Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

US – Definitive Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties on Certain Products from China is the initial WTO dispute in which China claims that US-countervailing duties on certain products from China are inconsistent with the obligations of the United States under the SCM Agreement. The meaning of “public bodies” within Article 1.1 (a) (1) of the SCM Agreement and the question of whether China’s “SOCB” constitute “public bodies” are the heart of the matter. The thesis argues that the theory of the governmental function is more persuasive than that of governmental control in terms of defining “public bodies”. Although the majority ownership of China’s SOCBs has remained in the Chinese government, their policy-oriented nature has been largely marginalized. The conclusion is that the WTO system needs to give developing countries more policy flexibility, and developing countries should also make the best use of their latent comparative advantage and the effects of globalization.

US – Definitive Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties on Certain Products from China is the initial WTO dispute in which China claims that US-countervailing duties on certain products from China are inconsistent with the obligations of the United States under the SCM Agreement. The meaning of “public bodies” within Article 1.1 (a) (1) of the SCM Agreement and the question of whether China’s “SOCB” constitute “public bodies” are the heart of the matter. The thesis argues that the theory of the governmental function is more persuasive than that of governmental control in terms of defining “public bodies”. Although the majority ownership of China’s SOCBs has remained in the Chinese government, their policy-oriented nature has been largely marginalized. The conclusion is that the WTO system needs to give developing countries more policy flexibility, and developing countries should also make the best use of their latent comparative advantage and the effects of globalization.

In this article, we analyze the key factors that determine the net interest margin (NIM) of EU commercial banks in the current economic environment. We examine a large number of annual data samples of 252 commercial banks in EU member states from 2015 to 2020. During this period, most countries experienced extremely low or even negative interest rates. In this article we test three hypotheses. First, commercial banks committed to providing financial products and services show the highest net interest margin (NIM). Second, the net interest margin of small commercial banks has dropped significantly under conditions of negative interest rate. Third, the net interest margin of Western European countries has dropped significantly under conditions of negative interest rate. Similar to other studies, we have obtained the positive-concave relationship between interest rates and NIM, and the regression coefficients of other bank-related variables and macroeconomic variables have also achieved similar results. Compared with other studies, we innovatively consider the impact of countries with different economic levels on the net present value of commercial banks. Finally, we comprehensively regress the results and conclude what development strategies commercial banks should use in the current economic...

The purpose of this research is to recommend a set of comprehensive management plans to guide the establishment and operation of work measurement programs in commercial banks.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The aim of this study is to construct and propose continuous-time mathematical models for optimal management of bank capital, reserves and liquidity. This aim emanates from the global financial crisis of 2007 − 2009. In this regard and as a first task, our objective is to determine an optimal investment strategy for a commercial bank subject to capital requirements as prescribed by the Basel III Accord. In particular, the objective of the aforementioned problem is to maximize the expected return on the bank capital portfolio and minimize the variance of the terminal wealth. We apply classical tools from stochastic analysis to achieve the optimal strategy of a benchmark portfolio selection problem which minimizes the expected quadratic distance of the terminal risk capital reserves from a predefined benchmark. Secondly, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) introduced strategies to protect banks from running out of liquidity. These measures included an increase of the minimum reserves that the bank ought to hold, in response to the global financial crisis. We propose a model to minimize risk for a bank by finding an appropriate mix of diversification, balanced against return on the portfolio. Thirdly and finally, in response to the financial crises, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) designed a set of precautionary measures (known as Basel III) for liquidity imposed on banks and one of its purposes is to protect the economy from deteriorating. Recently, bank regulators wanted banks to depend on sources such as core deposits and long-term funding from small businesses and less on short-term wholesale funding.

