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This study aims to analyze the financial inclusion of individuals living in the Middle East, North African, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP). It intends to show the influence of these individuals’ characteristics on financial inclusion, using the World Bank Global Findex Database 2014 for 16 countries in the region.

A probit model is used to examine the marginal effect of financial inclusion of the characteristics of individuals living in the MENAP region. These characteristics include gender, age, income and education. Individual characteristics that are linked to the main financial-inclusion indicators include having a formal account and formal saving and borrowing. The barriers to having a formal account, alternative borrowing sources and motivations for borrowing are also linked to the respondents’ characteristics.

The results indicate that females and the poor are less likely to be included in financial systems, while education level enhances financial inclusion. As disadvantaged people consider access to credit is important to improving their lives, the study finds that the poor are more likely to borrow for medical issues than for other needs. While Islam is the majority religion in the MENAP region, it is not considered a barrier to having a formal bank account. Furthermore, people in different income quintiles are more likely to use informal financial sources, while the educated are more likely to use formal ones.

The results show that policymakers in MENAP should make more of an effort to enhance financial inclusion as a way to enhance economic development in the region. Also, governments institutions, such as central banks, financial ministries and other institutions, could build on these results to enhance financial inclusion as a way toward development in the MENAP region.

To the author’s best knowledge, this is the first study to examine the influence of individuals’ characteristics on financial inclusion in the MENAP region.

This study investigates the relationship between financial inclusion (FI) and banks’ performance in the economy of Jordan using annual data of 13 commercial banks from 2009 to 2014. Performance is measured by gross income and return on assets (ROA) of these banks. To ensure the robustness of our results, we used six different measures of FI. These include credits for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), deposits for SMEs, number of ATMs, number of ATM services, number of credit cards, and new services. We found a significant impact of FI on ‘ performance when measured by gross income, and ROA, although our study displays different results when considering the effect of FI variables separately. Thus, FI contributes to enhance the banks’ performance. Therefore, the banks should devote more resources to increase FI as it benefits their profitability.

This study aims to investigate how the Islamic banking share (percentage of total Islamic banking assets relative to total banking sector assets) and individual characteristics (gender, age, income and education) affect financial inclusion in 14 Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries with different income levels.

This study uses data from the 2014 World Bank Global Findex database to analyze the impact of individual characteristics, Islamic banking share and countries’ developmental levels on financial inclusion and its barriers in MENA countries. The probit estimation method is used for estimations.

The findings indicate that financial inclusion, particularly in middle-income MENA countries, is lower than the global average. While being male, rich and older positively affects financial inclusion in these countries, education does not. Islamic banking practises also contribute to financial inclusion, especially for individuals with strong religious affiliations. The effect of Islamic banking on financial inclusion is found to be greater in middle-income MENA countries.

Islamic banking institutions could play a greater role in promoting financial inclusion in the MENA region by offering Sharia-compliant products that meet individuals’ needs, matching the specific requirements and status of each country with affordable costs and offering adequate information to customers. Governments should promote more Islamic banking and incentivise investments in technology, which helps expand financial inclusion.

This is the first study to examine the influence of Islamic banking share and countries’ levels of development on financial inclusion in the MENA region.

Introduction: According to the existing research, one of the key determinants of a company’s survival and market development is its ability to get bank loans or other external sources of finance for business expansion.

Purpose: The study aims to explore the factors affecting access to finance and their effects on the development of medium- and small-sized businesses. These factors include business size and age, profitability, the length of a company’s association with a commercial bank, and banking sector characteristics.

Need for the study: It is particularly crucial for small- and medium-sized businesses since they often have trouble getting funding from banks because they don’t supply the banks with the information they need to assess their loan application prospects, however, when a company’s economic and financial situation improves, banks get access to more information about the firms, and financing is thus more readily available.

Methodology: This research is based on qualitative methods, focus on an elaborative study of the existing literature, and provide suggestions based on the same.

Findings: The findings show that small- and medium-sized businesses, like those in other European nations, have less access to finance than large businesses. It revealed that the company’s size, liquidity, profitability, and banking industry state significantly influence the availability of bank loans.

This paper analyses the evolution of the financial inclusion and its main determinants in seven Latin American countries.

The database used is the Global Findex from the World Bank for the latest data released that includes the years 2011 and 2014. The variables used are formal financial accounts, formal savings and formal credit as proxies of financial inclusion for the years of study. Moreover, the use of debit and credit cards is considered. The methodologies applied are the mean difference tests, in order to contrast the hypotheses of the inclusion evolution and binary probit regressions models.

The results of the analysis show that there is a positive evolution in the use of financial instruments in the countries of the sample, especially in the use of formal accounts. On the other hand, considering the characteristics of the individuals, age, level of education and income positively affect their financial inclusion.

There are no similar works for the region of study that allow us to evaluate the evolution of financial inclusion considering the variables selected in the literature. It is possible to clearly fulfil the proposed objective, highlighting the importance of implementing financial inclusion policies in view of the low percentage of use of the instruments in the analyzed countries.

Este trabajo analiza la evolución de la inclusión financiera y los principales determinantes que la afectan en siete países de América Latina.

Se utiliza la base de datos Global Findex del Banco Mundial, considerando los últimos datos relevados para los años 2011 yrs 2014. Se usa las variables cuentas financieras formales, ahorro formal y crédito formal como proxies de la inclusión financiera en los años de estudio, como así también la tenencia de tarjetas de débito y crédito. Se aplican test de diferencias de medias a fin de contrastar las hipótesis propuestas de evolución de la inclusión y se estiman modelos de regresión binaria probit.

Los resultados del análisis muestran que existe una evolución positiva en el grado de inclusión financiera. Se identifica un mayor uso de los instrumentos financieros en los países de la muestra, siendo la tenencia de cuentas en instituciones financieras formales la variable más significativa. Por otro lado, considerando las características de los individuos, se encuentra que la edad de las personas, el nivel de educación y de ingresos afectan positivamente a la inclusión financiera de los individuos.

No existen trabajos similares para la región de estudio analizada que nos permitan evaluar la evolución de la inclusión financiera considerando las variables proxies seleccionadas de la literatura. Se logra cumplir el objetivo planteado, destacando la importancia de implementar políticas de inclusión financiera ante el bajo porcentaje de uso de los instrumentos en los países de la muestra.

Recent evidences show that terrorism is becoming frequent in Nigeria, ranging from incessant Boko Haram activities in the North East; Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) activities in the South-East states, kidnapping and vandalizing oil pipes in the South-South, Fulani-herdsmen attacks in the Middle Belt, among others. In an attempt to tackle terrorism, the Federal Government at different times adopted military actions with little or no lasting solution. The Have and Have-nots hypothesis (Shahbaz, 2013) stresses the role of economic phenomenon in determining the causes of terrorism. It is on this note that this chapter investigates the linkages between economic growth proxy by gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) and other fundamental variables such as inflation, unemployment, and inequality gaps, among others; and terrorism in Nigeria. We intend to know whether cointegration exists between the two constructs; and if it does, is there causality? The study employed both the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and the vector error correction model (VECM) approaches to examine the existence of or otherwise a long-run relationship as well as causality among the constructs. Results reveal that a compelling cointegrating relationship exists among the variables. It is further revealed that unemployment, inequality, poverty, inflation, among others, Granger cause terrorism. It stresses that the Have-not hypothesis explained the causes of terrorism in Nigeria. The study therefore suggests that policy makers should, in order to prevent or combat terrorism, focus on improving the economy by creating job opportunities through provision of conducive environment that supports businesses and reduces inequality gaps.

This paper aims to analyse the recent changes to the Pillar 2 regulatory-prescribed methodologies to classify and calculate credit concentration risk. Focussing on the Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA) methodologies, the paper tests the susceptibility to bias of the Herfindahl–Hirscham Index (HHI). The empirical tests serve to assess the assumption that the regulatory classification of exposures within the geographical concentration is subject to potential misuse that would undermine the PRA’s objective of obtaining risk sensitivity and improved banking competition.

Using the credit exposure data from three global banks, the HHI methodology is applied to the portfolio of geographically classified exposures, replicating the regulatory exercise of reporting credit concentration risk under Pillar 2. In doing so, the validity of the aforementioned assumption is tested by simulating the PRA’s Pillar 2 regulatory submission exercise with different scenarios, under which the credit exposures are assigned to different geographical regions.

The paper empirically shows that changing the geographical mapping of the Eastern European EU member states can result in a substantial reduction of the Pillar 2 credit concentration risk capital add-on. These empirical findings hold only for the banks with large exposures to Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The paper reports no material impact for the well-diversified credit portfolios of global banks.

This paper reviews the PRA-prescribed methodologies and the Pillar 2 regulatory guidance for calculating the capital add-on for the single name, sector and geographical credit concentration risk. In doing so, this paper becomes the first to test the assumptions that the regulatory guidance around the geographical breakdown of credit exposures is subject to potential abuse because of the ambiguity of the regulations.

Environmental degradation is a global concern that results from massive economic activities. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are one of the environmental degradation indicators. This study investigates the impact of population, oil consumption, international tourist arrival, and corruption on CO₂ emissions in ASEAN’s five developing countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam from 1998 to 2017. This study employed panel Fixed-effect (FE) regression to estimate the panel data generated by British Petroleum and World Bank. The result revealed that the population has a significant positive effect on CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, oil consumption has a significant positive effect on CO₂ emissions. Meanwhile, the effect of tourism and the corruption perception index (CPI) as a proxy of corruption on CO₂ emissions was positive but not significant. Authorities should construct such policies to reduce CO₂ emissions by applying low-carbon technologies, green mass transport, and creating less corrupt behavior.

This study aims to examine the nexus between CAMELS, risk-sharing financial performance and Islamic banks' stability. It also attempts to assess the conditioning effects of institutional quality in the relationship between risk-sharing contracts and the stability of Islamic banks.

The quantitative research design was employed using secondary data from 20 Islamic banks in six countries over the period 2007–2019. The study utilized the feasible generalized least squares method for the analysis.

The results indicate that not all CAMELS variables support the stability of Islamic banks. The musharakah contract induced stability of the banks, whereas mudarabah financing reduced it. The interaction between risk-sharing finance and the quality of institutions suggested that the mudarabah contract via institutional quality raises the stability of Islamic banks. On the other hand, the quality of institutions encourages the banks to offer more musharakah, but it leads to an increase in their risk-taking. We show the impact of changes in risk-sharing variables on stability amplified by institutional quality. The results were robust when alternative measures of stability were used.

Various stakeholders in banking activities could learn from the results of this study. Islamic banks could improve their positions in terms of screening for risk-sharing financing. They could also leverage more on musharakah, as it promotes stability and could generate more returns for the banks. The mudarabah financing can be improved if there is a proper evaluation of entrepreneurs. Policymakers would learn more about the importance of institutional quality, as it provides a friendly environment for both mudarabah and musharakah businesses to thrive. This could increase the participation of Islamic banks in the real economy.

Previous studies concentrated on the effects of CAMELS on the profitability of Islamic banks. This study shows that CAMELS alone might not necessarily capture the financial performance of Islamic banks. Therefore, the risk-sharing financing variables are included alongside CAMELS to determine their effects on stability. Second, unlike the past research, this study used the quality of institutions to moderate the nexus between risk-sharing financing and the stability of Islamic banks.