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This paper aims to examine the effect of geographical diversification on corporate liquidity in Malaysian firms. Liquidity is represented by both cash and working capital.

Data for this study is collected from a total of 735 firms over a period of five years, from 2010 to 2014, resulting in a total of 2,904 firm-year observations. The effect of geographical diversification on the cash and working capital of the firms is analyzed by using the ordinary least squares (OLS) with standard errors adjusted for firm level clustering and the quantile regression (QR) analyses. Control variables which represent the characteristics of the firms are also considered.

Analysis using the OLS regression technique indicates that geographical diversification has a highly significant positive influence on corporate cash holdings, while the influence of working capital is negative and its significance is only at the 10 per cent level. However, when QR is used to analyze the relationships, it is found that geographical diversification is only significant in positively influencing cash holdings for firms with low cash holdings, but the relationship is insignificant at high levels of cash holdings. Additionally, working capital is significantly influenced by geographical diversification at high levels of working capital but not at low levels.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the influence of geographical diversification on liquidity by considering both cash and working capital. The effect of diversification on liquidity is mostly studied in developed countries, whereas this study is focused on a developing country. Additionally, this study uses QR to analyze relationships at different levels rather than at aggregate level as done in OLS regression analysis.

We examine whether loan securitization has an impact on bank efficiency. Using a sample of large US commercial banks from 2002 to 2012, we find that bank loan securitization has a significant and positive impact on bank efficiency, and this relationship is stronger for banks with higher capital ratios, higher default risk, and lower level of liquidity and diversification. Our results are robust to Heckman self-selection correction and difference-in-difference (DID) analysis. In addition, these results are found mainly in non-mortgage loan securitizations but not in mortgage loan securitizations. Finally, we show that loan sales also have a positive impact on bank efficiency.

This study aims to explore the determinants (bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic) of income diversification across interest income and non-interest income as well as for non-traditional income sources (non-interest income) from 2004–2005 to 2021–2022.

An unbalanced data set comprising 110 Indian commercial banks with 1480 observations is sampled in this study. Because of the bounded nature of the dependent variables (proxies of income diversification), the panel Tobit regression model is used.

The findings reveal that income diversification is positively influenced by bank size, technological advancements, cost–income ratio, return on assets, market competition and inflation in the economy. However, the decision to diversify income sources is adversely impacted by the capital ratio, GDP and financial intermediation ratio. Moreover, factors such as asset quality (loan loss provisions) and liquidity ratio do not directly influence the diversification strategies in the Indian banking industry.

The present study uses an extensive set of variables to provide insights into key factors for bank managers, regulators and policymakers to consider before developing diversification strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the various bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants that affect income diversification in the Indian banking sector. The current study also investigates new variables such as technological advancements and a market concentration index for measuring competition, which have not been investigated in existing literature concerning bank income diversification in the Indian context.

The distinctive feature of Islamic financial intermediation is its foundation on profit-and-loss sharing which reinforces solidarity and fraternity between partners. Thus, the bank margin and its determinants may differ between Islamic and conventional banks (CBs). The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the main factors that explain the bank margin in a panel of Islamic and CBs operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This study will permit to identify the common and the specific determinants of the intermediation margins in dual banking systems.

The authors use a dynamic panel approach. The empirical analysis is carried out for a sample of 50 Islamic banks (IBs) and 126 CBs from 14 MENA countries.

The results reveal that net profit margins of IBs may be explained for the most part by risk aversion, inefficiency, diversification and economic conditions. With regard to CBs, their margins depend positively on market concentration and risk aversion and negatively on specialization, diversification, inefficiency and liquidity.

The significant impact of the degree of diversification on margins suggests that any policy analysis of the pricing behavior of banks should rely on its whole output. The high levels of margins in Islamic and CBs based in the MENA region may represent an obstacle to these countries to pursue their development process. Thus, policy makers in these countries should consolidate the role of capital markets and nonbanking financial institutions to provide alternative sources of funding and stimulate more competition.

The positive relationship between concentration and net interest margins requires that policy makers should create competitive conditions if they want to lower the social cost of financial intermediation. The creation of competitive conditions may be achieved through encouraging the establishment of new domestic banks or the penetration of foreign banks.

The present study aims to contribute to the existing literature on the determinants of bank margins in three ways. First, the authors identify the factors that most explain bank margins for both conventional and IBs. The majority of previous studies examine the determinants of the profitability or the overall performance of banks and in particular conventional ones. Second, this paper employs two generalized method of moments (GMM) approaches introduced by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Arellano and Bond (1991). It differs from Hutapea and Kasri (2010) who employed the co-integration technique to examine the long-run relationship between Islamic and CB margins and their determinants in Indonesia. Third, unlike previous studies focusing on MENA region that use a small number of countries and a short sample period, the period of study covers 16 years from 1999 to 2014 and a large sample of countries (14 countries). This paper differs from Lee and Isa (2017) who applied the dynamic two-step GMM estimator technique introduced by Arellano and Bond (1991) to study the determinants of intermediation margins of Islamic and CBs located in Malaysia.

This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the return and volatility spillover effects between Southeast Asian stock markets, bitcoin and gold in the periods before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interdependence among different asset classes, the two leading stock markets in Southeast Asia (Singapore and Thailand), bitcoin and gold, is analyzed for diversification opportunities.

