Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / O spread bancário no Brasil tem mostrado resiliência quanto ao seu nível reconhecidamente elevado mesmo após as mudanças econômicas estruturais ocorridas a partir da implementação do Plano Real e a mais recente queda da taxa de juros básica da economia SELIC - promovida, em grande parte, pelo cenário de crise internacional e pelo aumento expressivo do mercado de crédito nacional. Adicionalmente a isso, a mudança no perfil da dívida pública também sofreu alteração recentemente, visando reduzir a importância de títulos públicos atrelados a SELIC e, com isso, aumentar a eficácia da política monetária praticada pelo Banco Central. Ademais, títulos públicos com essa natureza desincentivam a ampliação de um mercado de crédito desenvolvido, dado que são títulos de baixo risco e com rentabilidade suficiente para inibir as instituições financeiras à incorrer em novos empréstimos, com maior risco operacional. Este trabalho pretende investigar a relação entre as Letras Financeiras do Tesouro Nacional LFTs e a taxa de spread bancário ex-ante no período recente da economia brasileira. / The banking spread in Brazil has shown resilience as its recognized high level even after the structural economic changes that occurred since the implementation of the Real Plan and the latest drop in the basic interest rate of the economy - SELIC - promoted largely by international crisis scenario and the significant increase in the domestic credit market. In addition to this, the change in public debt profile has also undergone changes recently to reduce the importance of the SELIC indexed bonds and thereby increase the effectiveness of monetary policy practiced by the Central Bank. Furthermore, bonds with nature that discourage the expansion of a developed credit market, as are securities with low risk and profitability sufficient to inhibit financial institutions to incur new loans, with higher operational risk. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the Letras Financeiras do Tesouro - LFT - and the rate of ex-ante bank spread in recent years of the Brazilian economy.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / O spread bancário no Brasil tem mostrado resiliência quanto ao seu nível reconhecidamente elevado mesmo após as mudanças econômicas estruturais ocorridas a partir da implementação do Plano Real e a mais recente queda da taxa de juros básica da economia SELIC - promovida, em grande parte, pelo cenário de crise internacional e pelo aumento expressivo do mercado de crédito nacional. Adicionalmente a isso, a mudança no perfil da dívida pública também sofreu alteração recentemente, visando reduzir a importância de títulos públicos atrelados a SELIC e, com isso, aumentar a eficácia da política monetária praticada pelo Banco Central. Ademais, títulos públicos com essa natureza desincentivam a ampliação de um mercado de crédito desenvolvido, dado que são títulos de baixo risco e com rentabilidade suficiente para inibir as instituições financeiras à incorrer em novos empréstimos, com maior risco operacional. Este trabalho pretende investigar a relação entre as Letras Financeiras do Tesouro Nacional LFTs e a taxa de spread bancário ex-ante no período recente da economia brasileira. / The banking spread in Brazil has shown resilience as its recognized high level even after the structural economic changes that occurred since the implementation of the Real Plan and the latest drop in the basic interest rate of the economy - SELIC - promoted largely by international crisis scenario and the significant increase in the domestic credit market. In addition to this, the change in public debt profile has also undergone changes recently to reduce the importance of the SELIC indexed bonds and thereby increase the effectiveness of monetary policy practiced by the Central Bank. Furthermore, bonds with nature that discourage the expansion of a developed credit market, as are securities with low risk and profitability sufficient to inhibit financial institutions to incur new loans, with higher operational risk. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the Letras Financeiras do Tesouro - LFT - and the rate of ex-ante bank spread in recent years of the Brazilian economy.

This study explores two issues, one is to investigate the determinants of net interest margins and bank risk-taking from 1993 to 2001 in a partial universal banking system, taking Taiwan as our example, and the other is to provide some empirical evidences of exchange ratio determination of bank mergers in Taiwan. In the first topic, the partial universal banking system here is a mix of the conventional commercial banking system (whose activity is mainly loan-deposit taking) and the universal banking system (engaging in both loan-deposit and investment activities). We employ the recently developed method of the panel data threshold regression method to estimate the determinant function of the net interest margin and bank risk-taking model. It is found that the corporate governance plays an important role in explaining the recent behavior of the banking industry. The empirical results show that the net interest margins in the commercial banking system are affected by credit risk, interest rate risk, the degree of leverage and management quality, unlike the net interest margins in the universal banking system which are more sensitive to only-credit risk and the degree of leverage. Moreover, the relationship between managerial ownership and credit risk taking behavior is inverse U-shape in the commercial banking system, consistent with the corporate control hypothesis, unlike U-shape relation in the universal banking system that supports moral-hazard hypothesis. In the second topic, we not only extend Larson and Gonedes (1969) merger exchange ratio model to taking account of market risk and more participants but also apply Marsh-Merton dividend behavior reduced form (1987) to estimate the expected post-merger price-earnings ratio. Taking the first case of the bank merger according to the Financial Institution Merger Law as our sample, we find that the L-G model indicates the interval of exchange ratios that enhance, or at least not cause any diminution in the wealth positions of all parties to a proposed bank merger. Also, the bargaining area offers some information to help merger candidates to negotiate final actual exchange ratio.

M.Comm. (Financial Management) / There is a wide perception that bank net interest margins (NIMs) in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and South Africa in particular, are higher compared to other regions. The study investigates four commercial banks in South Africa with the aim of identifying the relevant factors affecting the behaviour of NIMs in commercial banking in South Africa, and draws comparisons with other markets. The study employs the Classical Linear Regression Model (CLRM) using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) data estimating technique to analyse net interest margins over the period 2000 to 2010. The study takes note of Ho and Saunders’s seminal work produced in 1981, and subsequent extensions and modification by other authors and researchers. Net interest margins are modeled in a single-step together with explanatory variables driven from the theoretical model. Using data obtained from the Bankscope data base, the variables examined in the study are; competitive structure of the market, average operating costs, management’s propensity for risk aversion, credit risk exposure, the quantum of the bank’s operations, short-term money market interest rate volatility, the opportunity cost of holding reserves and quality of management running the institution. The findings of the study suggest that market power, average operating costs, degree of risk aversion, credit risk exposure, and size of operations are major factors explaining the behaviour of NIMs in South Africa. These variables are major in terms of the number of banks that exhibit statistical significance. Market power, interest rate volatility and opportunity cost of holding reserves are also relevant factors, although they affect fewer banks than the major factors. Comparison of South African net interest margins determinants with those from other regions reveals some fundamental differences. These differences indicate that banks from different countries and regions are faced with different operating environments and risk profiles that drive net interest margins.