain unaddressed.
Originality/value
Underlying revisionist or distorted claims about Ferdinand Marcos (and other controversial topics) lie very real grievances that give these claims traction for many people. Hence, it is not enough to “just present the facts” to readers. Rather, the authors argue that what is needed is a synthesis of positions that would allow for common ground to be found between them. This could be done in the case of Wikipedia by cultivating editors who are capable and willing to engage with the subject literature in a deeper and richer fashion.
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Dirk De Clercq and Renato Pereira
The purpose of this study is to unpack the relationship between employees’ perceptions of organizational politics and their counterproductive work behaviour, by postulating a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to unpack the relationship between employees’ perceptions of organizational politics and their counterproductive work behaviour, by postulating a mediating role of organizational disidentification and a moderating role of perceived external crisis threats to work.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical assessment of the hypotheses relies on survey data collected among employees who work in a large banking organization.
Findings
Perceptions that organizational decision-making is marked by self-serving behaviour increase the probability that employees seek to cause harm to their employer, because they feel embarrassed by their organizational membership. This mediating role of organizational disidentification is especially prominent when they ruminate about the negative impact of external crises on their work.
Practical implications
This study details an important danger for employees who feel upset with dysfunctional politics: They psychologically distance themselves from their employer, which then prompts them to formulate counterproductive responses that likely make it more difficult to take on the problem in a credible manner. This detrimental dynamic is particularly risky if an external crisis negatively interferes with their work functioning.
Originality/value
This study adds to prior research by detailing an unexplored but relevant mechanism (organizational disidentification) and moderator (external crisis threats) by which perceived organizational politics translates into enhanced counterproductive work behaviour.
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This paper aims to assess the legal and regulatory framework for mobile banking (M-banking) in Tanzania. The technological development in information and communication…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to assess the legal and regulatory framework for mobile banking (M-banking) in Tanzania. The technological development in information and communication technologies has converted a mobile phone from a simple communication device to a very complex instrument that allows people to perform various digital transactions and extra operations such as web browsing and email reading. Such tremendous developments have brought in place the regime of M-banking. The birth of M-banking has brought legal and institutional challenges that were not anticipated before. It has complicated the traditional role of the telecommunication regulator and financial regulator in the business and caused legal gaps that need to be bridged.
Design/methodology/approach
To disclose the legal gaps and bridge them, the study used doctrinal legal method and comparative study to learn the experience of international legal instruments and policies and laws of other jurisdictions. This paper has evaluated the contribution of international legal instruments and legal frameworks of foreign jurisdictions such as Kenya and the Philippines.
Findings
It has been revealed that the prevailing laws regulating M-banking in Tanzania do not adequately address and bridge the existing legal gaps. There is a need to enact a specific law regulating M-banking and confer such powers to a specific institution to deal with regulatory issues.
Originality/value
This paper stresses the importance of enacting new laws that will offer room for financial inclusion in the digital economy and protect consumers against financial risk. It also intends to act as a catalyst and change agent in policy and legislative development in the M-banking industry. It would also bring special attention to addressing consumer rights, security and risky issues surrounding the M-banking industry. Although several other authors in Tanzania have written in this area, they have not clearly focused on disclosing the existing legal gaps resulting from the convergence of the financial and communication sectors. This paper is therefore trying to offer an extensive discussion on the legislative development in the M-banking industry in Tanzania.
Md. Harun Ur Rashid, Farhana Begum, Syed Zabid Hossain and Jamaliah Said
This study aims to investigate whether socially responsible businesses with corporate social expenditure are less prone to engaging in tax avoidance. The study also examines…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate whether socially responsible businesses with corporate social expenditure are less prone to engaging in tax avoidance. The study also examines whether political connections moderate the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and tax avoidance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses ordinary least squares to analyse the panel data of all 30 listed banks on the Dhaka Stock Exchange covering 2012 to 2020. The study uses a set of alternative variables to check the robustness of the findings.
Findings
Confirming the corporate culture theory, the study findings indicate that the higher the firms’ CSR expenditure, the lower the tax avoidance. Contrarily, the moderating effect of political connection weakens the role of CSR in tax avoidance, implying that political relation makes the firms socially irresponsible. Besides, the findings document that firms with strong political connections are more likely to be tax aggressive by weakening the role of CSR. The findings imply that firms with weaker political connections are more socially responsible than firms with strong political ties.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides the bank management and regulatory bodies valuable insights to take necessary actions so that they can easily monitor whether the banks follow their instructions regarding CSR and tax payments. As the politicians make the firm socially irresponsible, the regulatory bodies and bank management should not keep them or their relatives on the board.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the CSR and tax avoidance literature considering the moderating role of political connections in Bangladesh banking sector.
