International Bank Research Articles

The Existing Deficiencies of Virtual Currency and Its Possible Development Direction

The virtual currency market born from the blockchain is developing rapidly, and the market has reached a scale of hundreds of billions of dollars. Even some countries are trying to use virtual currency as the official currency. However, due to the limitations of virtual currency itself such as decentralization, the current virtual currency is not a good substitute for existing currency, and there are also illegal activities such as using virtual currency to launder money. This article will focus on explaining the main shortcomings of virtual currencies, the inadequacy of the trading market and its regulation, and the possible negative impact on the economy. And explore the possibility of future virtual currency development from two aspects: virtual currency adapts to the existing market and new market adapts to virtual currency. And finally came to two conclusions, large international companies or central banks can also develop virtual currency, so that virtual currency can adapt to the existing market to some extent. At the same time, the constantly developing virtual reality technology and the possible virtual world in the future may also provide a broad application space for virtual currency.

글로벌 과잉유동성이 신흥시장국 부동산가격에 미치는 영향

This paper analyzes the impact of global excess liquidity, which is caused by unconventional monetary policies of major advanced economies (AE), on the house prices of emerging market economies (EME). The founding says that global excess liquidity, real GDP growth rate, CPI inflation, inter-bank interest rate and base money growth rate mainly affect the house prices of EME during the entire period. But non-linearity, in which the impact of each independent variable on the dependent variable is different between the non-crisis and crisis period, is not clear. Hence, we divide the entire period into two periods, one being “before global financial crisis (GFC)” and the other “after GFC”, to find out whether the behavior of major explanatory variables changes or not. The results say that before GFC, global excess liquidity, real GDP growth rate, CPI inflation, and base money growth rate affected house prices. But after GFC, only real GDP growth rate and base money growth rate affected it while global excess liquidity did not. We put additional variables, “synchronization of monetary policies between AE and EME” and “shares of cross-border claims of international banks”, into our econometric models in order to find out causes of the results above. We found that synchronization of monetary policies between AE and EME affected (it) but shares of cross-border claims of international banks did not.

International standards of mediation as an alternative way to resolve legal disputes and their implementation in the conditions of european integration of Ukraine

The article describes the international standards of mediation as an alternative way of resolving legal disputes and substantiating the prospects of their implementation in Ukraine.
 It is substantiated that the leading role in the formation of mediation standards is played by global and regional international organizations and unions, in particular, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Trade Organization, etc. Due to their normative and organizational activities, these entities have developed a number of leading and effective mediation standards, the implementation of which is still relevant for Ukraine. Considering the European integration intentions of Ukraine, the implementation of the standards of the Council of Europe and taking into account the experience and standards of mediation formed by the European Union are particularly relevant.
 International standards of mediation should be conditionally divided into two groups: 1) those related to the professional activity of mediation: professionalism of the mediator, experience, independence, neutrality and objectivity, responsibility of the mediator; 2) those related to the procedure and consequences of mediation: initiation of mediation by the parties or an authorized body, contractual grounds for conducting it, confidentiality, quality of mediation, guarantee of legal protection regardless of the conduct of mediation, clarity of the procedure and consequences of mediation for the parties, honesty of the mediation process, obligation of the decision made for the parties, payment of the mediator's services, etc.
 Standards related to ensuring the quality of mediation in Ukraine require implementation into the current legislation on mediation. The legislation does not define effective, simple and effective mechanisms for monitoring the quality of mediation. In particular, the possibility of bringing the mediator to civil, administrative, and criminal liability is determined. But there are actually no grounds for such responsibility in the industry legislation, which creates a gap.

Implementation of the ROSE Educational Project. Case study: RED ROSE (2019-2022)

"On April 17, 2015, the Government of Romania and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) signed the Loan Agreement No 8481-RO on the implementation of the Romania Secondary Education Project (ROSE), in Washington. ROSE is a project financed from a loan of 200 million euros by (BIRD), which contributes to reducing the dropout in secondary and tertiary education and to increasing the rate of passing the baccalaureate exam. We intend, through this article, to evaluate the results of the project from the perspective of one of the sub-projects implemented by the Faculty of European Studies, within the Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, between 2019 and 2022. Keywords: tertiary education, educational project, ROSE, Babeș-Bolyai University, Faculty of European Studies."

