• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.127-135
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• 2020

The paper aims to examine whether business cycles affect the link between financial development and bank risk, measured by Zscore and non-performing loans to total loans in six Southeast Asian countries, namely Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This study uses a sample of 95 listed commercial banks over a 15-year period between 2004 and 2018 in the six Southeast Asian countries. This study employs panel OLS regression and modifications to tackle issues such as endogeneity and heteroscedasticity. The results show that the impact of stock market development (the ratio of the market capitalization to GDP) on Zscore is significantly positive, whereas its effect on non-performing loans is significantly negative. The findings suggest that financial development, in terms of stock market capitalization, improves banks' Zscores and reduces their level of non-performing loans, suggesting that financial development on average reduces bank risk. The impact of business cycle is insignificant towards bank risk, thus rejecting both counter- and pro-cyclical hypotheses, except for the case of risk indicator of loan loss provisions. Examining the joint effect of the business cycle and financial development on bank risk, we find that the phase of business cycles generally does not moderate the link between financial development and bank risk.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.385-415
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• 2013

Inter-regional free trade agreements (FTAs) - notably between Asia and Latin America - are growing in numbers and complexity. There is an absence of an agreed methodology for empirical assessments on the content of FTAs and little research. This paper proposes a framework to assess liberalization in FTAs in goods and services and new trade policy issues relating to regulatory barriers. Next, it applies this framework to studying the 22 Asia-Latin America FTAs in existence. The findings suggest that Asia-Latin American FTAs have laid the foundations for inter-regional integration by liberalizing the trade in goods and services and reducing some regulatory barriers. Deepening FTAs and adopting structural reforms will enhance Asia-Latin American integration in the future.

• Asian review of World Histories
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.217-248
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• 2014

The Aid-India Consortium was organized in 1958 as an international scheme to support the economic development of India, and led by the World Bank. This article reconsiders the economic diplomacy of the Indian Government in the 1950s and 1960s, by paying attention to the interactions between the Indian authorities and the donor countries and institutions, in the context of the Cold War regime, decolonization and economic aid to the newly independent countries. First, it deals with the development of the Aid-India Consortium by considering debates at its annual meetings and the skillful negotiations of the Indian Government and financial authorities. It focuses especially on the leading role of an Indian diplomat and financial expert, B. K. Nehru. The article then tries to reveal an Indian initiative in solving the 'food crises' of 1965-67 through intimate collaboration with the US government and the World Bank, using the framework of the Aid-India Consortium. These attempts lead to a reconsideration of the economic order of Asia in the 1950s and 1960s.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.123-132
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• 2023

This study seeks to determine if the efficiency of bank human resources, as played by human capital, impacts the performance and diversification of banks. This study uses secondary data from data obtained from 385 commercial banks in 33 countries in Asia during the 2010-2020 period with the diversification analysis method. We use the Z-score to measure the amount of standard deviation that must be from earnings (ROAA). We examined it using the Tobit regression technique. According to the regression estimation results, human capital has a significant role in the performance and effective diversification of Asian banks. The human capital efficiency coefficient (HCE) is significantly negative with the cost-to-income ratio (CTIR) and significantly positive with Profitability, Financial Stability, and cost efficiency score. The level of efficiency of human resources has an effective role in increasing human capital which has an impact on bank diversification and performance. The development of human resources in a human capital framework plays an important role in the diversification and improvement of bank performance. Human capital has a significant role in the performance and effective diversification of Asian banks. The level of efficiency of human resources has an effective role in increasing human capital which has an impact on bank diversification and performance.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.3-31
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• 2021

This paper estimates the effects of transport (road and rail) & energy and ICT infrastructure (telephone, mobile, and broadband) on GDP growths in neighboring countries as well as own countries. We confirm positive direct contributions of infrastructure, access to Internet, and human capital on economic growth. The spatial panel regression models indicate that there exist positive externalities of the broadband infrastructure and human capital, and these results are robust regardless of the choice of spatial weight matrices. Our findings on spillover effects of infrastructure suggest the key role of neighboring countries' infrastructure on own country's economic growth.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.829-837
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• 2021

