LL.M. (Commercial Law) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The earlier theories considered trade credit as a substitute for bank credit. Recent theories suggest that bank credit and trade credit can also be considered as two complementary sources of financing. By using South African panel data from 2007 to 2015, the study examines if the problem of financial inclusion in South Africa can be mitigated by utilising trade credit data. The empirical findings using trade credit at current period are consistent with the earlier theories of trade credit that trade credit and bank credit are substitutes, but the model was not robust to estimation techniques. The study also used the lagged trade credit as a variable of interest and found that it is positively related to bank credit. This means that the trade credit data from the previous period can facilitate access to bank credit. Therefore, the information from trade credit can serve as a signal about firms’ quality and thus facilitates access to bank finance. / Economics / M. Com (Economics)

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / Institutions of the Farm Credit System (FCS) focus on risk-based lending in accordance with regulatory direction. The rating of risk also assists retail staff in loan approval, risk-based pricing, and allowance decisions. FCS institutions have developed models to analyze financial and related customer information in determining qualitative and quantitative risk measures. The objective of this thesis is to examine empirical account data from 2006-2012 to review the probability of default (PD) rating methodology within the overall risk rating system implemented by a Farm Credit System association. This analysis provides insight into the effectiveness of this methodology in predicting the migration of accounts across the association’s currently-established PD ratings where negative migration may be an apparent precursor to actual loan default. The analysis indicates that average PD ratings hold relatively consistent over the years, though the distribution of the majority of PD ratings shifted to higher quality by two rating categories over the time period. Various regressions run in the analysis indicate that the debt to asset ratio is most consistently statistically significant in estimating future PD ratings. The current ratio appears to be superior to working capital to gross profit as a liquidity measure in predicting PD rating migration. Funded debt to EBITDA is more effective in predicting PD rating movement as a measure of earnings to debt than gross profit to total liabilities, although the change of these ratios over time appear to be weaker indicators of the change in PD rating potentially due to the variable nature of annual earnings of production agriculture operations due to commodity price volatility. The debt coverage ratio is important as it relates to future PD migration, though the same variability in commodity price volatility suggests the need implement multi-year averaging for calculation of earnings-based ratios. These ratios were important in predicting the PD rating of observations one year into the future for production agriculture operations. To further test the predictive ability of the PD ratings, similar regression analyses were completed comparing current year rating and ratios to future PD ratings beyond one year, specifically for three and five years. Results from these regression models indicate that current year PD rating and ratios are less effective in predicting future PD ratings beyond one year. Furthermore, because of the variation in regression results between the analyses completed for one, three and five years into the future, it is important to regularly capture ratio and rating information, at least annually.

M.Com. (Economic Management) / South Africa, as a developing country, has an enormous need for capital. Between 1980 to 1983, an amount of RBO billion was spent on fixed capital investment alone in this country. A large component of this investment originates from external sources and was financed by way of off-shore loans and other credit facilities. The developed countries, in order to promote their exports, have long realised that in addition to offering a competitive price and high quality product, competition also required that credit be made available to the importer. Presently the competition between the leading export countries result in the development of subsidised export credit schemes to promote the sale of industrial machinery and equipment. In cases where the fixed export finance rate is lower than market rates, Governments make up the difference between the export finance rate and commercial lending rates. Normally a fixed interest rate for the credit period is available in the exporter's currency. An important consideration when borrowing overseas, is the foreign currency exposure. With continuous fluctuations in the value of currencies the borrower is faced with a foreign exchange risk. This risk can be partially eliminated by hedging on the forward exchange market. In this study an analysis was made of the most important export credit schemes as well as the possible influence of forward exchange considerations. An importer has the option to also make use imported capital goods. Specific reference installment sale financing and financial leasing of local finance to pay for is made in this study to as methods of local financing. The purpose of this study was twofold: Firstly, an analysis of historic interest rate patterns pertaining to medium-term leasing and installment sale financing in South Africa and secondly a determination of the cost of export credit finance for the .same period was made. In this . way the study endeavored to determine whether, from the point of view of the cost of capital, it had been worthwhile to U8e export credit financing.

