<p> Since Credit Unions provide low cost financial services to customers that banks do not normally target, the importance of their availability and viability is critic to everyone. Further research is necessary to predict potential trends that can be averted through the hiring process if necessary. The problem to be addressed in this study is that there seems to be a significant financial difference in credit unions in terms of loan delinquency, capital ratio, total loans to total shares, and return on investments between credit unions managed by female CEOs vs credit unions managed by male CEOs. Those affected include the customers, the Board members and the community which the credit union serves. Knowing if gender selection is a factor may assist in the sustainability of the firm. The aim of the study was to provide useful information to stakeholders to provide more opportunities for females in the selection, monitoring, and retention of Credit Union CEOs. A non-experimental quantitative method was used to test archived numerical hypotheses. The archived data included yearly data on loan delinquency, capital ratio, return on investments, and total loans. The data are publicly available from the National Credit Union Administration. The NCUA is an independent federal agency created by the United States Congress to regulate, charter and supervise credit unions. The data was used to compare financial metrics among each credit union. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney U Test. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in capital ratio percentages between credit unions managed by female CEOs and were significantly different from credit unions managed by males. The results indicated that for total loans, loan delinquency, and return on investments there was no significant difference in male and female CEOs managing their respective credit unions.</p>

<p> This is an exploratory qualitative case study of the state of sustainability programs within a set of 12 mid-sized U.S. banks compared among themselves and then compared to a set of 12 global banks. This research was designed in two phases. Phase One presented the current state of sustainability within mid-sized U.S. banks and global banks based upon each bank&rsquo;s public data as organized into three sections: a bank profile, major strategic initiatives, and bank sustainability initiatives and programs. Phase Two data were analyzed from 24 interviews with key executives within each bank. A structured interview format was used, and the interviews were conducted in-person, by phone, or via email depending on the respondent&rsquo;s preference.</p><p> The research found that the majority of mid-sized U.S. banks had, from a regulatory view point, achieved the broader aspects of sustainability. Mid-sized U.S. banks had not <i>seized the spirit</i> of sustainability by organizing and communicating their efforts in the context of a voluntary formal reporting mechanism. Mid-sized banks generally relied on government compliance reports to communicate their efforts. By relying on compliance reporting, mid-sized U.S. banks are missing an opportunity to enhance their image and improve reputational and risk management efforts. It was found that the global banks demonstrated a willingness to embrace the <i>spirit </i> of sustainability past any regulatory requirements, but found their efforts were still in the process of integration within their many business units. It was also found that there is a need for one globally accepted reporting mechanism for sustainability performance. At present, there appear to be many competing requirements for reporting on sustainability efforts, which are beginning to tax internal departments of global banks in an effort to meet the information needs of all their stakeholders.</p><p> Using thematic analysis, five key contributions resulted: The first contribution is an understanding of the <i>key components</i> of mid-sized U.S. banks and global bank sustainability programs. The second contribution is identification of the <i>motivators</i> for mid-sized U.S. banks and global banks to establish a sustainability program. Third, a set of criteria was identified to help determine the success of a bank&rsquo;s sustainability program that can be used by mid-sized U.S. banks and global banks <i> (criteria for success).</i> The fourth contribution is the presenting of the <i>current state of sustainability programs</i> for the set of banks used in the study. The fifth contribution is a set of <i>guiding elements and impact benefits</i> that can be used by any size bank executives to improve business results through implementation of a sustainability initiative. </p>

Credit scoring methods summanse information on credit applicants. An assessment of creditworthiness is derived from this summary. This thesis is concerned with statistical methods of credit scoring. Much of the existing literature on credit scoring is concerned with comparing the predictive power of a wide variety of classification techniques. However, much of the published work concludes that classifier performance on credit data is relatively insensitive to the choice of statistical technique. Consequently, the techniques used in commercial credit scoring have remained broadly similar during recent years. This thesis investigates credit scoring from a more fundamental level, by considering the formulation of the credit problem. A review of the credit literature is given, focusing on areas that have been subjected to much recent research activity. Details of the data sets used throughout this thesis are provided and analysed using techniques common to the credit industry. Methods that capitalise on the uncertainty and flexibility in the definitions of the classes used to represent 'good' and 'bad' credit risks are proposed. Firstly, a class of models is described that permits the choice of class definition to be deferred until the time at which the classification is required. Secondly, a strategy for choosing a suitable definition which optimises some external criterion is introduced. In addition, an approach is presented that combats classifier deterioration resulting from the evolution of the underlying populations. This thesis is essentially concerned with the uncertainties and change inherent in credit scoring. We present novel ways in which these properties may be incorporated in the formulation of the credit problem.

