Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Cashless Society Threatens Our Freedom - Providence Journal, Gary Kayakachoian, Koray Özpolat

Koray Özpolat

It is the Christmas season again! The bell ringers of the Salvation Army can be heard everywhere and generous people throw loose change or dollar bills into the Christmas kettles. Unfortunately, the kettles are not as full recently. Last year, the Salvation Army observed a 10% drop in the donations raised by the Christmas Kettles program. According to Major Ron Busroe of the Salvation Army, a significant factor in this decline is that people have fewer coins and dollar bills in their pockets these days. It is the cards (credit or debit) and mobile payment systems causing this cash-decline in …

Jumps In Natural Gas Prices: Implications For Infrastructure, Charles F. Mason, Neil A. Wilmot

Charles F Mason

No abstract provided.

Theories And Practices Of Islamic Finance And Exchange Laws: Poverty Of Interest, Ahmed E. Souaiaia

Ahmed E SOUAIAIA

An Empirical Investigation Of Voluntary Non-Ifrs Earnings Reporting During The Recent Financial Crisis : Australian Evidence, Elisabeth Sinnewe

Dr Elisabeth Sinnewe

This study examines how the financial crisis affected the reporting choice of and market reaction to earnings that are different from the profit firms report on their income statement under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These non-IFRS earnings reflect management’s subjective of view of earnings. By observing management’s reporting choices and investors’ reaction in Australia prior to, during, and after the financial crisis, this study shows a distinctive effect of the economic condition on reporting non-IFRS earnings. As such, this study contributes to the limited attention hypothesis suggesting that information-equivalent disclosure is perceived as value relevant by management and investors …

Understanding The Mind Of The Risk Manager, Emmanuel Moore Abolo Dr.

Dr. Emmanuel Moore Abolo

The human mind is very complex and for the risk manager the complexity is even more complex. A good risk manager must leave the comfort of his zone and enter the mind of the world to be successful.

Con El Euro, Sin El Euro... ¿O Contra El Euro?, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

The name 'euro' was officially adopted on 16 December 1995. The 'euro' was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members.

LINK: http://fliphtml5.com/zxub/sjvx/basic

Rate Setting And Disclosure In Continuing Care Retirement Communities (Ccrcs), Seth C. Anderson, Jeffrey E. Michelman, Raymond M. Johnson, Kristi Quick

Jeffrey E Michelman

By 2026, the population of Americans age 65 and older will double to 71.5 million. According to a recent study by Metlife, et al., there are five important issues that impact both current and future retirees: Increased longevity with Americans living longer; Changing economic factors such as increased health care costs; A growing skills shortage in many industries; Different beliefs about work among the aging Baby Boomer generation; and Financial resources available for retirement. All five of these factors affect both the ways seniors plan for retirement and the ways that organizations providing services to seniors must respond. Continuing care …

State And Local Anti-Predatory Lending Laws: The Effect Of Legal Enforcement Mechanisms, Raphael W. Bostic, Kathleen C. Engel, Patricia A. Mccoy, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Susan M. Wachter

Patricia A. McCoy

Subprime mortgage lending has grown rapidly in recent years and with it, so have concerns about predatory lending. In response to evidence of predatory lending, most states have enacted new laws or expanded existing laws to address abuses in the subprime home loan market. The effect of these statutes is a matter of debate. This paper seeks to improve the understanding of this increasingly important issue and pays particular attention to the role that legal enforcement mechanisms play in this context. The results of the analysis are consistent with the view that anti-predatory lending laws influence subprime lending markets and …

Project Finance: Transactional Evidence From Australia, Michael Regan

Michael Regan

The international project finance market is experiencing a period of significant change. The new Basel III capital adequacy rules will make it harder for banks to provide long-term project finance, and alternative sources of finance such as the shadow banking sector, fund managers, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional investors will take time to bridge the financing gap. In the meantime, it is difficult to source project finance for tenors beyond seven years, risk premiums are higher, and finance is difficult to source. Recent innovations in the form of the European Investment Bank’s Project Bond Initiative, and the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund …

Independent Evaluation Of Asic’S Implementation Of The Helping Our Kids Understand Finances Initiative, Robert Simons

Dr Robert Simons

In May 2013, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to conduct an independent evaluation of its implementation of the Helping Our Kids Understand Finances (HOKUF) initiative. The purpose was to conduct an independent evidence-based assessment of whether ASIC implemented the HOKUF initiative in a way that met the following key criteria: 1) Appropriate – the extent to which the program developed by ASIC was useful and ‘fit for purpose’ in supporting the delivery of the consumer and financial literacy content aligned to the Australian Curriculum. 2) Effective − the extent to …

The Vehicle Quota System In Singapore: An Assessment, Winston T. H. Koh, David K. C. Lee

David LEE Kuo Chuen

This paper reviews the developments since the vehicle quota system was introduced in Singapore in May 1990. We discuss the bidding strategies for the certificates of entitlement (COE) under both the transferable and nontransferable auctions, as well as the equity of the present system and the desirability of transferable COEs. We argue that the COE auction should be made discriminatory and propose an alternative system of COE auction that we feel is both equitable and at the same time politically acceptable. We also survey developments in market competition in the car industry.

Share-Price-Changes-Volume Relation On The Singapore Equity Market, David K. C. Lee, Mohamed Ariff

David LEE Kuo Chuen

A critical review of the literature on security-price-changes-volume research suggests that the published studies in the United States and one each in Hong Kong and Japan have largely ignored the impacts on the results from autocorrelation, non-normality of distributions, heteroscedasticity and non-linear functional forms. Therefore, the reported findings are not robust. In testing for this relation from a small sample of continuously traded shares in the Singapore share market, we find that consistent results may not be obtained because of violations of basic test conditions. A task that remains is an application of alternative test models with data transformation using …

Housing Policies In Singapore: Evaluation Of Recent Proposals And Recommendations For Reform, Sock Yong Phang, David K. C. Lee, Alan Cheong, Kok Fai Phoon, Karol Wee

David LEE Kuo Chuen

The Singapore housing market is unusual in its high homeownership rate, the dominance of HDB housing, and the extensive intervention of the government in regulating housing supply and demand in both the HDB and private housing sectors. Recent rapid population increases in a low interest rate and high global liquidity environment has resulted in accelerated house prices increases in Singapore. Earlier this year, the government launched “Our Singapore Conversation” of which discussion on housing policies constitutes one major component. This “conversation” comes in the wake of several consecutive rounds of measures to stabilize housing prices using various instruments. This paper …

Singapore's Financial Market: Challenges And Future Prospects, Kuo Chuen Lee, Kok Fai Phoon

David LEE Kuo Chuen

No abstract provided.

Long Memory And Asia Crisis: Implication For Capital Controls And Management, Kuo Chuen David Lee

David LEE Kuo Chuen

“Financial markets are given to excesses and if a boom/bust sequence progresses beyond a certain point, it will never revert to where it came from. Instead of acting like a pendulum, financial markets have recently acted more like a wrecking ball, knocking over one economy after another.” - A testimony before the US House Banking Committee, Sep, 1998. There are three parts to this paper. The first part examines the time series behaviour of the equity indices of ten countries. Using Robinson (1995a)’s modified GPH estimator and Robinson (1994a)’s average periodogram estimator for the differencing parameter, we have detected that …

An Evaluation Of Hedge Funds: Risk, Return And Pitfalls, Francis Koh, David K. C. Lee, Kok Fai Phoon

David LEE Kuo Chuen

Hedge funds are collective investment vehicles fast becoming popular with high net worth individuals as well as institutional investors. These are funds that are often established with a special legal status that allows their investment managers a free hand to use derivatives, short sell and exploit leverage to raise returns and cushion risk. Given that they have substantial latitude to invest, it is instructive to examine the performance of hedge funds as compared to other forms of managed funds. This paper provides an overview of hedge funds and discusses their empirical risk and return profiles. It also poses some concerns …

Semiparametric Exploration Of Long Memory In Stock Prices, David K. C. Lee, Peter M. Robinson

David LEE Kuo Chuen

New or modified methods for semiparametric analysis of fractional long memory in time series are described and applied to twenty-six stock prices and two stock indices. Evidence is found that some, but not all, of the stocks have long memory, while one of the indices exhibits mean reversion.

Market Structure And Growth Potential Of Singapore Reits, Cher Chiew Francis Koh, Kuo Chuen Lee, Kok Fai Phoon, Ee Seng Seah

David LEE Kuo Chuen

No abstract provided.

Managing The Risks In Financial Inclusion And Agency Banking, Emmanuel Moore Abolo Dr.

Dr. Emmanuel Moore Abolo

Ensuring access to appropriate financial products and services needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost in a fair and transparent manner by mainstream institutional poses risks that must be managed in an enterprise-wide form for greater impact.

The Delinquency Of Subprime Mortgages, Michelle A. Danis, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Anthony Pennington-Cross

The lag between the time that a borrower stops making payments on a mortgage and the termination of the loan plays a critical role in the costs borne by both borrower and lender on defaulted loans. While the prior literature uses a multinomial logit approach, statistical tests indicate that we cannot accept the associated assumption of Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA). Using a nested logit specification our results suggest that the recipe for delinquency involves young loans to low credit score borrowers with low or no documentation in housing markets with moderately volatile and flat or declining nominal house prices.

