Finance

Whether the level of deployment of information technology solutions actually enhances bank performance is still a matter of debate in academic circles. This paper set out to assess the effect of deployment of information technology solutions on the performances of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Data spanning over a seven year period (2005 to 2011) were generated from annual financial reports of sampled banks to ascertain the relationship between bank deployment of IT solutions and enhanced bank performance using a regression equation expressed in a multiple form. Findings revealed that deployment of IT solutions have been on the increase especially in the post-consolidation period as evidenced by increased number of bank branches and ATM which were interlinked via IT solutions. The correlation matrixes revealed that information technology solutions deployment have a positive relationship with increased bank profitability thus suggesting that increased banks investment in IT solutions enhances bank performance.

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.

Generally, tourism is seen as an essential component to the growth and well-being of the economy of Mombasa County as whole. The main stakeholders of this industry are; the hotelier, and the Mombasa County local tour operators. Mombasa is the bedrock of the Kenyan tourism industry with a high annual influx of domestic and foreign tourists. There is also presence of wild life activity in Mombasa County with the presence of Bamburi nature trail. There has been a decline in recent years in the sector. Tourism and insecurity have contributed hugely to the dip. This has led to the decline in tourist numbers and thus led to the closure of majority of the hotels in the County which were a major source of employment and commerce for the locals. The presence of dilapidated infrastructure, mainly roads, has made Mombasa County not to be an attractive tourist destination that lives up to its tourist arrivals potential. An example is the Likoni ferry crossing channel which has made the south coast seem inaccessible thus stifling the potential that areas like Shelly beach have. Solutions must be sought to reverse this negative trend. There are strategic factors that will play a key role in ensuring the growth of the tourism sector in Mombasa County. Some examples of these strategic factors are; customer retention strategies, stakeholder participation and capacity building. Chapter one dealt with the introductory part, problem statement, objectives of the research, justification of the study, and scope of the study and limitation of the study. Chapter two of the study is the literature review which mainly deals with an introductory part, theoretical literature, empirical literature, conceptual framework, summary of literature, critique of existing literature and research gaps. Chapter three involved the study research design which used stratified random sampling technique to select the 30% of the target population whereby a random sample from each stratum was taken in a number proportional to the stratum`s size when compared to the population. The subset was then be pooled to form a random sample. The target population of the study was 112 members of staff from tour operators and 280 members of staff from local tourist hotels. The sample size was thus 118 respondents. Semi-structured questionnaires were used in to collect primary data. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and findings were presented in a prose form. Statistical package for social scientists (SPSS Version 20) was used to analyze quantitative data. The quantitative data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics. Data was then presented in tables, bar-charts and pie-charts. The study showed that there was a clear cause and effect relationship between customer retention strategies and the growth of tourism in Mombasa County. Stakeholder participation played an essential role in ensuring that there is growth in the tourism sector in Mombasa County and capacity building positively affected financial growth of output in the tourism in the county of Mombasa. The study showed that there was an influencing relationship between strategic factors studied in the research and the growth of tourism industry in Mombasa County.

The global liberalization and integration of financial markets has created new investment opportunities, which, in turn, require the development of new instruments that are more efficient to deal with the increased risks which is a characteristic feature of any investment. Derivatives products provide certain important economic benefits such as risk management or redistribution of risk away from risk-averse investors towards those more willing and able to bear risk. These functions of derivatives help in efficient capital allocation and price discovery in the economy. Since its inception in June 2000, derivatives market has exhibited exponential growth as the market turn-over has boosted from Rs. 40180 million in 2000-2001 to Rs. 474308323 Million in 2013-2014 .Within a short span of fourteen years, derivatives trading in India has surpassed cash segment in terms of turnover and number of traded contracts. The present study attempts mainly to focus on growth and performance of derivative market in India during post liberalization era. This paper also attempts to analyze sector wise classification of derivative market like stock, index, currency etc. Some space is also devoted for a brief discussion of basic concepts and fundamentals of derivatives. The paper concludes by pointing out trends of derivatives and factors affecting the growth of same. This work can serve as a source of guide for the study related to derivatives.