Developing and enhancing top management Soft Skills at Raiffeisen Bank International

In the article the authors analyze the issue of improving the qualifications of top management, types of training and improvement of professional skills and competences on the example of the Raiffeisen International Group. The essence and peculiarities of the functioning of international financial corporations are studied, the main and key social skills and soft skills are distinguished. The conditions of preparing and training top managers are considered and specified, special attention is paid to studying and observing principles of proper corporate governance practices.

Protection of the rights of consumers of financial services in conditions of martial law

Oleksandr Anatoliiovych MATSAK The article discusses in detail the mechanism for ensuring the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services. The importance of prudential regulation is pointed out, the purpose of which is to preserve the strong financial position and capacity of financial institutions and the system. The aggression of the Russian Federation in 2022 caused great damage, therefore the importance of Ukraine's cooperation with the European Union, other states and international banks to ensure the protection of the rights of Ukrainians is indicated. The importance of a quick response of the state to the realities of today through the adoption of emergency legal acts is emphasized. The National Bank of Ukraine liquidated a number of systemically important banks that were under the leadership of the Russian Federation, which led to certain difficulties, which were discussed in detail in the article. Many ways of protecting and supporting consumers of financial services were noted, including: cancellation of fees for international transfers, introduction of the "cash at the counter" service, and support of the International Financial Fund. Next, the mechanism of implementation of the policy on the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services was considered. The protection of the rights of consumers of financial services, who are military personnel, is analyzed in detail. It is indicated that consideration of cases regarding the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services, where one of the parties is a serviceman, is subject to suspension until the end of martial law. It is also noted on the prohibition of forced demand for repayment of overdue debt for servicemen and their family members. The process of liquidation of systemically important banks and the impact on consumers of these banks' services is analyzed. It was noted that the state guarantees the return of funds to depositors, but not all funds can be returned, which sometimes causes indignation. The conclusion emphasizes that in the conditions of martial law, legislation on the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services quickly adapts to new realities and copes with its own tasks.

Deepa Narayan (ed.). Measuring Empowerment: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. Washington, D.C.: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, 2005. Pages xx+475. Paperback. Price not given.

‘Empowerment’ has different meanings in different sociocultural and political contexts, and does not translate easily into all languages. Choosing indicators for measuring empowerment, therefore, depends on the social, economic, political, and cultural environment of the target population, and this multi-dimensional nature of empowerment complicates issues of measurement. This book brings forth the different indicators of empowerment in a cross-disciplinary perspective, underlining the challenge of evaluating empowerment and its contribution to development effectiveness and outcome.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES OF TRANSNATIONAL BANKS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

The article defines modern trends of transnationalization in the international banking sphere. The prerequisites for the formation and development of globalization processes in the financial and banking sphere are considered: economic factors, technological and international legal factors. The general definition of a transnational bank is substantiated, the essence of which can be considered in the context of quantitative and qualitative aspects of its definition. A general definition of a transnational bank is provided as a bank that carries out operations in more than one country. The most characteristic trends in the development of transnationalization of the international banking business are outlined, which include the universalization of bank activity, the growth of competition in the banking sector, the liberalization of banking operations, and the growth of innovative activity of banks. The negative consequences of the development of international banking operations are also determined. The characteristic trends of transnationalization in the banking sphere were studied and the leading transnational banks were selected by the level of market capitalization. The peculiarities of the development of the domestic banking system, which is considered as an attractive host area for transnationalization processes, are evaluated. The influence of transnational banks on the economy of the host country and its banking system is considered from the point of view of the consequences of financial liberalization of the world economy as a whole and the development of the domestic financial sector. Identified obstacles on the way to the formation of Ukrainian transnational structures: the instability of the economic and political situation in the state; underdevelopment of the legislative framework in matters of the status and activities of transnational corporations; strong competition from existing global multinational corporations; lack of an appropriate innovation base that could compete with the technologies of foreign multinational corporations; relatively low level of management; high «tinization» of the economy; high level of inflation, etc. The main reasons that caused the changes in the banking sector in modern globalization conditions are proven: the unification of the activities of the real sector of the economy and the financial system of the countries of the world, convergence of the rules for regulating internal and external operations; formation of a network of branches of transnational companies; transformation of the international capital market into an independent factor in the development of the world economy; increase in the share of international operations of banks in the total volume of operations. On the basis of the conducted analysis, suggestions are provided regarding the further development of the activities of transnational banks in the world economy.

الإقتراض الحكومي وآثاره في حقوق الأجيال القادمة

Loans are an extra income for a state to provide the citizens requirement which ensure basic services. But, at the same time, it is one of the sensitive issues for states since there must be a legal and legislative basis to be relied on when borrowing according to the legal standards. The international bank is one of the financial establishments that it lends states for development and covers the fiscal deficit according to specific conditions which make the state subject to the creditor. So, loans are financial burdens on the side of the upcoming generations when using it in reconstruction for the upcoming generations. In case the loans are used in meeting basic needs, the current generation would make benefit of it and would burden on the next generations depriving them from their constitutional rights. In addition, the loans could be swapped with investment projects so as to reduce the burdens of debt and, at the same time, keep the rights of the next generation.

Executives in Politics

We study the involvement of corporate executives in U.S. politics over the last 40 years. First, we document that the share of business politicians in federal elected office increased from 13.3% in 1980% to 22.6% in 2018, with most of the increase occurring over the last two decades. Second, we find that business politicians enjoy an early fundraising advantage over their opponents, both because they are more likely to self-fund their campaigns and because they receive more campaign contributions from their firms. Third, the election of business politicians benefits their industries and firms, which experience positive abnormal stock returns when their executives win political office. We also show that business politicians, once elected, vote for policies that shift the balance of power toward corporate interests. Using close elections for identification, we show that this policy shift cannot be attributed solely to the changes in the underlying preferences of the electorate. Overall, our results indicate that corporate executives have become more involved in U.S. politics and that this involvement has benefited business interests and affected aggregate legislative outcomes. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance. Funding: The authors thank the Digital Age Management Research Area at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Centre for Applied Research on International Markets, Banking, Finance and Regulation (BAFFI CAREFIN) at Bocconi University for financial support. The Area and the Center played no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or preparation of the manuscript. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4595 .

Prudential policy spillovers: How do international bank flows react to French policies?

Most of prudential regulations apply to national institutions while, in practice, banks operate at the global level, generating international banking flows which are not comprehensively captured by policies with a domestic remit. This may give rise to spillovers, i.e., effects not considered ex ante in the objectives and/or constraints of authorities in charge of prudential policy, the effectiveness of which may be harmed. Using BIS data on foreign bank lending over a large sample of countries, we investigate international spillovers from French prudential policies. Overall, we show that French prudential policies entail a reduction in foreign banks' lending to French residents. Yet some measures may lead to undesired leakages that potentially undermine authorities' goals: foreign bank affiliates’ exposure to France rose by 1.1% (1.9 Bn USD) on average over 2011–17 owing to the implementation of Basel capital requirements.

Virtual interaction and failure learning—The crucial role of team LMX composition

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of virtual work. Enabled by the pandemic, the present study addresses the consequences of virtual interaction among regular work teams. Building on and expanding prior research, we develop lines of reasoning to suggest that virtuality negatively affects team failure learning. Additionally, we argue that team LMX quality and team LMX differentiation can help mitigate this effect. We test our hypotheses based on survey data from 73 teams working for a service unit at an international bank. In line with our theorizing, the results reveal that virtuality hampers team failure learning. Moreover, we find that team LMX quality and team LMX differentiation can serve to alleviate the negative consequences of virtuality. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study to support HR managers and propose some areas for future research.

Предизвикателствата пред международния банков бизнес

As part of the economic transformation in the Central and Eastern European countries, issues affecting international banking have become the subject of increasing attention from the academic community. The recently published monograph "The Process of Mergers and Acquisitions in International Banking" reflects the long-standing work of Assoc. Virzhinya Ivanova's long-standing research on essential aspects of the functioning of the world economy, in particular on structural and organizational changes in the international banking business. The book analyses these processes in the context of EU regulations and inter-national banking arrangements and regulations.

International banking and finance use of the investment treaty regime: Hong Kong as a case study

International banking and finance use of the investment treaty regime: Hong Kong as a case study

Exchange rate driven balance sheet effect and capital flows to emerging market economies

Depreciation of the local currency may deteriorate corporate balance sheets with currency mismatch. This risk might in turn spill over onto creditors, potentially affecting the financial health of banks. In a set of 26 emerging market economies, we find that this channel adversely affects the access of domestic banks to international bank lending when global liquidity tightens. The countercyclical value of US Dollar (USD) over global financial cycles amplifies the valuation effect of USD denominated liabilities. We exploit this variation and find that, when global liquidity tightens, banking sectors in countries whose foreign currency liabilities have a larger share of USD experience more contraction in cross-border bank loans. As the results imply a strong exchange rate driven balance sheet effect, the implementation of foreign currency related macro prudential policies during periods of abundant global liquidity should strengthen the financial stability of the banking system. On the other hand, exchange rate led balance sheet effect does not seem to significantly influence cross-border bank loans to firms with direct access to international bank lending.

