There is a wide variation in central bank policy stances across developing countries: Some central banks emphasise stability, in both prices and the financial system; some emphasise financial deepening; and some place equal emphasis on both goals. This thesis explores the argument that those who control the sources of finance on which countries rely for investment shape central bank policy stances. The argument has its roots in the theory of the structural power of capital; a theory which has remained under-explored for developing countries. This thesis seeks to contribute to the literature on structural power by further developing and probing the structuralist theory in the context of developing countries, notably those dependent on aid and natural resource rents. Combining insights from the literature on structural power and on the economic and political correlates of aid and natural resource dependence, I explore whether and how those who control the sources of finance on which countries rely for investment shape central bank policy stances. To explore these questions the thesis employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. First, I use case studies from Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda to shed light on the mechanisms through which variations in a country's major sources of investible funds induce changes in the stance of central bank policy. Second, I explore the relationship between dependence on aid and on natural resources and the stance of central bank policy econometrically, using crossnational statistical analysis. The statistical analysis contributes to theory-building by developing quantitative measures of key theoretical concepts and probes structuralist theory by examining the generalisability of the findings of the case studies. Collectively, the evidence presented in this thesis suggests that power rooted in the control of capital helps to account for central bank policy stances. The results of my research contribute to extending the theory of the structural power of capital to finance in developing countries and to the debate about the costs and benefits of different economic development strategies.

Although the offering of financial products and services over the Internet by banks and financial institutions continues to spread, reports on Internet banking show that the adoption and usage of such services by consumers are low. Further, relatively little empirical research has been carried out to examine factors influencing users' adoption or use of Internet banking services, particularly in New Zealand. Hence, there is a need to identify relevant factors that influence New Zealand's bank customers' intentions to use Internet banking. This research used two commonly applied and empirically supported models of information technology adoption to achieve this objective. In this study, Davis's (1989) technology acceptance model (TAM) is extended by two external variables, namely risk and self-efficacy. The second model used is a reduced version of Moore and Benbasat's (1991) perceived characteristics of innovation (PCI) model, without the image and voluntariness constructs. A questionnaire was used to conducting a postal survey of 1000 individuals in Auckland, New Zealand. Out of 163 responses received 157(15.7%) were usable and with this data both research models were tested.The results reveal that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, relative advantage, compatibility, and result demonstrability have a significant association with intention to use Internet banking, while risk, visibility and trialability are not significant. Both the modified TAM and PCI models used in the study have a similar explanatory power of slightly over 20% of the variance in intention. In the TAM model, perceived usefulness and self-efficacy are significant variables, while compatibility is the only variable significant for the PCI model. Further, results indicate that users' perceptions of various aspects of Internet banking are more positive than non-users' perceptions, except for risk.The results of this study indicate that both TAM and PCI have low capabilities in explaining the variances in users' intention to adopt or use Internet banking services. Therefore, further studies are recommended to examine the performance of these models in Internet banking studies and also to improve the prediction power of these models by incorporating additional constructs. Although risk is found to be insignificant in this study, considering results of prior studies, further studies are required to examine its influence on intention.For banks point of view, banks should consider launching campaigns to demonstrate the usefulness and benefits. Once users perceive that advantages outweigh disadvantages, they are more likely to adopt or use Internet banking. Additionally, banks must make continuous effort to understand consumers' requirement and design and deliver their products and services in such a way that it is consistent with customers' requirements, beliefs and the way customers are accustomed to work. Banks website should facilitate customers with a 'one stop comprehensive financial' service. Banks can arrange hands-on training for prospective users to enhance their self-efficacy or may pay additional interest on online-deposit accounts (can be access through Internet only). Besides promoting services, banks need to invest in staff education and training and be equipped with advanced computer technology.

This thesis applies innovative methods to the efficiency and productivity analysis of the Australian banking system. Key areas of investigation include the impact of regulatory reforms on bank performance, the impact of firm entry and exit on industry productivity and the changing nature of banking and the role of risk in measuring bank value-added. The latter leads to the construction of a new bank production model, emphasising risk management as part of a bank??s value-added. As such, the proposed bank output framework views risk as a productive service, rather than a bad output or externality, which is often assumed in the literature. Aided with this new framework, several refinements are suggested for the treatment and measurement of bank output by researchers and statistical agencies. A unified regulatory framework combined with a greater level of harmonisation in rules in the Australian banking sector, has meant that a pooled analysis of all deposit-taking institutions has become feasible for the first time. With an enlarged dataset new insights are gained into the relative performance of deposit-taking institutions in Australia. The results challenge commonly held views of bank efficiency and the relevance of scale, size and incumbency when measuring bank efficiency. The new definition of bank output is also applied across the sector using econometric and non-parametric techniques to gauge productivity. Problems with balanced data sets and aggregation of firm level productivity are examined. A new approach to decomposing aggregate industry level productivity is introduced based on strong axiomatic grounds and its ability to attribute productivity between continuing, exiting and entering firms. The technique is applied for the first time and uses the newly developed bank output production model. The analysis provides key information on the relative performance of firms in the Australian banking sector.

Extensive deregulation of the Australian financial system officially began in the early 1980s. Since 1979 there have been three inquiries into the Australian financial system. The Campbell, Martin and Wallis Inquiries all supported the notion of deregulation of the Australian financial system. Many of their recommendations focused on allowing the market to determine market outcomes without jeopardising stability. Reform to the system was expected to provide a number of benefits, including increased competition and efficiency. Due to the limited quantity of quality data, research in this area has been limited. This thesis attempts to address issues that have not been adequately dealt with in the current literature by creating a database of financial bank data and using that data to analyse the effects that deregulation has had on the banking industry with respect to competition, efficiency and overall industry profitability.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Mathematical Sciences, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1983. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [282]-290.

The history of money has always been intertwined with the history of banking. Nevertheless, very few papers have studied banking in a rigorous monetary environment. This thesis demonstrates that it is crucial to integrate these two literatures. I present three theories of money and banking, each generating results that are drastically different from those of the traditional banking models without microfoundations for money. Chapter 1 addresses the problem of monitoring the monitor in a model with private information and aggregate uncertainty. There is no need to monitor a bank if it requires loans to be repaid partly with money. A market arises at the repayment stage and generates information-revealing prices that perfectly discipline the bank. The mechanism also applies when multiple banks exist. With multiple banks, a prohibition on private money issuing not only eliminates welfare-improving money competition but also triggers free-rider problems among banks. In Chapter 2, I develop a dynamic model to address the following question: when both individuals and banks have private information, what is the optimal way to settle debts? I establish two main results: first, markets can improve upon the optimal dynamic contract in the presence of private information. Prices fully reveal the aggregate states and help solve the incentive problem of the bank. Secondly, it is optimal for the bank to require loans to be settled with short-term inside money, i.e., bank money that expires immediately after debt settlement. Short-term inside money makes it less costly to induce truthful revelation and achieves more efficient risk sharing. Chapter 3 studies bank runs in a model with coexistence of fiat money and private money. When fiat money is the only medium of exchange, a bank run equilibrium coexists with an equilibrium that achieves optimal risk sharing. In contrast, when private money is also a medium of exchange, there exists a unique equilibrium where no one demands early withdrawals of fiat money and agents in need of liquidity only use private money to finance consumption. This unique equilibrium achieves the first-best outcome and eliminates bank runs without having to resort to any government intervention.

The history of money has always been intertwined with the history of banking. Nevertheless, very few papers have studied banking in a rigorous monetary environment. This thesis demonstrates that it is crucial to integrate these two literatures. I present three theories of money and banking, each generating results that are drastically different from those of the traditional banking models without microfoundations for money. Chapter 1 addresses the problem of monitoring the monitor in a model with private information and aggregate uncertainty. There is no need to monitor a bank if it requires loans to be repaid partly with money. A market arises at the repayment stage and generates information-revealing prices that perfectly discipline the bank. The mechanism also applies when multiple banks exist. With multiple banks, a prohibition on private money issuing not only eliminates welfare-improving money competition but also triggers free-rider problems among banks. In Chapter 2, I develop a dynamic model to address the following question: when both individuals and banks have private information, what is the optimal way to settle debts? I establish two main results: first, markets can improve upon the optimal dynamic contract in the presence of private information. Prices fully reveal the aggregate states and help solve the incentive problem of the bank. Secondly, it is optimal for the bank to require loans to be settled with short-term inside money, i.e., bank money that expires immediately after debt settlement. Short-term inside money makes it less costly to induce truthful revelation and achieves more efficient risk sharing. Chapter 3 studies bank runs in a model with coexistence of fiat money and private money. When fiat money is the only medium of exchange, a bank run equilibrium coexists with an equilibrium that achieves optimal risk sharing. In contrast, when private money is also a medium of exchange, there exists a unique equilibrium where no one demands early withdrawals of fiat money and agents in need of liquidity only use private money to finance consumption. This unique equilibrium achieves the first-best outcome and eliminates bank runs without having to resort to any government intervention.

The concept of a Sharia compliant financial system has been a frequently discussed topic among scholars, bankers and media since the 1960th. It origins from the prohibition of interest, riba, which is stated in the Quran. Islamic banking is spread across the Muslim world and also exists in some western countries. This paper will try to create an image of what Islamic banking is in theory and in practice. This will be done by looking into the different methods of interest free banking, the Quran and the annual reports of four Islamic banks in different countries. The examined banks are Islamic Bank of Britain, Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, Al Rajhi bank (Saudi-Arabia) and Bank Islam (Malaysia). The study shows that there are few, if any, religious symbols in the annual reports. Instead, focus lies on progress, science and modernity. All of the banks have Sharia councils that ensure that the products are Sharia compliant. The banks are no longer using the profit and loss sharing systems as their primary products, which is indicated by the theoretical framework. Instead, they have developed different ways to efficiently provide Sharia compliant financial services according to their own conditions. An important lesson to learn is to avoid seeing the Islamic banks as religious charity organizations and start looking at them as profit maximizing companies that specialize in a sharia compliant financial product.

Rural banking system in Gujrat