The main objective of this thesis is to acquaint the reader with the main types of credit derivatives, with the methods of functioning and with main valuation principles. The theoretical part focus on description of credit derivatives market developement with more detailed description of subjcts, who are operating on credit derivatives market. The analysis fosus on how the financial crises influenced these subjects and their credit derivatives portfolios. I have also described the new suggested regulation changes. As a conclusion is the estimation of the regulation changes on the credit derivatives market size.

A Constant Proportion Debt Obligation is a credit derivative which has been introduced to generate a surplus return over a riskless market return. The surplus payments should be obtained by synthetically investing in a risky asset (such as a credit index) and using a linear leverage strategy which is capped for bounding the risk. In this thesis, we investigate two approaches for investigation of constant proportion debt obligations. First, we search for an optimal leverage strategy which minimises the mean-square distance between the final payment and the final wealth of constant proportion debt obligation by the use of optimal control methods. We show that the optimal leverage function for constant proportion debt obligations in a mean-square sense coincides with the one used in practice for geometric type diffusion processes. However, the optimal strategy will lead to a shortfall for some cases. The second approach of this thesis is to develop a pricing formula for constant proportion debt obligations. To do so, we consider both the early defaults and the default on the final payoff features of constant proportion debt obligations. We observe that a constant proportion debt obligation can be modelled as a barrier option with rebate. In this respect, given the knowledge on barrier options, the pricing equation is derived for a particular leverage strategy.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjama kredito esmė šiuolaikiniame Lietuvos statybinių medžiagų prekybos sektoriuje. Apžvelgiamos kredito reikalingumo, jo funkcijų pritaikymas minėtoje srityje, ypač didelę dėmesį skiriant atskirų kredito rūšių, formų, klasifikavimų analizei. Taip pat apžvelgiama bendra kredito sistemos veikimo schema Lietuvoje, detaliai išnagrinėjant pagrindinių jų dalyvių veiklą ir jų vykdomas funkcijas bei taikomas kredito formas. Ypač didelis dėmesys yra skiriamas kredito rizikos valdymui. Nagrinėjami kreditų rizikos valdymo principai bei jų klasifikacija, bei kaip tai gali būti įgyvendinama kredito sutartyje. Konkrečiu įmonės pavyzdžiu nagrinėjama, kaip kreditavimo sistemą galima pritaikyti ir nedidelėje įmonėje. Šiuo tikslu modifikuota įmonės naudojama kreditavimo sistema ir pateikti pasiūlymai, kurie dar labiau suefektyvintų šį procesą. Taip pat darbe patikrinama, kas lėmė įmonės pardavimų plano neįvykdymą ir ar tai nėra susiję su taikoma kreditavimo sistema. / Master work examines the essence of the modern credit Lithuanian building materials sector. Overview of the credit of necessity, the use of the functions in this area, focusing particularly on the individual credit forms, the forms, classifications of analysis. It also reviews the overall functioning of the system, the credit scheme in Lithuania, in detail, examining the main participants in their activities and their functions, and apply the credit forms. In particular, emphasis is given to the credit risk management. It examines the credit risk management principles and their classification, and how it can be implemented in the credit agreement. A specific example of the enterprise, as the credit system can be adapted and small enterprise. For this purpose, modified for use by the credit system and make proposals that further suefektyvintų the process. We also checked the work, which led to a failure to fulfill the company's sales plan and whether it is linked to the credit system. / In dieser Arbeit wird das Wesen des modernen Kredits des litauischen Baustoffsektors untersucht. Das ist die Übersicht über die Notwendigkeit der Kredit und die Nutzung der Funktionen des Kredites in diesem Bereich. Besonders aufmerksam werden die einzelnen Formen und die Formen der Klasifikationen betrachtet. Es wird auch die allgemeine Funktionsweise des Kredit – Systems in Litauischen analsiert. Es wird über die wichtigsten Akteure in ihre Aktiwitäten und ihre Funktionen, wie auch über die Formen des Kredits gesprochen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt insbesonde auf dem Kreditrisiko – Management. Es werden die Prinzipien des Kreditsrisiko – Managements und ihre Einführung untersucht, wie sie umgesetzt und im Kreditvertrag vorgesehen werden können. Es wird ein konkretes Beispiel für das Unternehmen verwendet, der zeigt wie das Kredit – System für das kleine Unternehmen angepasst werden kann. Zu diesem Zweck wird die Verwendung durch den Kredit geändert und es wird auch vorgeschlagen, wie dieser Prozess besser gemacht werden kann. Wir haben auch die Arbeiten, die zu der Nichterfüllung des Unternehmensumsatzes überprüft und fragen ob es im Zusammenhang mit dem Kreditsystem steht.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamas Lietuvos bankinio sektoriaus kredito rizikos valdymas 2008-2011 m. laikotarpiu: teorinėje dalyje pateikiama bendroji kredito rizikos esmė, išskiriami galimi kreditų rizikos valdymo modeliai, metodai ir priemonės, lyginami skirtingų užsienio mokslininkų kredito rizikos valdymo empiriniai tyrimai. Empirinėje dalyje atliekama Lietuvos bankų sektoriaus suteiktų kreditų dinaminė analizė 2008-2011 m., sąryšiu su pagrindiniais kredito ir bankinės veiklos kokybės rodikliais, kreditų palūkanų normomis ir aptariama Lietuvos ūkinė situacija finansinės krizės metu. Konstruktyvioje dalyje pateikiamas galimas kredito rizikos valdymo modelis Lietuvos bankiniame sektoriuje. / In the final thesis of the Master‘s degree there are analyzed the credit risk management in Lithuanian banking sector in year 2008-2011: in the theoretical part there are described the general credit risk definition, highlighted models, approaches and tool for credit risk management, compared the interpretation aspects of credit risk management researches by different scientists. In the empirical part there are represented the dynamics of given credits in year 2008-2011, and its’ relationship with the main measures of the quality of credit portfolio and commercial banks‘ activity. In the last part there is represented the model for credit risk management in Lithuanian banking sector.

Most farmers in South Africa use standard insurance to protect their crops against natural disasters such as hail or strong winds. However, no South African insurance contracts exist to compensate for too much or too little rain (although floods are covered), or which will pay out if temperatures were too high or too low for a certain period of time for the relevant crop. Weather derivatives - which farmers may employ to ensure crops against adverse temperatures - do exist, but these are mostly available in foreign markets in the form of Heating Degree Days contracts and Cooling Degree Day contracts and are used chiefly by energy companies. Some South African over-the-counter weather derivatives are available, but trading in these is rare and seldom used. The goal of this dissertation is to establish a pricing equation for weather derivatives specifically for use in the South African market. This equation will be derived using a similar methodology to that employed for credit default swaps. The premium derived will be designed to compensate grape farmers from losses arising from two different climatic outcomes - in this case temperature and precipitation. These derivatives will be region and crop specific and the formulation will be sufficiently flexible as to allow for further climatic possibilities (which may be added at a later stage). These weather derivative premiums will then be compared to standard crop insurance to establish economic viability of the products and recommendations will be made regarding their usage. The possibility of the simultaneous use of these derivatives and standard crop insurance for optimal crop coverage will also be explored and discussed. / Thesis (M.Com. (Risk management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Most farmers in South Africa use standard insurance to protect their crops against natural disasters such as hail or strong winds. However, no South African insurance contracts exist to compensate for too much or too little rain (although floods are covered), or which will pay out if temperatures were too high or too low for a certain period of time for the relevant crop. Weather derivatives - which farmers may employ to ensure crops against adverse temperatures - do exist, but these are mostly available in foreign markets in the form of Heating Degree Days contracts and Cooling Degree Day contracts and are used chiefly by energy companies. Some South African over-the-counter weather derivatives are available, but trading in these is rare and seldom used. The goal of this dissertation is to establish a pricing equation for weather derivatives specifically for use in the South African market. This equation will be derived using a similar methodology to that employed for credit default swaps. The premium derived will be designed to compensate grape farmers from losses arising from two different climatic outcomes - in this case temperature and precipitation. These derivatives will be region and crop specific and the formulation will be sufficiently flexible as to allow for further climatic possibilities (which may be added at a later stage). These weather derivative premiums will then be compared to standard crop insurance to establish economic viability of the products and recommendations will be made regarding their usage. The possibility of the simultaneous use of these derivatives and standard crop insurance for optimal crop coverage will also be explored and discussed. / Thesis (M.Com. (Risk management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.