Purpose: the purpose of the thesis is to find out how Lithuanian commercial banks position their internal audit function within their organizational structure to overcome the tension of working with the management and keeping the distance to be able to report on them at the same time; and is internal audit function considered as one of the cornerstones of corporate governance. Moreover, comparison of banks is made to inspect any patterns, differences and similarities concerning the origin of the capital. Method: to answer the research question a qualitative approach was chosen: analysis of audited financial reports in the period of 2008-2011, organizational statutes and all available public information in 7 Lithuanian commercial banks is performed. Moreover email-interviews were held with all chief internal auditors. Findings: the internal audit function in Lithuanian commercial banks is not considered as one of the cornerstones of corporate governance – the function only participates in the corporate governance through the audit committee. Threats for independence are mitigated by giving the responsibility to the audit committee to appoint and dismiss the chief internal auditor and to approve the annual audit plan; and by composing the audit committee with at least one financial expert. Moreover, there is no clear pattern or distinction between internal audit positioning in foreign-capital and Lithuanian- capital banks. Concluding remarks: the need for improved controls is a very important issue in the public debate. The position that internal auditors are put in nowadays is very challenging – internal auditors are expected to provide both assurance and consulting services and maintain their independence at the same time – and organizations handle it differently.

Banks today are the largest financial institutions around the world, with branches and subsidiaries throughout everyone’s life. However, commercial banks are facing risks when they are operating. Credit risk is one of the most significant risks that banks face, considering that granting credit is one of the main sources of income in commercial banks. Therefore, the management of the risk related to that credit affects the profitability of the banks. The aim of the research is to provide stakeholders with accurate information regarding the credit risk management of commercial banks with its impact on profitability.   The main purpose of the research is to investigate if there is a relationship between credit risk management and profitability of commercial banks in Europe. We also aim to investigate if the relationship is stable or fluctuating. In the research model, ROE and ROA are defined as proxies of profitability while NPLR and CAR are defined as proxies of credit risk management. The research collects data from the largest 47 commercial banks in Europe from 2007 to 2012 and formulates four hypotheses which are related to the research question. A series of statistical tests are performed in order to test if the relationship exists. Other statistical tests are performed to investigate if the relationship is stable or not.   The findings reveal that credit risk management does have positive effects on profitability of commercial banks. Between the two proxies of credit risk management, NPLR has a significant effect on the both ROE and ROA while CAR has an insignificant effect on both ROE and ROA. However, from 2007 to 2012, the relationships between all the proxies are not stable but fluctuating.

Στην παρούσα εργασία γίνεται μια εκτενής αναφορά στα εργαλεία χρηματοδότησης που παρέχουν οι εμπορικές τράπεζες στον ελληνικό χώρο, καθώς και στους τρόπους και τις μεθόδους που χρησιμοποιούνται για την αξιολόγηση και διαχείριση των χρηματοοικονομικών κινδύνων που αντιμετωπίζουν τα πιστωτικά ιδρύματα όταν παρέχουν πιστωτικές διευκολύνσεις. Επιπλέον πραγματοποιείται αναφορά στις πρόσφατες χρηματοοικονομικές κρίσεις που έπληξαν τις διεθνείς οικονομίες καθώς των συνεπειών αυτών. / This paper provides an extensive presentation of the financial tools which are provided by the Greek commercial banks. It also describes the methods which are used in order to evaluate, measure and manage financial risks which Greek banks have to deal with when they finance the markets. There is also an extensive report which present and describes the consquencies of the latest economic crises.

Academic studies of Bangladeshi Private Commercial Banks (PCBs) have identified issues of Corporate Governance relating to ‘crony capitalism’ and political influence. The thesis combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The research employs conventional econometric panel estimation and a novel method of estimating efficiency using a non-parametric bootstrapping technology. The results reveal significant performance differences. To understand the causes underlying the differences in revenue efficiency and profitability, multiple lenses from theories of Corporate Governance are adopted to design semi-structured interviews. Twenty in-depth interviews from a sample of banks, both managers and board members and industry stakeholders are supplemented with documentary analysis. The quantitative findings reveal a performance gap between 1st Generation PCBs and 2nd and 3rd Generation PCBs in terms of Efficiency and Profitability. 1st Gen PCBs perform worst whereas there is no statistical difference between Gen 2 and Gen 3 PCBs. Moreover, there is no sign of catch-up or improvement for the 1st Generation PCBs. The research demonstrates that an increasing amount of 1st Generation banks’ Non Performing Loans is the main reason for this performance gap. The interview data relate the performance gaps to inadequate Corporate Governance. The research identifies family dominated boards that have encouraged crony capitalism and featherbedding of employees resulting in excessive Non Performing Loans and higher overhead costs. Also, these 1st Generation banks are excessively large in terms of employees, rural branches and remittance earnings leading to a culture of invulnerability to takeover.