The vector autoregressive-Baba, Engle, Kraft, and Kroner-generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model is used to capture the return and volatility spillover effects between different financial assets. The data cover the period from October 2013 to May 2021. The full period is divided into two sub-sample periods, the pre-pandemic period and the during-pandemic period, to examine whether the financial turbulence caused by COVID-19 affects the interconnectedness between the assets.

The stocks in Southeast Asia, bitcoin and gold become more interdependent during the pandemic. During turbulent times, the contagion effect is inevitable regardless of region and asset class. Furthermore, bitcoin does not provide protection for investors in Southeast Asia. The pricing mechanism and technology behind bitcoin are different from common stocks, yet the results indicate the co-movement of bitcoin and the Singaporean and Thai stocks during the crisis. Finally, risk-averse investors should ensure that gold constitutes a significant proportion of their portfolio, approximately 40%–55%. This strategy provides the most effective hedge against risk.

The mean return and volatility spillover is analyzed between bitcoin, gold and two preeminent stock markets in Southeast Asia. Most prior studies test the spillover effect between the same asset classes such as equities in different regions or different commodities, currencies and cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the time-series data are divided into two groups based on the structural break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study offer practical implications for risk management and portfolio diversification. Diversification opportunities are becoming scarce as different financial assets witness increasing integration.

This paper aims to explore the effects of bank diversification (i.e. diversification of income and diversification of assets) on Bangladeshi banks’ profitability.

Using a dynamic panel data model with system generalized methods of moments, the authors examine an unbalanced panel data from 32 banks spanning 318 bank-year observations from 2007 to 2016.

The findings indicate a significant positive association of income diversification and asset diversification on bank profitability. Therefore, the results show that banks can generate profit from diversification of income and diversification of assets.

One of the rare attempts to investigate the relationship between diversification and profitability in Bangladesh’s banking sector is this report. The authors anticipate the results to have major consequences for Bangladeshi bank regulators and other related economies.

Using state-level data, the purpose of this paper is to examine state banking-industry specific as well as region economic determinants of real estate lending of commercial banks across all 51 states spanning the period 1966-2014.

Using both fixed-effects and dynamic-generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques the study compares the sensitivity of different categories of real estate loans to regional banking and economic conditions. Finally, it provides a comparative perspective by comparing the results for real estate loans with other categories of loans given out by banks.

Greater capitalization, liquidity and overhead costs reduce real estate lending, while banks diversification and the size of the banking industry in each state increase such lending. Moreover, real estate loans are found to be procyclical to state economic cycles with a rise in state real gross domestic product (GDP) growth, increase in state housing price index (HPI) and decline in both inflation and unemployment rates, increasing real estate loans. Within disaggregated loan types, construction and land development and single-family residential loans are most responsive to state banking and economic conditions.

The recent financial turmoil is to a large extent attributable to excessive risk-taking by banks, particularly in terms of real estate lending. Hence, it is of paramount importance to empirically address the various determinants of real estate lending. With most banks restricting their operations in either one or a few states only, real estate lending in any given state may be more sensitive to regional banking and economic conditions than national aggregates. The present study is the first of its type to perform such an analysis.

The paper aims to rethink empirical models and theory used in explaining banks and financial institutions (FIs) and to enhance the process of theory construction. This is a provisional response to Colander et al. (2009) and Gendron and Smith-Lacroix’s (2013) call for a new approach to developing theory for finance and FIs.

An embryonic “behavioural theory of the financial firm” (BTFF) is outlined based on field research about banks and FI firms and relevant literature. The paper explores “conceptual connections” between BTFF and traditional finance theory ideas of financial intermediation. It does not seek to “integrate” finance theory and alternative theory in “meta theory” and has a more modest aim to improve theory content through “connections”.

The “conceptual connections” provide a means to develop ideas proposed by Scholtens and van Wensveen (2003). They are part of a “house with windows” intended to provide systematic means to “take data from the outside world” whilst continuously recognising “the complexities of the context” (Keasey and Hudson, 2007) to both challenge and build the core ideas of FT.

The BTFF is a means to create “conversations” between academics, practitioners and regulators to aid theory construction. This can overcome the limitations of such an embryonic theory.

The ideas developed create new opportunities to develop finance theory, propose changes in banks and FIs and suggest changes in the focus of regulation.

Regulators can use the expanded conceptual framework to encourage theory development and to enhance accountability of banks and FIs to citizens.

We consider two economic aspects of required reserves on bank deposits, their impact on bank-intermediated investment versus direct investment and their opportunity cost. We show that Bank reserves serve as a buffer to mitigate inefficient liquidation of a bank's assets in order to meet the demand for liquidity by investors. Due to some transaction costs or information costs, investors may prefer bank-intermediated investment to direct investment. Banks offer investors competitive deposit returns compared to the liquidation value of investment to attract funds from investors. If the Federal Reserve allows banks to set their individual optimal level of reserves, this might mitigate costs associated with required reserves. If banks implement the social optimum, this may introduce additional fragility into the banking system. We argue that required reserves might lead to deadweight loss if they are set above a bank's optimally determined reserves.