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Bhavya Srivastava, Shveta Singh and Sonali Jain
The present study assesses the commercial bank profit efficiency and its relationship to banking sector competition in a rapidly growing emerging economy, India from 2009 to 2019…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study assesses the commercial bank profit efficiency and its relationship to banking sector competition in a rapidly growing emerging economy, India from 2009 to 2019 using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA).
Design/methodology/approach
Lerner indices, conventional and efficiency-adjusted, quantify competition. Two SFA models are employed to calculate alternative profit efficiency (inefficiency) scores: the two-step time-decay approach proposed by Battese and Coelli (1992) and the recently developed single-step pairwise difference estimator (PDE) by Belotti and Ilardi (2018). In the first step of the BC92 framework, profit inefficiency is calculated, and in the second step, Tobit and Fractional Regression Model (FRM) are utilized to evaluate profit inefficiency correlates. PDE concurrently solves the frontier and inefficiency equations using the maximum likelihood process.
Findings
The results suggest that foreign banks are less profit efficient than domestic equivalents, supporting the “home-field advantage” hypothesis in India. Further, increasing competition drives bank managers to make riskier lending and investment choices, decreasing bank profit efficiency. However, this effect varies depending on bank ownership and size.
Originality/value
Literature on the competition bank efficiency link is conspicuously scant, with a focus on technical and cost efficiency. Less is known regarding the influence of competition on bank profit efficiency. The article is one of the first to examine commercial bank profit efficiency and its relationship to banking sector competition. Additionally, the study work represents one of the first applications of the FRM presented by Papke and Wooldridge (1996) and the PDE provided by Belotti and Ilardi (2018).
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Nisit Panthamit, Paisarn Panthamitr and Guowei Tian
This study aims to convey the understanding of the ecosystem – how “hundi” works on the border trade between Myanmar and northern Thailand, which is an informal transfer system…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to convey the understanding of the ecosystem – how “hundi” works on the border trade between Myanmar and northern Thailand, which is an informal transfer system and is widely used as an alternative banking system. Even though the role of hundi is unable to declare the sources of money under the standard settlement of formal banking system, a failure to operate of its official mechanism are carrying using hundi, as a financial platform across the border between Thailand and Myanmar. This study surveys the best practice mechanism for the regional and international cooperation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on relevant literature, open-source reporting, and interviews with more than 30 interviewees on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. Interviewees includes border-trader, money changer, money transfer operators, business leaders, hundi operators, immigrant labors, government officials and commercial banking staffs.
Findings
This study provides a unique insight of hundi system, which work as the alternative mode of formal banking. It is an informal fund transfer payment platform used on the border between Thailand and Myanmar in the past five decades. It insists that hundi plays a significant role in both substitution and complementary on the trade and payment across the border of Myanmar–Thailand. Even though confronting with the barriers of financing of terrorism (anti money laundering AML/combating the financing of terrorism CFT) risk, the competition with the expanding and modernizing formal banking sector, and the introduction of Fintech and mobile money services. In the short term, these are unlikely to eliminate the hundi system completely, but may instead push hundi operators towards adopting these networks and technologies in their own operations.
Social implications
This paper will be a useful source for academics, development professionals, policymakers, law enforcement agencies and business actors who are seeking to understand Myanmar’s informal payment system, hundi.
Originality/value
This is the latest work for border trade payment or trade financing role of hundi which has hidden under the informal market of the border for several decades. It has few research of hundi on border trade and payment, particularly after the military coup in 2021 which made hundi return to be on the spotlight and simultaneous mechanism of border trade and payment ecosystem of Myanmar. This paper will be a useful source for academics, development professionals, policymakers, law enforcement agencies and business actors who are eager to understand Myanmar’s informal payment system, hundi, especially during the hardship.
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Mohamad Handi Khalifah, Fatih Savaşan, Naimat U. Khan and Shabeer Khan
This paper aims to trace the contours of Islamic political economy (IPE) for last four decades with the help of bibliometric analysis. This method does not focus on in-depth…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to trace the contours of Islamic political economy (IPE) for last four decades with the help of bibliometric analysis. This method does not focus on in-depth literature. However, it reviews more material content of the published papers in the field, generally including the number of publications, authors, title, H-Index and authors’ affiliation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use biblioshiny by R in conducting bibliometric analysis. Based on the results of analysis, the authors only found 39 relevant documents to the topic with the help of keyword of “Islamic political economy”. The authors analyse the data and visualize it into bibliometric images for the convenience of the readers.
