The strategic management of financial services firms has become an increasingly complex task over the last three decades. The banking industry, until the end of the 1970's, was heavily protected and characterised as a staid and stable industry in the age of '3-6-3' banking (borrow at 3%, lend at 6%, be on the golf course by 3 p.m.. This age came to an abrupt end and banks were forced to become competitive and fast [Matten: 1996]. Today, the banking industry is characterised by volatile markets, increasing consumerism, globalisation and competition, the rapid introduction of new technology, a changing regulatory environment and an increasingly inter-coupled business environment. Under conditions of increasing complexity and interconnectedness, it has become increasingly difficult to manage a modern financial services firm by intuition alone. The aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate how a system dynamics simulation model can expedite learning, insight and foresight for a typical retail bank involved in lending and deposit-taking activities in a retail banking market. The model represents the interest income generating system of a typical retail bank embedded in its environment. The exogenous environmental inputs can be initialised with a wide range of different characteristics; a stable interest rate environment versus a volatile environment, a mature market with low loans growth versus a fast growing market, and so on. Similarly the characteristics of the retail bank may be initialised with a wide range of characteristics; a start-up bank versus an established bank with a large loan and/or deposit book, aggressive versus conservative credit policies, etc. In particular, we develop a dynamic hypothesis of the complex structure of the interest income generating system of a retail bank. This hypothesis is translated into a quantitative system dynamics simulation model that serves to provide an experimental tool for testing strategic responses of a typical bank under different environmental scenarios enabling us to infer how performance arises. The model demonstrates how performance arises ex-ante from the dynamic structure of the bank's resource system. The experimental results provides a dynamic view on the performance characteristics of the income generating system of a retail bank described in the language of the Dynamic Resource Systems View of Warren and Morecroft [Warren: 2000]. - Firstly, the results show the scale of the resources developed; the size of the loans book, the number non-performing loans, the size of the depositor book book, and the consequent financial performance at any cross-sectional view in time. - Secondly, the experimental results indicate at what rate the resources have developed; the speed at which the advances book has developed, the rate with which the depositor book is generated under a particular set of exogenous circumstances and endogenous policies. - Thirdly, the results show that the observed performance of a number of similar banks can be described by a single, generic systemic feedback structure. Performance differences arise due to different resource endowments and decision policies of decision agents with different dominant logics about how they should structure their business. - Fourthly, the results show that the time evolution of financial performance of the interest income generating system is path dependent, that is, the time path of performance is constrained by its current resource endowments, policies and capabilities. The central thesis of this dissertation is that the dynamic behaviour of interest income is a result of an endogenous systemic structure in response to external exogenous factors such as interest rate movements. It is our contention that the complex interrelationships between issues such as capital management, interest rate management, liquidity management, cost management, strategic objectives, etc, justifies the use of a more complex systemic and dynamic framework for analysis that may produce new insights into the behaviour and management of the interest income system for a typical retail bank. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how the dynamic behaviour of interest income generation of a typical retail bank arises as much from the interaction of decision agents and tangible and intangible resource flows within the bank's system as from any exogenous inputs into the system. The model developed here is a highly aggregate model of limited scope encompassing the traditional core issues facing a typical retail bank and sheds some light on the issues addressed by the model. Although being of limited scope, the model is deemed to be sufficiently comprehensive to demonstrate how the dynamics arise. The work presented here is not fully complete, it represents a plausible hypothesis of system under study but has not been sufficiently validated to be considered scientifically complete. Much further work is required. However, this dissertation represents work that has been undertaken to date in an attempt to understand the system under study from a systemic perspective. Further extensions may be undertaken to provide insight into some of the current issues facing the modern retail bank executive. Understanding the dynamic structure of a retail bank sheds some light on the potential responses available to improve performance. The contribution of this research lies in the systematic and systemic abstraction of the interest income generating structure of a typical retail bank, the development of a quantitative model thereof and the insights obtained from this. The model developed may be considered to be a generic model applicable to any bank with a similar structure but with different objectives, parameter values, resource levels, policy parameters and exogenous inputs and provides different performance time paths with the same structure. The insights about solutions are specific and time dependent. This provides an insight that traditional static models do not provide by identifying specific solutions applicable at specific time frames and valid for specific durations thus coupling a time dimension to all solutions. / Economics / M.Com. (Quantitative Management)

This study intends to assess the impact of reducing or restricting loan disbursement on the performance of banks in Ethiopia.

This study intends to assess determinants of nonperforming loans. The mixed research approach was adopted for the study. Survey was conducted with professionals engaged in both private and state owned Banks in Ethiopia holding different positions using a self administered questionnaire. In addition, the study used structured review of documents and records of banks and in-depth interview of senior bank officials in the Ethiopian banking industry. The findings of the study shows that poor credit assessment, failed loan monitoring, underdeveloped credit culture, lenient credit terms and conditions, aggressive lending, compromised integrity, weak institutional capacity, unfair competition among banks, willful default by borrowers and their knowledge limitation, fund diversion for unintended purpose, over/under financing by banks ascribe to the causes of loan default.

