Search results

Providing loans, particularly to small-scale farmers, is one of the roles of formal financial institutions. Lending to small farmers is risky. An institution's health is closely related to the institution's ability to manage credit and portfolio risk. Expanding smallholder farmers' access to finance while maintaining a sustainable financial system is essential; however, pandemics present additional challenges. Accordingly, as reported in the literature, the pandemic's high loan default rates and decreases in return on assets (ROAs) call for further credit risk management research. There have been limited studies on credit risk management during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), so this article aims to provide useful information on its influences.

Researchers used data from formal financial institutions in 2018 (before COVID-19) and in 2021 (during COVID-19) to accomplish the study's broad objective. Descriptive and inferential statistics were the main analytical tools. The credit risk management indicators were categorized into collateral management, loan management, loan recovery management, governance and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Weights were assigned to each category based on the importance to credit risk management. A binary logit model was employed in assessing the factors influencing credit risk management as proxied to loan repayment, while Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was used to examine factors that influence ROAs.

One of the most noteworthy findings is that credit risk management is affected by different factors and magnitudes before and during the COVID-19 era. Loan recovery and ICT management indicators were most influential during the pandemic. In addition, the study noted that low agricultural productivity during the pandemic contributed to an additional challenge in loan default rates because of various COVID-19-containing measures. Additionally, there was a lack of governance and ICT management capacity to drive credit and portfolio risk management during the epidemic.

The paper presents new empirical findings on credit risk management during the COVID-19 era. The study used a methodology which has not been used previously in credit risk management in Nigerian financial institutions. Therefore, this research could become the cornerstone of further academic research in other developing countries using this methodology.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between abnormal loan growth and risk in Swedish financial institutions by type and borrower using three indicators as proxies for risks related to loan losses, the ratio of interest income to total loans and solvency perspectives.

Using a large sample of different types of Swedish financial institutions, this paper uses a panel framework to examine the relationships between abnormal loan growth rates and loan losses, interest income as a percentage of total loans, changes in the equity to assets ratio and changes in z-score.

The findings show two important points of evidence. First, abnormal lending to retail customers increases loan losses and interest income in relation to total loans. Second, abnormal lending to other credit institutions decreases loan losses and significantly changes the capital structure by increasing the reliance on debt funding and significantly improves the z-score measure.

The findings provide useful implications for the management of loan portfolios for a wide range of Swedish financial institutions, identifying two components: abnormal lending to households may increase loan losses and increase interest income in relation to total loans, and excessive lending to other credit institutions may reduce solvency risk and allow more debt financing for the financial institution.

This is the first study to use a panel framework in analyzing the behavior of different types of Swedish financial institutions in relation to loans granted to retail customers and other credit institutions.

There is a lack of data about information literacy (IL) credit courses in US academic libraries. This paper aims to provide a detailed snapshot of IL credit courses, including percentages of libraries that offer credit courses, the number of credits offered, the audience and how public institutions differ from private nonprofits and for-profits.

The authors surveyed a stratified random sample of libraries at higher education institutions across all categories from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Qualtrics software was used to create and distribute the email survey. The response rate was 39 per cent (n = 691).

In all, 19 per cent of the institutions in the survey have IL credit courses taught by librarians. Large institutions, public institutions and those granting doctoral degrees are the most likely to offer IL credit courses. The majority of these courses are undergraduate electives of 1-2 credit hours offered under the library aegis, although a significant minority are required, worth 3-4 credit hours, and taught within another academic department or campus-wide program.

The findings update previous surveys and provide a more granular picture of the characteristics of librarian-taught credit-bearing courses, the types of academic institutions that offer them and compensation teaching librarians receive. This survey is the first study of credit-bearing IL instruction to include for-profit colleges and universities.

By drawing upon institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of four critical resources (credit, electricity, contract enforcement and political governance) in explaining the quality of entrepreneurship and the depth of the supporting entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa.

A quantitative approach based on ordinary least squares regression analysis was used. Three data sources were employed. First, the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) of 35 African countries was used to measure the quality of entrepreneurship and the depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa which represents the dependent variable. Second, the World Bank’s data on access to credit, electricity and contract enforcement in Africa were also employed as explanatory variables. Third, the Ibrahim Index of African Governance was used as an explanatory variable. Finally, country-specific data on four control variables (GDP, foreign direct investment, population and education) were gathered and analysed.

To support entrepreneurship development, Africa needs broad financial inclusion and state institutions that are more effective at enforcing contracts. Access to credit was non-significant and therefore did not contribute to the dependent variable (entrepreneurship quality and depth of entrepreneurial support in Africa). Access to electricity and political governance were statistically significant and correlated positively with the dependent variables. Finally, contract enforcement was partially significant and contributed to the dependent variable.

A lack of GEI data for all 54 African countries limited this study to only 35 African countries: 31 in sub-Saharan Africa and 4 in North Africa. Therefore, the generalisability of this study’s findings to the whole of Africa might be limited. Second, this study depended on indexes for this study. Therefore, any inconsistencies in the index aggregation if any could not be authenticated. This study has practical implications for the development of entrepreneurship in Africa. Public and private institutions for credit delivery, contract enforcement and the provision of utility services such as electricity are crucial for entrepreneurship development.

The institutional void is a challenge for Africa. This study highlights the weak, corrupt nature of African institutions that supposedly support MSME growth. Effective entrepreneurship development in Africa depends on the presence of a supportive institutional infrastructure. This study engages institutional theory to explain the role of institutional factors such as state institutions, financial institutions, utility providers and markets in entrepreneurship development in Africa.