Structuralist models of development still persist in the 1990s, and many developing countries continue to target macroeconomic stability through aggressive monetary controls based on structuralist assumptions. Simultaneously, prudential criteria, principally capital controls take effect through the commercial banking system. It is the central hypothesis of this thesis that monetary controls impact adversely on commercial bank performance and on banks' market share, and that the simultaneous implementation of monetary and prudential regulation can undermine the objectives of monetary stability and the growth of the banking system. This study argues that those monetary measures most frequently applied to protect the balance of payments; primary and secondary reserve requirements, credit controls, and interest rate controls, force cost adjustments and non-optimal portfolio realignments which stymie commercial bank performance. These arguments are illustrated from the cases of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago for the period 1973-1992. The study discusses the rationale for regulation, analyses commercial bank performance in the Caribbean and formulates a model which includes regulatory variables for testing the impact of monetary and prudential regulation on bank performance. The model also defines the determinants of bank performance and provides the basis for deriving regulation and performance indices with global application. Results disclose that most regulatory variables are negatively associated with commercial bank performance and tentative causality is established running from regulation to bank performance. Where cost-axiomatic interest rate-setting is practised the adverse impact on bank performance is alleviated, but unevenness of monetary and prudential regulations adversely influence the performance of commercial banks, contributing to loss of market share relative to non-banks. Regulation assists in achieving macroeconomic objectives, but greater liberalisation appears desirable for the development of commercial banking. However, new monetary theories are needed to identify alternative vehicles, other than commercial banks, if macroeconomic objectives are to be achieved in increasingly liberalised environments.

Within the property research community consideration of environmental risk in relation to a tenant's polluting activities has received little attention. Whilst the profession has begun to address environmental issues through various research initiatives, the study of current land uses causing environmental problems and, m particular, the consequences for property investors, is at a very early stage. Through the literature review, and the major empirical project undertaken in the course of this research, significant advancements have been made in this area. It has been possible to establish the following: that the property investment portfolios of financial institutions and property investment companies are unlikely to be completely devoid of properties occupied by tenants capable of causing environmental damage; where such damage occurs an increasing body of opinion suggests that landlords could be held criminally liable for fines and/or statutory clean up costs; even where the tenant has sole liability (perhaps because the liabilities arise from activities the tenant has undertaken at another site) there are income security repercussions for the property investor. Site specific case studies, where industrial properties were inspected by the researcher and discussed with environmental auditors, played an important part in obtaining the information to support these findings. Consequently, improvements in the environmental performance1 of tenants occupying their properties, possibly, through the implementation of an environmental management system (EMS), will provide investors with a less risky property investment vis a vis other similar property investment opportunities occupied by tenants displaying low levels of environmental awareness. The empirical work within this thesis also found that property investors are beginning to acknowledge the concept of EMSs by considering it in the stock selection process. The research introduces a new consideration into the catalogue of property investment risks, namely, the environmental performance of the tenant and the role of environmental management systems therein. This strengthens the existing academic literature on property investment risk, and as such provides an original and significant contribution to this field of knowledge.

An analysis is made of the major factors determining financial innovation and financial change by building societies and banks, and the particular innovations introduced are examined. The effects of these institutional developments upon the growth rates of the broad monetary aggregates relative to nominal income are analysed. Specific attention is paid to the personal sector's motives for holding money and particularly the willingness to hold interest-bearing money balances at building societies and banks. Special consideration is placed upon the abolition of the building societies' cartel, the removal of portfolio monetary controls on the retail banks and the entry of thebanks into the mortgage market. The effects of the abolition of the cartel on the effectiveness of monetary control are divided into finite stock effects and more continuing effects. The stock effects of credit liberalization upon the growth of the broad monetary aggregates and the confusion caused as to the interpretation of monetary conditions are analysed, and aneconometric evaluation of the stock effects of credit liberalization on the personal sector's level of debt is carried out. In terms of more continuing effects it is hypothesized that the abolition of the cartel will have reduced the interest elasticity of the demand for money, but increased the interest elasticity of consumers' expenditure. These hypotheses are evaluated using standard error-correction models and co-integrating models of the demand for money and consumers' expenditure.

This thesis examines the reporting of uncertainty in financial statements. This is an increasingly important issue for accounting policy-makers as they seek to create financial statements that reflect the substance and economic reality of events in an uncertain world. Several currently proposed disclosures of uncertainty are examined. They comprise the disclosure of the uncertain nature of financial statements and the disclosure of the uncertainty surrounding estimates of assets and liabilities. Drawing on theories of decision-making under uncertainty, the thesis adopts an experimental approach to the exploration of the effect of these disclosures on the perceptions confidence of users of financial statements. As a result of its origins in the current context of the reporting of uncertainty, the research findings are pertinent to the development of disclosures of uncertainty. The research finds that the disclosure of uncertainty matters. Moreover, the framing of such disclosure has an effect on perception and confidence. The characteristics of the reporting entity and perceptions of the reliability of financial statement items are also important influences on the impact of such disclosures. The thesis concludes by suggesting that the clear disclosure of uncertainty leads to a fuller view of the reporting entity.

<p> Credit unions, much like banks and other financial institutions, provide financial services to their customers. Although the financial services provided to customers by both credit unions and banks are similar, the method by which these institutions operate are completely different. Banks are for-profit institutions and can freely operate much like other for-profit entities with the objective of generating profit. Credit unions operate as non-profit institutes and are bound to the regulations as defined by the Credit Union Act of 1934. This act stipulates that because credit unions can operate as non-profit institutions, they can only provide financial services to its owners, or otherwise known as members, and credit unions can only generate income via the financial services provided to those members. Due to this income generating limitation, credit unions must be very careful to avoid downward financial trends because resources are limited to reverse these downward trends. As such, the National Credit Union Administration mandates that 40 financial ratios must be created by all reporting credit unions to monitor their financial health; however, even with these 40 financial ratios being monitored, credit unions are still failing. Therefore, a quantitative study was created where logistic regression was used to determine which of the 40 financial ratios were statistically significant in predicting those credit unions that had actually failed. The objective of this study was to identify which of these 40 financial ratios had the potential of being good predictors of credit union failures. If a specific list of financial ratios could be developed, this could be a valuable tool in identifying credit unions with downward trends and allowing corrective actions to be implemented early enough to prevent these distressed credit unions from failing.</p><p>

This thesis is concerned with the accountability of public international financial institutions to their constituencies at global and local geographic scales. It investigates the compliance of the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with their own environmental and social policies as they relate to biodiversity protection. While the World Bank and the GEF pursue a global environmental agenda, their environmental and social policies commit the institutions to building bridges between the global and the local levels by requiring the participation of locally affected communities in decision-making. The study investigates the compliance with the policies in a specific geographic, political and economic space. Cameroon was chosen because both institutions consider the country's biodiversity to be of global significance and are financing operations which have indirect and direct impacts on its biodiversity. The operations investigated include World Bank macro-economic policy advice and traditional investments in infrastructure projects as well as a GEF project specifically designed to protect biodiversity. The central finding of this research is that the institutions comply only partially and in an uneven manner with their own mandatory policy guidelines. In order to mitigate the risk of studying the institutions' operations in only one country and to ascertain possible systemic patterns of institutional behaviour, the results of the case studies are contrasted with the institutions internal evaluation reports covering their overall portfolios. A political ecology approach to international financial institutions is used to examine the political factors behind the emergence of the institutions' biodiversity agenda and the implementation of their operational policies. Analytical tools from both political science and the areas of sociology and economics concerned with theory of organization are employed to further the understanding of the functioning of the global institutions. Finally, the thesis seeks to contribute to defining the characteristics of global institutions which can mediate between the global and local levels by creating spaces of negotiation in which a plurality of views are taken into account.

This thesis investigates emerging stock markets in the Pacific Basin with particular reference to the Korean stock market, which is representative of typical, fast-growing emerging markets. Using a broader range of econometric models, the short-run and long-run behaviour of stock prices, the impact of changes of a price limit system, and derivatives trading on the stock market are investigated. In the first two chapters, recent performance of emerging stock markets in the Pacific Basin and the development of the Korean stock market are examined. Chapter 3 investigates the behaviour of Korean stock market volatility is investigated. The results show that the GARCH(1,1)-AR(1) and the GARCH(1,1)-MA(1) seemed to be the best fit models among the Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARCH) class models. The nexus between Korean stock market returns and macroeconomic variables is investigated in Chapter 5. The evidence suggests that changes in the exports/imports ratio is the most important determinant in forecasting the variance of stock returns in the Korean export-oriented economy. Chapter 6 provides tests of long-run equilibrium among Pacific-Basin stock markets for a period spanning the Asian financial market crises. Using unit root tests, which allow for a possible crash, the results find that four of the series are trend stationary. Among the remaining I(1) series, little evidence of cointegration is found. In Chapter 7, the consequences of price limits for weak-form efficiency is investigated for the first time. The evidence suggests that the stock market as a whole approaches a random walk as price limits are relaxed. Chapter 8 investigates the impact on the spot market of trading in KOSPI 200 futures. Empirical results show that futures trading increases the speed at which information is impounded into spot market prices. The lead-lag relation is asymmetric with stronger evidence that the stock index futures market leads the spot market.