The Evolution Of The Subprime Mortgage Market, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Anthony Pennington-Cross

This paper describes subprime lending in the mortgage market and how it has evolved through time. Subprime lending has introduced a substantial amount of risk-based pricing into the mortgage market by creating a myriad of prices and product choices largely determined by borrower credit history (mortgage and rental payments. foreclosures and bankruptcies, and overall credit scores) and down payment requirements. Although sub prime lending still differs from prime lending in many ways, much of the growth (at least in the securitized portion of the market) has come in the least-risky (A-) segment of the market. In addition, lenders have imposed …

Commercial Property Rent Dynamics In U.S. Metropolitan Areas: An Examination Of Office, Industrial, Flex And Retail Space, Maria Ibanez, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Anthony Pennington-Cross

This paper is concerned with the market rental rate for space offered by commercial property and how that rental rate evolves over time. Rental rates reflect the value of the services provided by the property and can have a significant impact on the ability of its owners to make monthly debt obligations. We investigate commercial property rent dynamics for 34 large metropolitan areas in the U.S. The dynamics are studied from the second quarter of 1990 through the second quarter of 2009 and the results are compared across four property types or uses (office, industrial, flex, and retail). There is …

The Termination Of Subprime Hybrid And Fixed Rate Mortgages, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Giang Ho

Anthony Pennington-Cross

Adjustable-rate and hybrid loans have been a larger component of subprime mortgage lending in the mortgage market than prime lending. The typical adjustable-rate loan in subprime is a hybrid of fixed and adjustable characteristics in which the first 2 years are fixed and the remaining 28 years adjustable. Hybrid loans terminate at elevated probabilities even before the first adjustment date. Hybrid loan terminations are sensitive to interest rates and teaser rates (payment shocks). Default probabilities increase dramatically when payment shocks are mixed with low or no equity in the home. This is the mixture of events that helped to trigger …

Local Predatory Lending Laws: Going Beyond North Carolina, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Giang Ho

Anthony Pennington-Cross

Following the lead of federal regulations, numerous states, counties and cities have enacted laws designed to reduce predatory lending. There is at least anecdotal evidence that predatory or abusive mortgage lending is primarily concentrated in the subprime market. However, the impact of these local predatory lending laws on the subprime mortgage market is unknown. The primary questions we examine are: do these laws affect the supply and flow of subprime mortgage credit and does the experience in North Carolina, the first state to enact a local predatory lending law, apply to other local laws?

The Impact Of State Anti-Predatory Lending Laws: Policy Implications And Insights, Raphael W. Bostic, Kathleen C. Engel, Patricia A. Mccoy, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Susan M. Wachter

Anthony Pennington-Cross

The subprime mortgage market, which consists of high-cost loans designed for borrowers with weak credit, has grown tremendously over the past ten years. Between 1993 and 2005, the subprime market experienced an average annual growth rate of 26 percent. As this market emerged, so did allegations that subprime loans contained predatory features or were the result of predatory sales practices.3 In the worst cases, brokers deceived borrowers about the meaning of loan terms or falsely promised to assist them in obtaining future refinance loans with better terms. In other situations, borrowers entered into loans with low teaser rates, not aware …

State And Local Anti-Predatory Lending Laws: The Effect Of Legal Enforcement Mechanisms, Raphael Bostic, Kathleen Engel, Patricia Mccoy, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Susan Wachter

Anthony Pennington-Cross

Subprime mortgage lending has grown rapidly in recent years and with it, so have concerns about predatory lending. In response to evidence of predatory lending, most states have enacted new laws or expanded existing laws to address abuses in the subprime home loan market. The effect of these statutes is a matter of debate. This paper seeks to improve the understanding of this increasingly important issue and pays particular attention to the role that legal enforcement mechanisms play in this context. The results of the analysis are consistent with the view that anti-predatory lending laws influence subprime lending markets and …

Interest Rates In The Sub-Prime Mortgage Market, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Anthony Pennington-Cross

No abstract provided.

Predatory Lending Laws And The Cost Of Credit, Anthony Pennington-Cross, Giang Ho

Anthony Pennington-Cross

Various states and other local jurisdictions have enacted laws intending to reduce predatory and abusive lending in the subprime mortgage market. These laws have created substantial geographic variation in the regulation of mortgage credit. This article examines whether these laws are associated with a higher or lower cost of credit. Empirical results indicate that the laws are associated with at most a modest increase in cost. However, the impact depends on the product type. In particular, loans with fixed (adjustable) rates are associated with a modest increase (decrease) in cost.

Measuring The Impact Of Agglomeration On Productivity: Evidence From Chilean Retailers, Sergio Garate, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Anthony Pennington-Cross

This research extends the agglomeration literature to a country that has not been studied and a market sector that has received little attention. The majority of research that examines how density affects productivity has indirectly measured productivity through worker wages or property prices. The research uses individual supermarkets’ store productivity, proxied by 10 years of annual sales per square foot. Studying supermarkets permits the examination of the effect consumers might have on productivity. Agglomerations (density) could increase or decrease productivity depending on the relative extent of increased competition versus productivity gains, as consumers choose where to shop based on their …

Local Economic Risk Factors On The Primary And Secondary Mortgage Markets, Brent Ambrose, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Anthony Pennington-Cross

This paper presents a cross-sectional analysis of the spatial distribution of loans in the primary and secondary mortgage markets. Aggregating loan originations to the MSA level, we examine the proportion of the market served by FHA and conventional lenders. We model the geographic differences in market shares as a function of supply, demand, and economic risk factors. Results indicate that FHA market shares are higher in cities with higher economic risk characteristics. To examine the role of GSE activity, we model the spatial distribution of the disposition of conventional loans. Again, we focus on the impact of local economic risk …