Hisbah is one of the distinguished institutions that had emerged since the early days of the Islamic empire. Based on its cardinal duty to enjoin good and prohibit evil, over time, its functions gradually expanded, and its responsibilities increasingly grew. In light of the contemporary trend in establishing institutional framework for consumer protection, entrusting an agency with multifarious tasks may not be the best and effective way in handling consumer protection issues. Thus, this chapter attempts to explore the new paradigm of hisbah as a consumer protection institution in Malaysia with a special reference to the Islamic consumer credit industry. While utilising the doctrinal legal research methodology, relevant sources of law have been examined and analysed. This research finds that the classical hisbah institution provides a good reference point in establishing regulatory agency and dispute management body. Nevertheless, some modifications are required to remain relevant especially in terms of specialisation of role and function. Likewise, it is viewed that adjustment of the hisbah institution is also necessary regarding the characteristic of the muhtasib (ombudsman).

This paper aims to investigate the relation between the creditworthiness of US institutions of higher education and their student selectivity (i.e. demand and quality).

The authors study whether the impact of student selectivity differs across public vs private universities; across the credit quality of the given public university’s state; and across the level of state appropriations for the given public university.

The authors find that student quality and demand measures are significantly associated with their corresponding institution’s creditworthiness, especially for private universities.

For public universities the association is weak and, contrary to the expectations, does not depend on the state credit quality or level of state funding. The findings are robust to the inclusion of control variables.

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of the positive impact of the FCS lending on farm incomes which should be useful to policymakers as they consider reforms and further support for this 100-year-old major agricultural lender.

The authors construct a panel for the 1991-2010 period from the FCS financial statements and evaluate how lending by the FCS institutions has affected farm incomes and farm output. The authors use fixed effects estimations and control for credit by other agricultural lenders as well as the stock of capital, prices, and interest rates. Since previous work suggests that rural financial markets are segmented and the FCS serves larger full-time farmers with mostly real-estate backed loans, the authors evaluate the impacts of farm real-estate backed loans and of short-term agricultural loans separately for a shorter period for which the data is available. The authors also perform robustness checks with alternative estimation techniques.

The authors found a positive association between credit by the FCS institutions and farm income and output. The magnitude of the estimated impact is larger during the 1990s than in the 2000s.

The positive link between the FCS institutions’ credit and farm incomes and output supports the notion that the FCS lending was beneficial to farmers. The evidence also supports the segmentation hypothesis of rural financial markets. The financial reports data for 1991-2010 are from the ACAs and FLCAs aggregated on the regional level because there is no clear way to classify FCS lending to a more disaggregate level like the state. The authors also assemble and analyze a state-level data set that contains state-level balance sheet data for the period 1991-2003.

The authors are not aware of another work that directly links (real estate and non-real estate) credit by FCS institutions to agricultural output and farm incomes.

During 1993 Member States of the European Union formally adopted two Directives—the Investment Services Directive and the Capital Adequacy Directive—concerned with the operation of investment business. This paper outlines the provisions contained in these Directives, which have to be enshrined in national law by the end of 1995 at the latest, explaining the role they play within the broader Single Market programme for financial services. A simple ‘cost‐benefit’ analysis of their likely impact, mainly on UK intermediaries, is also provided.

Rural farmers’ access to farm credit in Nigeria has been very low, which affects farm performance, and credit providers have blamed for the problem in the sector. While this general perception persists the fact may be the case of credit demand, rather than just the risk-averse attitudes of credit providers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate significant factors influencing farmers’ credit demand to ensure efficient credit provision.

The research adopted mixed methods for an in-depth investigation into the problem. There were 216 research participants split into equal halves of men and women from six local government areas of Nasarawa State. Data collection methods employed structured interviews, focus group discussions, close/open-ended and key informant interviews. Analytical tools involved descriptive statistics, the logit and multinomial logit models to determine participants’ socio-economic characteristics, sources of credit, access, factors influencing credit demand generally and from the various sources of credit identified.

Findings reveal only 47.6 per cent of the participants accessed credit, with fewer women accessing than men. The most accessed forms of credit are from the semi-formal sources, with more men accessing from formal sources and more women from non-formal sources. Factors having significant influence on credit demand generally are education, group membership and household size. And from formal, semi-formal and non-formal credit sources are education, information on sources of credit, deposits, household size and marital status; education, deposits, group membership, household size, flock size; and education, group membership, and gender from the non-formal credit providers, respectively.

Due to time constraint, this study data were collected concurrently with both quantitative and qualitative methods and did not allow for the interrogation of findings from one method with the other. In addition, the research categorised the agency of women based on marital status only as single or married and did not interrogate the agency of women further, this may be a limitation as some of the female participants are from polygamous homes.

Unlike the current concentration of Nigerian research of this kind with quantitative methods alone, this research contributes particularly to Nigerian research output and experience by triangulating both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore farmers sources of credit, access and factors determining access to credit in the study area.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the choice of the financial reporting system can influence the credit rating of an enterprise. It aims to argue that small‐ and medium‐sized entities (SMEs) reporting according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) can – in some cases – benefit from better credit conditions in comparison with reporting according to the German Commercial Code (German‐GAAP). Therefore, the analysis focuses on the perceptions of German banks.

The paper uses the results of a written questionnaire which has been sent to more than 1,500 German banks, which makes it the most comprehensive empirical analysis of the perceptions of German banks concerning the granting of loans.

The findings show (amongst others) that bank internal ratings can be a motivation for SMEs to change the system of financial reporting from German‐GAAP to IFRS. Surprisingly, enterprises can in some cases even expect a “rating bonus” in the pricing of the credit, if they provide an IFRS statement instead of a statement prepared in accordance with German‐GAAP.

Owing to the rapidly changing accounting environment (concerning IFRS as well as the German Commercial Code), the findings have to be re‐examined by future research.

This paper draws on the present state of research, complementing it for the first time with representative empirical data from the perspective of the decision makers in German credit institutions.