Findings
There are 39 documents on IPE in the annual scientific production. The year 1980 had the lowest productivity at 3% while the year 2007 showed an increase in scientific productivity by 13%. The most significant increase in production occurred between 2014 and 2015 by 8%, while the most significant decline occurred between 2007 and 2008 by 10%. The most significant contributors are Akan, T., Choudhury, M.A. and Asutay, M. According to the Corresponding Author’s Country, the UK has eight articles on IPE. Humanomics is the most influential Journal, with six documents.
Research limitations/implications
This research only examines documents sourced from Web of Science and Scopus under the title “Islamic political economy” and does not include articles from other sources. This research has implications for future researchers and suggests a shift in recent research on IPE towards exploring current realities and expanding beyond traditional economic and political aspects. The goal is to gain a comprehensive understanding of Islam’s role in shaping economic and political systems, promoting inclusive sustainable development and social justice, and exploring its relationship with broader political and economic systems.
Originality/value
IPE has become a trendy topic in the early days, the second half of the 20th century, during the revival of the Islamic mode of finance and development. However, with time, the discussion on this topic appeared less in scientific and academic publications; this issue needs an overview of how far this discipline has evolved. This work aims to identify future research trends in this area. Scholars should investigate articles by author, institution, country, databases, data sources with high-impact factors and objective metrics to get new perspectives.
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Laurent Yacoub, Sara Abou Ibrahim, Eliane Achy and Eva Nicolas
This study aims to identify the major job stressors that can affect employees’ mental health in the Lebanese commercial banks during the economic turmoil. This study also aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the major job stressors that can affect employees’ mental health in the Lebanese commercial banks during the economic turmoil. This study also aims to identify the effects of the mental problems on the employees in addition to the role of human resources in promoting and preventing mental well-being at the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed 28 bank employees and the semi-structured interviews last for around 50 min, starting by asking the employees a general question about the concept of mental health disorder. The authors used a purposive sampling in which the population sample is selected based on purpose and the characteristics of a specific category of individuals. Moreover, a thematic analysis is used to analyze the data.
Findings
The findings of this study indicate that most of the employees were suffering from many work-related stressors that have negatively affected their mental well-being. The stress and pressures have significantly increased during the economic crisis. However, most of the interviewees were not or rarely supported by their human resources department and their administration to help them get adapted for such a crisis or for the changes at the workplace.
Originality/value
Mental health disorders are present in the daily normal life and in the workplace as well. The banking industry is not an exceptional one.
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Sepehr Ghazinoory, Meysam Shirkhodaie and Mercedeh Pahlavanian
Fintechs are expected to develop rapidly as technologies that help improve the efficiency of the traditional financial system, but an examination of fintech subbranches shows…
Abstract
Purpose
Fintechs are expected to develop rapidly as technologies that help improve the efficiency of the traditional financial system, but an examination of fintech subbranches shows different behaviors. In some sub-branches, the transition has been accompanied by a higher speed and more success, but in some other sub-branches, the opposite has been observed. The difference in the development of fintech sub-branches and its reasons have been paid less attention. Therefore, this article aims to identify the factors affecting the transition.
Design/methodology/approach
The use of new technologies in financial services at the international level has led to the provision of fast, customized and economical services, and the fact that these services are welcomed by the users has created opportunities for fintech's transition. This qualitative research follows the socio-technical phenomenon of fintech transition through narrative research. For its formulation, the transition process of fintech sub-branches was analyzed based on the multi-level analytical framework and Geels et al.’s transition path theory.
Findings
Transition is a change from one socio-technical regime to another. The findings of the research showed that these changes are influenced by the following factors: provision of infrastructure, the support of industry incumbents from innovative financial services, policy-making, citizen's welcoming, improving the knowledge and expertise of actors, legal adjustments as well as provision of innovative services.
Originality/value
The fintech transition has a special nature because the speed of developments in fintech is high and there is a series of innovations that are continuously replaced by subsequent innovations. Existing models have often focused on the long-term transition of a technology. This article presents a new approach for the analysis of changes in the short term in such a way that, based on the position of the actors in favor of or against the technological changes and institutional changes of the transition, it has analyzed and identified the factors affecting the transition. By focusing on these factors, policymakers can direct the way of fintech transition and help accelerate and facilitate fintech transition.
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