The study investigates the impact of the Counter-Cyclical Buffer Policy (CCB) on regional development bank profitability in Sumatra, Indonesia. CCB requires banks to hold capital at times when credit is growing rapidly so that the buffer can be reduced if the financial cycle turns down or the economic and financial environment becomes substantially worse. This study employs time series data of regional development banks (RDBs) in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The methodology applied in this study is a panel dynamic model with Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM). The results show that increasing capital through the implementation of CCB did not have a significant effect on RDBs' profitability. The findings of this study suggest that the activation and implementation of CCB lead to an increase in the amount and cost of loans to companies but do not affect the profitability of RDBs. The value of a Non-Performing Loan (NPL) proved to have a negative and significant effect on bank profitability. The CCB policy aims to overcome the pro-cyclicality of credit growth and improve bank resilience through increased capital which is expected to reduce excessive credit growth as a source of systemic risk. This causes a lack of lending to the community so that the profits obtained by the bank decrease.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.33-43
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to assess the greening of investment flows as well as the orientation of financial sources of effective environmental protection. Both India and Vietnam are considered to be two Asian countries that are radically affected by global climate change. Governments of the two countries have implimented numerous measures against environmental pollution through the banking and finance sector. Developing green banking operations in India and Vietnam is a new direction in the socio-economic development strategy coupled with effective environmental protection. Research design, data and methodology: The data was mainly based on Asia Development Bank Institution (ADBI) and Bank of India (BOI) from 2015 - 2018. This paper focused on comparing and evaluating the development of green banks between the two countries. Result: The banks' contribution to green growth and green economy is shown in two basic aspects: (i) the connection between organizations, and individuals, and management process for investment projects, including environmental risks; and (ii) the operation of banks has a direct impact on the environment, through the application of technology to pay documents and apply e-banking. Conclusion: Paper reflects, compares and evaluates green banking operations in India and Vietnam to provide new directions aiming to develop financial and economic system along with effective and efficient step toward climate change control. India's green banking operations, after a specific assessment, will be lessons for the Government of Vietnam during the process of socio-economic development and environmental protection.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.371-376
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• 2020

The study seeks to explore the factors affecting the access to credits by individual customers at commercial banks in Tra Vinh province, Vietnam. Based on these results, the author proposes solutions to further improve the ability to serve individual customers at commercial banks in the province in the future. The study was conducted with a method of collecting primary data of 300 individual customers including 150 people with access to credits and 150 people without accessing to credits at six commercial banks in Tra Vinh Province, Viet Nam - Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bank for Foreign Trade Commercial Bank, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, Asia Commercial Bank in Tra Vinh, Sai Gon Commercial Joint Stock Bank, and Bank of East Asia. The author has used binary regression methods, and the study found that seven factors affecting the ability of individual customers to access capital, namely, career, qualifications, collaterals, incomes, documents, loan and business plans, and experience. In particular, occupation, experience, and documents are the most influential factors. From the above results, the author proposes policy implications to improve individual customers' access to credits at commercial banks in Tra Vinh province in the near future.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2022

The implications of bank-specific risks and macroeconomic risks on the growth, profitability, and stability of Islamic and conventional banks are examined and compared in this article. The study also investigates whether corporate governance mitigates the effects of both bank-specific and macroeconomic risks on Islamic and conventional banks' development, profitability, and stability. For the period 2007-2019, we examined a panel data set of 22 banks in Pakistan, including both Islamic and conventional banks. We discovered considerable evidence that both bank-specific risks and macroeconomic risks have negative effects on the growth, profitability, and stability of Pakistani banks using a dynamic panel data estimator, the two-step Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) approach. Furthermore, the findings show that bank-specific and macroeconomic risks have different consequences in both types of banking. The impacts of liquidity risk, operational risk, capital risk, inflation risk, and exchange rate risk are higher for Islamic banks than for conventional banks. Conventional banks, on the other hand, are more vulnerable to credit risk and interest rate risk. Finally, the findings show that good corporate governance reduces the negative consequences of both categories of risks on bank development, profitability, and stability. This is true for Islamic and conventional banks alike.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.21-27
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• 2020

Purpose: The present study examines the effects of tourism on carbon dioxide emissions for selected South Asian economies over the time from 1995 to 2016. Research design, data and methodology: The present study is an annual time series analysis of tourism and CO2 emissions. The data is taken from World Development Indicators, an official data bank of World Bank. The study sample covers four South Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The empirical analysis is conducted by employing Pedroni panel cointegration, Fully Modified OLS, and Dynamic OLS approaches of estimation. Results: Tourism significantly increases environmental degradation in selected South Asian economies. The empirical estimated results indicate, that 1 % increase in tourism related activities leads to 0.16 % increase in CO2 emissions. In addition energy consumption and GDP are also causing an upsurge in CO2 emissions in the selected panel of South Asian economies. As the empirical results indicate that 1% increase in GDP stimulates carbon dioxide emissions by 0.23%. Conclusion: In order to protect the environment, the study emphasizes that sustainable tourism practices need to be promoted in the selected South Asian countries. Policy implication and provided and discussed.