Finance

The study investigated the operational mechanism of key Microfinance Service Providers (MSPs) in Bangladesh and China. It seeks to understand diverse methodologies toward financial inclusion of the poor. A total six microfinance service providers were taken for critical evaluation consisting three from each country. A little variation on operational mechanism found among MSPs within the country but a greater variation has appeared between two countries. The most observable differences were- (i) outreach, (ii) service provision, (iii) collateral status, (iv) interest rate, (v) financial sustainability, and (vi) regulatory status which have direct influence on institutional sustainability. Findings of the study can help microfinance practitioners and policy makers to gain a better understanding on existing MSP and leads to further methodological improvement. Finally, the cross country comparison could bring win-win situation for both countries.

The importance of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance helps managers to understand the impact of investing in corporate social responsibility, on the cost of financing, as well as on investors in obtaining economic assistive decisions And has provided researchers with more relevant information than other accounting information. The corporate social responsibility of the integrated business processes, by creating innovative methods in them, contributes to improving the organization by improving it, and it affects financial performance, which requires the exploitation of both The benefits, and the benefits of integrating different management systems. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between corporate social authorities and financial performance, and the statistical population of the research is listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2015. The present study is of a kind of applied nature, and in terms of the purpose of correlation, after preparing and extracting the social responsibility data of the company, through a questionnaire and financial performance, through the information in the stock archive, the research variables for Estimation of econometric models is analyzed using EViews software using collected data, which according to the results obtained and the regression models are validated and significant. , And according to the results, there is a significant relationship between social responsibility and financial performance in the companies admitted to the stock exchange. This research will help managers to develop effective corporate social responsibility policies that are needed to achieve their better financial performance in the long run, as well as insights for companies on the role of social responsibility, Providing future benefits.

Exchange Traded Funds (“ETFs”) are increasingly popular investment vehicles. ETFs are one type of structured exchange-traded product. An ETF is an investment product that allows an investor to buy and sell shares in a single security that represents a fractional ownership of a portfolio of securities. ETFs are open-ended investment companies or unit investment trusts that are registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The first ETF, SPDR Trust, was listed in 1993 with an underlying portfolio designed essentially to replicate the performance of the S&P 500 index. Since then over 700 ETFs have been introduced. This study shows the performance of ETFs & Index Fund from investors perspectives. The study is based on 6 USA based ETFs that track well known indexes. As in India ETF market is still at introductory stage so International market has been traced.

This paper has attempted to provide estimates of the size of the underground economy and estimated tax evasion in Ghana from 1990 to 2010 which have received little consideration. The Stock-Watson DOLS estimate for currency demand was employed. Our estimates suggest that underground economy is quite large accounting for about 48% of the official economy on the average. These results are consistent with the stylised fact about the Ghanaian economy, in particular the large number of persons employed in small business and trading versus the number of tax returns filed on an annual basis and also claiming to have incomes way below taxable levels. The estimated evaded tax ranges from 4% to about 14% of the official economy and higher budgetary supports and loans contracted in a year. The implication is that any success made in reducing such leakages may have positive effect on fiscal and monetary policy.

External assistance is considered a significant factor in the economic development of Bangladesh in order to bridge the gap between savings and investments along with balance of payment situation. From the viewpoint of understanding vulnerability, there is analytical interest in the potential impact of contingent liabilities on an economy. Sustainable debt is the level of debt which allows a debtor country to meet its current and future debt service obligations in full, without recourse to further debt rescheduling, avoiding accumulation of arrears, while allowing an acceptable level of economic growth. Currently Bangladesh is spending a significant portion of its potential resources and revenue in terms of debt service. Although the country is solvent in external debt burden, there exist concerns for future stability of this sustainability without hampering the necessary expenditure in other important sectors. In Bangladesh the financial support from donor has tended to decline, reflecting more difficult budgetary conditions and a general disappointment with the results of external aid among development partners.

Identification of influential factors of firms has always been one of the main concerns for both academics and practitioners in the realm of finance. The aim of this study is to identify the role of managers of the firms on this issue. Statistical society of this research is all the public equity firms of Tehran which are registered in Tehran Stock Exchange. The sample is 61 of those firms in different industries. Results show that those registered firms who have board of managers with more independency have reported more profit at the end of their financial year. Managerial implications are presented and directions for future studies are shown at the end of this research.

The paper explores the herding relationship between spot market and futures market by using two different herding measurements. Heavily traded constituents stocks of Taiwan electronic sector index and finance sector index are used to test the existence of herding. We also examine whether herding behavior has asymmetric reactions for up (bull) markets and down (bear) markets. Daily and 15-minute returns data covering Taiwan spot market and Taiwan futures market are analyzed. The results partly support the information cascade theory and rational asset pricing theory. Investors do herd temporarily but also trade rationally in a long period. Furthermore, daily and 15-minute data demonstrate the investors’ tendency toward herding is higher during market downstream.

Relationship between microfinance and economic growth has been a major concern for the policymakers of developing countries and focal point of economists to eradicate poverty, empower poor people and produce employment opportunities. This research applies OLS method to trace the impact of microfinance on economic growth in Pakistan.Variables of the study are active borrowers, active savers, active insured persons, borrowing, saving and insurance amount from microfinance institutions. Active borrowers and borrowing amount have highly significant positive relationship with economic growth of Pakistan. Active savers and saving amount have highly significant negative relationship with economic growth whereas insurance policyholders and insurance amount have no relationship. Government should not only increase outreach of microfinance but also devises a mechanism, which cannot only channelize the funds efficientlybut also avoid non-performing loans. Government should also provide some tax rebate or concession to microfinance and microcredit agencies so that maximum amount can be channelized towards economyin order to get long-run results.

This study investigates the existence of trade credit as a short term financing channel during tight credit conditions, offsetting conjecture of trade credit channel with traditional credit channel of transmission of monetary policy and subsequently relative adjustments in inventory dynamics covering a large panel of 145 Pakistani firms over the period of 2000-2011.The generalization of Lovell’s target adjustment model using Arellano & Bond approach for dynamic panel data has been employed using first difference GMM estimator .The model has been augmented with the short term bank borrowing and trade credit ratios by differentiating the firms either more or less likely to face financing constraints with the hypothesis of making high or low use of trade credit. The findings suggest that there exist a strong evidence of trade credit channel in moderating the credit channel of transmission of monetary policy. Financially constrained firms are found to have less availability of short term bank borrowings and a high dependence on trade credit in tight monetary episodes.

In tandem with the impending full liberalization of global economy and Basel III requirements in 2015, most commercial banks worldwide might encounter the risks of being taken over by larger bank on account of full liberalization. Therefore, it is imperative for commercial banks to be in the know about the macroeconomic factors that might affect their total assets. In this dissertation, macroeconomic determinants of total assets volume for commercial banks in Malaysia was scrutinized in 2008 – 2010 intervals (post 2008 financial turmoil) via quarterly data through multi-variate single-equation regression method and correlation. Regression results advocate that all the macroeconomic determinants in this thesis have statistically significant impact on total assets of the banks except Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The empirical findings demonstrate that Base Lending Rate (BLR) together with Foreign Exchange Rate (FER) are negatively interrelated to total assets of the banks whilst FDI has positive relationship with the same dependent variable (DV). The most influential factor against total assets of the banks is BLR. Albeit correlations techniques in this paper signify that BLR, FER as well as FDI have not significantly explained the variations in total assets of the Malaysian banking sector, it is noteworthy that the empirical findings produce similar results as regression methods.