This research project sought to determine the effects of financial planning on the performance of transport and logistics firms in Mombasa County. The general objective was to establish the determinants of performance. The independent variables under consideration were: fund allocation, external funding, fund control and budgeting. These independent variables created the basis for the specific objectives under review as follows: to find out how the fund allocation influences the decision to growth and profitability; to establish how the degree of external funding influences the decision of firms to growth and profitability; to find out how budgeting affects the decision to growth and profitability; and to find out how fund control the decision to growth and profitability. Transport firms in Mombasa have grown in importance in the economy of the region during the last couple of decades. Although transport firms are growing speedily they face a range of challenges which work against their progress. Lack of financial knowledge is been a major setback to transport firms’ progress. Inefficient financial planning may damage transport firms profitability and, as a result, complicate the difficulties of transport firms’ growth. Conversely, efficient financial planning will help transport firms to strengthen their profitability and, as a result, these difficulties can partly be overcome. This study is motivated by the need to determine the financial planning practices used by transport firms and their impact on the financial performance of the transport firms. The target population of this study will be 102 transport firms operating in the Mombasa County. A modified Liker scale questionnaire will be developed divided into three parts. A pilot study will be carried out to refine the instrument. The quality and consistency of the study will further be assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Data analysis will be performed on a PC computer using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 22) for Windows. Analysis will be done using frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviation, regression, correlation and the information generated will be presented in form of graphs, charts and table.

By applying the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), the study explored the cost and profit efficiency impact of mergers in banking sector of Pakistan during 1998-2006. The intermediation approach is used for definition and determination of input and output variables. It is assumed that cost function followed translog functional form and alternative profit functional form is supposed to be followed by profit function. Following the four years event study approach, both the cost and profit efficiencies are calculated and compared for pre-merger and post-merger period. The study found that in pre-merger period on the average, banks were 93.83% cost efficient, whereas, this figure rose to 94.15% for post merger period. It reflected 0.32% improvement in cost efficiency. The result was significant at 10% level of significance. In case of profit efficiency, the post merger gain was -5%, however, the result was insignificant. The study concluded that there was improvement in cost efficiency due to bank mergers in Pakistan during 1998-2006 however, no such statistically significant evidence was found for profit efficiency.

The present study investigates the relationship between corporate governance profile of acquiring firms and operating performance changes associated with merger and acquisitions in Pakistan. The financial sector mergers and acquisitions have been selected as sample transactions for the period of 1996 to 2008 and two years pre- and post-merger analysis has been conducted by using OLS regression. The estimated results indicated that post-merger operating performance of acquiring firms is positively related to its pre-merger level. Moreover, board size and CEO duality are negatively while board independence, outside dominated boards, and presence of large independent blockholder are positively related to change in post-merger operating performance of acquiring firms in Pakistan. The results were also robust with an alternative dependent variable of change in market value of acquiring firms. The results from replaced dependent variable were found to be more strong and cohesive with corporate governance profile of acquiring firms. Aligned with the existing literature, the study concluded that effective corporate governance mechanism does play its role in aligning the interests of managers with shareholders and enhances value for firms, particularly in large scale transactions of mergers and acquisitions.

In this study we investigated the determinants of executive compensation in some selected quoted banks in Nigeria. The study used eight (8) banks which were drawn from the quoted banks in Nigeria that disclosed executive compensation from 2005 to 2010 in their annual financial report. In identifying the determinants of banks executive compensation in Nigeria using our sampled banks, we conducted pooled OLS and panel data fixed and random effect regression analysis. In all, our results based on the Hausman test shows that the panel regression model best explains bank executive compensation in the selected quoted banks in Nigeria and that bank size (total asset) and profitability are two key factors that determine positively, the compensation of banks executives in Nigeria. This study recommends that further studies be conducted in this area using SEC filling to increase the data on executive compensation.

This research work is started to know the investors awareness towards commodity market. The study is made to find out the investors knowledge towards commodity market. The investors are provided detailed questionnaire to collect data, the data has been stored in an effective way to generate meaningful interpretation and findings. There are plenty of investment opportunities available to every investor in Erode district. In this study the researcher has used descriptive research design. The selection of sample is done in the commodity market offices, stock exchange terminals and banks which are giving investment advice to their clients. Some brokerage offices, insurance selling investment offices are the target group to select sample. Some investors are preferred to invest in equity shares, mutual funds, insurance schemes, real estate and derivative securities like currency futures, stock futures, index futures and commodity futures. Hence this study is started to test the investor’s awareness towards commodity market. Commodity trade ensures superior returns to the investors.

This paper attempts to study the determining factors of Wadiah Saving Deposits in Malaysia. It intends to examine the relationship between Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Inflation Rate (INF), and Rate of Return (ROR) and Wadiah Savings Deposits in Malaysia. Analysis was done by using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Some of the techniques used to measure the factors were Pearson Correlation, coefficient of determination (R2), ANOVAs, Multiple regression analysis, and T-statistics. Using the data from Monthly Statistical Bulletin, Bank Negara Malaysia from 2003 until 2010, and this study found that Rate of Return (ROR) influenced the changes of Wadiah Saving Deposits in Malaysia. By using T-statistics, the results showed that only one independent variables namely Rate of Return (ROR) had significant influence with Wadiah Saving Deposits while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Inflation Rate (INF) had no significant influence with Wadiah Saving Deposits.