The objectives of this study are to investigate the formulation and implementation of strategies within Retail Bank at corporate, business unit, functional and operational levels, focusing specifically on who is accountable and responsible for strategy formulation and implementation at each of these levels, as well as the factors related to the success or failure of strategy implementation and how success is measured. In addition, this study attempts to determine whether or not the financial industry as a whole plays a significant role in the success of strategy implementation within Retail Bank.

No description available.

The fundamental aim of this thesis is to propose and examine a conceptual model that best explains the key factors influencing Jordanian customers' intentions and usage of SST banking channels: Internet banking, Mobile banking, and Telebanking.

Since the late 1980s, deregulation of the banking sector has opened new avenues for the internationalization of banks. There are, however, few studies on the internationalization of banks – particularly Swedish banks. The purpose of this thesis is to deepen our knowledge of bank’s internationalization process by studying how the executive function’s expectation of market conditions influences internationalization patterns. This thesis makes an empirical contribution by describing how the Swedish banks Svenska Handelsbanken AB and Swedbank AB have internationalized during the period 1995-2014. The empirical evidence comprises all of the two banks’ activities in foreign markets and the qualitative cases describing this process have been constructed using archival data (newspaper articles, press releases, and reports) complemented with interviews. Beside the empirical contribution the thesis makes a theoretical contribution to internationalization theory and more specifically to Johanson and Vahlne’s (1977) internationalization process model. While Johanson and Vahlne’s model does have a strong explanatory value, it does not fully explain its mechanisms (Andersen, 1993; Leonidou & Katsikeas, 1996) and only firm’s internationalizing incrementally (Liesch et al., 2002). For explanation of both incremental and non-incremental behaviors this thesis provides a proposed view of bank’s internationalization where the concept of executive expectation is developed as a mediating variable in Johanson and Vahlne’s internationalization process model. To this end, executive expectation is described as the driving and hindering force in bank’s internationalization process influenced by exogenous and endogenous changes.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is accepted that financial sector development contributes to economic growth, equality and poverty alleviation. Economic development in many developing economies is constrained by the failure of financial markets to provide appropriate financial services products to enable these economies to address structural transformation and enable sustainable economic growth. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have emerged as an effective institutional vehicle to provide financial services to support the development and financing needs of market segments, particularly in developing economies, which the commercial financial sector is unable or unwilling to serve. DFIs provide financing to markets with a perceived high investment risk by developing appropriately structured innovative financing solutions and risk mitigation instruments needed to address the infrastructure and development financing gaps within these economies. DFIs are able to address commercial financial market failure by providing financing to support long-term private sector investment in infrastructure, financing products that service high-risk market sectors that lack collateral and financing to support public sector efforts to provide adequate social and economic infrastructure in countries with a high-risk investment rating. Specialist advisory skills are a critical resource that DFIs deploy to identify, package and finance sustainable and bankable solutions to support transformative growth. For DFIs to operate optimally they need to implement an integrated loan approval process that enables effective investment decision-making. By deploying specialist advisory services at each stage of the investment value chain, DFIs comply with international best practice standards, package development finance solutions to meet potential clients’ needs and ensure financial sustainability. An extensive literature review on DFI practice revealed that the predominant literature on DFIs focuses on the mandate and governance relationships within these institutions. This research assignment addressed the gap in available DFI literature. The research assignment aimed to build on the available literature on DFI investment decision-making and to contribute to the body of knowledge of the DFI investment value chain. The research assignment focused on DFI operations and investment decision-making procedures and considered how DFIs deploy specialist advisory services to enhance the application of an integrated loan approval process, mitigate investment risk and enable the optimal allocation of scarce resources to enhance sustainable development. The assignment identified the various institutional approaches and methodologies DFIs adopt to utilise specialist advisory services and identified the challenges, opportunities and limitations within the process. Chapter 1 introduces the key themes addressed in the research assignment. Chapter 2 provides a literature review of DFI practice and application of best practice considerations in investment decision-making. Chapter 3 details the research methodology deployed to conclude the research assignment. Chapter 4 addresses the research findings emanating from a case study analysis of the specialist advisory services deployed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Land Bank of South Africa. The assignment concludes with findings and recommendations. The research assignment found that limited investigation has been conducted on the operational execution of specialist advisory services within the investment value chain. Specialist advisory services provide DFIs with a key resource to assist in assessing potential loan applications in ensuring that clients meet mandate criteria to qualify for DFI loan applications, assist in assessing whether clients meet investment standards, and ensure that financially sustainable transactions are supported. To enhance DFI practice, further research is required to unpack the various investment modules applied within the investment value chain.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration