The village-based microfinance approach Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) has been implemented in developing countries for three decades, and is found to be an effective tool in alleviating poverty and facilitating access to financial services in rural areas.  This study, done in collaboration with Vi Agroforestry, aimed to investigate the impact of VSLA activities on female empowerment in Rwanda, and more specifically, how women's access to and control over assets have been affected by VSLA participation. The term 'female empowerment' refers to the process by which women gain control and power over their own life situations and their ability to make strategic choices, that is, the capacity to turn choices into desired actions and outcomes.  A qualitative methodology has been used, where the main data collection consisted of six individual interviews with VSLA staff responsible for implementing, monitoring and evaluating VSLA groups in six different districts, and two focus group interviews with female VSLA participants in two different districts, carried out during April and May 2021.  The findings show that VSLA participation significantly accelerates the process of female empowerment in both household and community domains for women in Rwanda and that VSLA is an efficient first step in moving from a marginalised position in the society. However, women are still in many cases restricted from claiming all potential benefits from VSLA participation by structures that dictate normative gender roles and power structures. The findings highlight the importance of continued gender-related and financial training in order to further increase female access to and control over resources through VSLAs.

This dissertation is a theoretical and empirical investigation of the actual changes in Federal S&L asset portfolios following the deregulation of the 1980's which loosened the restrictions on the amount of non-housing related lending that Federal S&L's could undertake. In particular the study focuses on the effects of deregulation and the forces promoting and constraining the individual S&L's expansion into non-housing related assets. The theoretical model provides a framework for the empirical examination of the deregulation in the DIDMCA of 1980 and Garn-St Germain Act of 1982. The theoretical model is an adaptation of the Mingo and Wolkowitz (1977) banking model. The peculiarities of the S&L industry are embodied through adaptations of the Mingo and Wolkowitz (1977) model which emphasize after-tax profit maximization (tax laws reward specialization in housing related assets), constrain diversification into non-housing related assets, and differentiate between mutual and stock associations. Using the method of Lagrange multipliers, an expression is obtained for the effect of a change in after-tax profits for a relaxation of the constraint on diversification which becomes the focus of the analysis. By integrating the Lagrange multiplier with economic and regulatory controls, systems of regressions are developed which examine the changes in asset portfolio composition for Federal associations using balance sheet and income statement data between 1979 and 1983. The findings and implications of the empirical analysis are summarized as follows: 1. The tax laws do not appear to have constrained the diversification. 2. Specialization effects with respect to housing related assets appear to have constrained the diversification into non-housing related assets. 3. Non-housing related assets and liquid assets appear to be substitutes. 4. Stock associations, on average, have expanded into non-housing related assets to a greater extent than mutual associations. 5. The changes in liability legislation appear to have restrained the diversification into non-housing related assets. 6. Large associations appear more able to acquire the expertise needed to diversify. 7. Profitability appears to be correlated with the expansion into "new products." / Ph. D.

This study investigates the use of the consumer buying club concept in the savings and loan industry. The major purposes of the study were to determine the effectiveness of savings and loan clubs as promotional tools and to reveal some broader marketing implications of the savings and loan club concept. The study's findings provided support for the following hypotheses: I. If savings and loan clubs were independent business operations in the channels of distribution for the goods and services they offer members, these clubs, based upon the marketing functions they perform, would be classified as two or more different types of distinct marketing institutions. II. Rather than being temporary promotional tools, savings and loan clubs are permanent organizational units of some savings and loan associations. III. Savings and loan clubs offer access to a large market for manufacturers and middlemen of certain goods and services. Primary data on the operations and activities of savings and loan clubs were collected in semi-structured interviews with executives of ten clubs that are believed to represent every type of club program existing in the fall of 1973. A mail survey of selected regulatory authorities provided information about the present and future regulatory environment in which clubs operate. Analyses of the data suggest that there are qualitative and quantitative differences in club programs based upon the geographic scope of a club's operation and the size of the sponsoring savings and loan association; however, the club concept appears to be an effective and relatively inexpensive promotional tool when matters of club objectives and design are carefully considered. The regulatory environment for club operations may be described as a passive one, and the findings indicate that this environment will not change in the near future. Savings and loan clubs are consumer-oriented and service-oriented promotional tools indicative of a recent marketing awareness in the savings and loan industry. Clubs both require and facilitate the planning of marketing strategies and objectives, including the use of market segmentation and product differentiation. The study's findings suggest the club concept is growing in popularity in the savings and loan industry, and the use of clubs as promotional tools will continue to grow in the future. Savings and loan clubs function as facilitating agencies in the marketing process by arranging for members to receive special discounts from established sellers of a wide variety of consumer goods and services. Some clubs function as merchant middlemen, either as retail stores or as mail order retail establishments, based upon their practices of buying merchandise to be sold to club members at cost. Savings and loan clubs are not profit-making organizations, with the exception of franchising activities by some national clubs. A functional analysis of club operations suggests that these clubs may be more effective than American consumer cooperatives have been. The savings and loan club market is a large and growing one offering manufacturers and middlemen, particularly retailers, access to an affluent market. The findings indicate that merchandise offers, involving buying and re-selling items to members, is an unpopular and unsuccessful type of club benefit. For this reason, manufacturers and wholesale middlemen derive indirect benefit from the club market through increased sales that established retailers may obtain by participating in a club's discount program.