How ‘special’ are international banks sponsoring Irish-resident SPEs?

This paper extends the literature on cross-border bank debt issuance to non-bank financial intermediation, namely special purpose entities (SPEs). Using a novel dataset for Ireland, the empirical analysis suggests that international banks sponsoring Irish-resident SPEs are financially weaker across a range of bank-level characteristics. Our findings also indicate that banks sustain higher risk profiles and achieve greater access to other debt markets after issuing cross-border debt through SPEs. This non-bank financial intermediation channel enables banks to expand their debt financing more broadly, whilst potentially amplifying the international transmission of risks.

Are International Banks Different? Evidence on Bank Performance and Strategy

This paper provides evidence on how bank performance and strategies vary with the degree of bank internationalization using data for 113 countries during 2000–15. Bank internationalization is associated with lower valuations and lower returns on equity. After the global financial crisis, international banks were revalued particularly if they had stable funding in the form of deposits and if they had more generous deposit insurance coverage. For international banks headquartered in developing countries, bank internationalization is related negatively with the cyclicality of their domestic credit growth with respect to home country GDP growth, smoothing local downturns. In contrast, if the international bank is from a high-income country investing in a developing country, its subsidiary bank lending is relatively procyclical, which can be destabilizing.

Locating state capitalism: Financial centres and the internationalisation of Chinese banks in London

This paper examines the internationalisation of Chinese state-owned commercial banks in London's financial centre from the 2010s onwards. These banks have transformed from primarily servicing Chinese state-owned enterprises to making up four of the largest banks globally by balance sheet and undertaking a range of operations including RMB clearing and cross border settlement and yet their future international trajectory remains uncertain. My analysis positions Chinese bank internationalisation within the wider project of RMB internationalisation, arguing that financial centres can serve as important methodological, empirical and conceptual entry points into understanding how state and market interests play out unevenly across time and space. By focusing on place-based policy experimentation in London, my analysis points to the entangled, multi layered and often contradictory formations of actually existing state capitalism.

TINDAK PIDANA PERDAGANGAN ORANG (HUMAN TRAFFICKING) SEBAGAI TRANSNATIONAL CRIME

Human trafficking is one of the transnational crimes that is a threat to global security which is one type of transnational crime coupled with illicit drug trafficking, maritime piracy, arms smuggling, money laundering, terrorism, international banking crimes and cybercrimes. The forms of trafficking in persons are divided based on the purpose of delivery, based on the victim, and based on the form of exploitation. Because of the massiveness of this crime, the United Nations formulated a protocol called the Palermo Protocol. In Indonesia, there are also special regulations regarding the criminal act of trafficking in persons, namely Law Number 21 of 2007. Although there are already laws and regulations that regulate this crime, in fact it is still not able to provide a sense of justice as well as security and comfort for victims of the crime of trafficking in persons. Other legal protections are still needed for victims of this crime.

FX swaps and forwards in global dollar debt: “Known knowns” and “known unknowns”

Several types of FX derivatives involve the exchange of principal, making them a form of collateralised loan. But unlike other forms of collateralised borrowing, the payment obligations associated with such derivatives are not reported on the balance sheet: they are in a very real sense “missing debt”. This introduces gaps in the compilation of countries’ and sectors’ foreign currency positions, in particular their short-term US dollar obligations and receipts. When economic shocks occur, policies designed to restore the flow of dollar liquidity outside the United States (eg central bank swap lines) are blind to the scale of dollar liquidity needs in particular locations. This paper presents evidence that the missing dollar debt of banks and non-banks outside the United States is large, roughly double the dollar debt recorded on their balance sheets. It then reviews how well benchmark statistical collections – BIS international banking statistics (IBS), BIS OTC Derivatives (OTCD) statistics, International Investment Position (IIP) statistics, and the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS)) – capture foreign currency positions, both on- and off-balance sheet, and where modifications to these statistics could help to close data gaps.