This thesis has examined the fluctuations (or lack thereof) of bank deposits within Montgomery County, Virginia, during the years 1956 through 1966. The three major bank accounts chosen for this purpose were: Loans and Discounts; Time and Savings Deposits; and Demand Deposits. Fluctuations of deposits are of concern to bankers because, among other reasons, (1) the size of demand and time deposits determine the bank's primary and secondary reserves, and (2) the content and nature of the bank's investment portfolio will be affected by these variations in bank deposits. The objectives of this thesis were carried out by: (1) examining the daily financial statements of four representative banks of the county for deposit growth and deposit patterns; (2) searching banking literature for causes of deposit fluctuations; (3) overviewing the economy of the county and the Fifth Federal Reserve District for clues to variations in deposits, and; (4) interviewing county bankers in an effort to determine their thoughts concerning the fluctuations of deposits. The results indicated that there is little deposit variation within the county from year-to-year. This is because (1) the agricultural factor has played such a minor role during the time period; (2) the Radford Arsenal's production has played a stabilizing role in the county, especially since the early 1960s, and; (3) the continuing steady growth of the economy of the Fifth District has had an important effect upon the economy of Montgomery County, helping it to grow in a steady manner. / M.S.

The financial crisis facing the United States savings and loan industry has been steadily escalating over the last decade. During this time, accounting treatments concerning various thrift institution transactions have also attracted a great deal of attention. The specialized accounting treatments used in the thrift industry, known as regulatory accounting practices (RAP) have been blamed as one of the culprits hindering the regulators' ability to detect serious financial problems within many institutions. Accordingly, RAP was phased out, and all federally insured savings and loan associations began preparing their financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as of January 1, 1989. The purpose of this dissertation is to compare the relative predictive values of the two historical cost based accounting conventions (RAP and GAAP) available to the savings and loar? industry during the 1980's. For purposes of this dissertation, predictive value is defined as the usefulness in assessing future financial health and viability. The sample consisted of all the institutions reporting to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas between 1984 and 1989. Year-end thrift financial report data, obtained from Sheshunoff Information Services, Inc. (Austin, Texas) was used to calculate several financial ratios. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas provided a comprehensive listing of all institutions that failed between January 1, 1985 and March 31, 1989. The null hypothesis tested in this study was: no significant differences existed between the predictive values of RAP and GAAP financial statements. Using a dichotomous dependent variable (failed/not failed) and independent variables from prior research, several multinomial logistic models were developed to test the null hypothesis. All models developed failed to reject the null hypothesis.

This project will create strategic tools for the Credit Union and CUSO to use in order to best create a more symbiotic relationship between the two entities.

M.Comm. / The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the progress that has been made in the provision of housing finance to low-income earners. In 1994, housing affordability was constrained, as around 86% of households earned below R3 500. The focus, therefore, is on the role played by both government and the four major banks in broadening access to housing finance for these households and also those who earn less than R7 500. Frameworks that brought about certain initiatives aimed at addressing this problem are explored. On the side of government, the housing subsidy scheme and the role played by the government housing finance institutions (i.e. the National Housing Finance Corporation and the Rural Housing Loan Fund) are explored. On the banking sector side, the provisioning of housing finance prior to and after the implementation of the Financial Sector Charter (FSC) in 2004 is investigated. The dissertation concludes by looking the challenges that exist in the low-cost housing finance environment. The paper notes that, although some considerable progress has been made in the broadening of access to housing finance, there is a huge gap between the number of subsidies approved and the number of households that have benefited from the government subsidy scheme, possibly resulting from, among other things, capacity constraints at local government level. In respect of the banking sector, data analysed shows that bank involvement in the low-income market was very minimal before the implementation of the FSC. However, as much as some progress has been made, there are some serious challenges in this market that could have possibly prevented the role players from extending this access to the rest of the target group.