Financial Transactions (financial + transactions)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


WAL-MART AND BANKS: SHOULD THE TWAIN MEET?

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 4 2009
A PRINCIPLES-BASED APPROACH TO THE ISSUES OF THE SEPARATION OF BANKING AND COMMERCE
The application in July 2005 by Wal-Mart to obtain a specialized bank charter from the state of Utah and to obtain federal deposit insurance reopened a national debate concerning the separation of banking and commerce. Though Wal-Mart withdrew its application in March 2007, the issue and the debate continue. This article offers a principles-based approach to this issue that begins with the recognition that banks are special and that safety and soundness regulation of banks is therefore warranted. Building on that recognition, the article lays out the principle that the "examinability and supervisability" of an activity should determine if that activity should be undertaken by a bank. Even if an otherwise legitimate activity is not suitable for a bank, it should be allowed for a bank's owners (whether the owners are individuals or a holding company), so long as the financial transactions between the bank and its owners are closely monitored by bank regulators. The implications of this set of ideas for the Wal-Mart case and for banking and commerce generally are then discussed. (JEL G21, G28) [source]


Calculating credibility: print culture, trust and economic figures in early eighteenth-century England1

ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 4 2007
NATASHA GLAISYER
Credit in early modern England has been studied by both social historians of the market and historians of the book. The intersection of these literatures is explored by asking the question: how did producers of books about interest (which was closely connected to credit) convince readers that their books could be trusted? One particular book is considered: a palm-sized book of interest calculations by John Castaing. Most importantly, and unusually, many copies of this book contain his signature, which, it is argued, must be interpreted in the context of the particular role that signatures played in guaranteeing financial transactions. [source]


Has Finance Made the World Riskier?

EUROPEAN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2006
Raghuram G. Rajan
G20; G21; G22 Abstract Developments in the financial sector have led to an expansion in its ability to spread risks. The increase in the risk bearing capacity of economies, as well as in actual risk taking, has led to a range of financial transactions that hitherto were not possible, and has created much greater access to finance for firms and households. On net, this has made the world much better off. Concurrently, however, we have also seen the emergence of a whole range of intermediaries, whose size and appetite for risk may expand over the cycle. Not only can these intermediaries accentuate real fluctuations, they can also leave themselves exposed to certain small probability risks that their own collective behaviour makes more likely. As a result, under some conditions, economies may be more exposed to financial-sector-induced turmoil than in the past. The paper discusses the implications for monetary policy and prudential supervision. In particular, it suggests market-friendly policies that would reduce the incentive of intermediary managers to take excessive risk. [source]


The impact of the euro on Europe's financial markets

FINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 3 2003
Gabriele Galati
This paper presents an overview of the impact of the introduction of the euro on Europe's financial structure over the first four years since the start of EMU. It analyzes changes in money markets, bond markets, equity markets and foreign exchange markets. Euro's role in originating or catalyzing trends has been uneven across the spectrum of financial markets. From the supply side, banks and investors in fixed income markets have become more focused on the characteristics of individual borrowers rather than the nationality of the issuer and have built up expertise to evaluate credit risk. European equity markets have also been affected by the enhanced ability of investors to build strategies with a pan-European perspective as prices increasingly reflected risk factors specific to industrial sectors rather than individual countries. On the borrower side, EMU has increased the attractiveness of market-based financing methods by allowing debt issuers to tap institutional portfolios across the euro area. Lower barriers to cross-border financial transactions have also increased the contestability of the market for financial services, be it at the wholesale or the retail level. The introduction of the euro has also highlighted the shortcomings of existing institutional structures and areas where excessive focus on narrowly defined interests may stand in the way of realizing the full potential benefits from the new environment. Diverging legal and institutional infrastructures and market practices can impede further financial market development and deepening. Hence, the euro has put a premium on cooperation between national authorities and institution as a means of achieving a more harmonized financial environment. The impact of EMU on depth in foreign exchange markets has been less clear-cut, as volatility, spreads, trading volumes and liquidity appear not to have changed in a substantial way. Overall, it seems that the new currency has made some progress towards the goal of becoming a currency of international stature that would rival that of the US dollar. However, a number of the necessary next steps towards achieving this goal are also among the trickiest to implement. [source]


Information technology control questionnaire

JOURNAL OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 5 2010
Rob Reider
Most businesses now process their financial transactions through a PC computer system. But there are special control considerations where computers are used to process financial and accounting data. How secure are your firm's PC controls? Answer the information technology control questionnaire in this article and find out. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Your vanishing vendors: Lessons from bank M&As

JOURNAL OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 2 2010
James S. Sagner
What should corporate clients of banks do during the current period of bank consolidations? The author of this article,a treasury consultant,says that lessons from bank mergers and acquisitions (M&As) can be used by firms whose other vendors are also undergoing mergers. That includes vendors who provide information processing, financial transactions, accounting, tax preparation, and other services. Clients are facing the very real prospect of their long-term vendor relationships vanishing,to be replaced by unknown firms from another part of the globe. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


The Socioeconomic Implications of Dollarization in El Salvador

LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2004
Marcia Towers
ABSTRACT This study argues that the costs associated with El Salvador's dollarization clearly outweigh the benefits and that the decision to dollarize was prompted not only by the need to promote economic growth, but also by the impluse to serve the interests of the financial sector and the large entrepreneurs who control the ruling ARENA party. Although the policy facilitates investment and international financial transactions, it has a negative effect on the poor by increasing inequality. To develop this argument, the authors discuss the socioeconomic and political situation in El Salvador at the time of dollarization, examine the Law of Monetary Integration, and analyze die effect of the dollarization policy on the poor. [source]


PARTIAL DOLLARIZATION, EXCHANGE RATES, AND FIRM INVESTMENT IN PARAGUAY

THE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, Issue 1 2009
John SERIEUX
E44; F41; G18; O16 Between 1989 and 1993 the government of Paraguay removed most restriction on financial transactions in domestic and foreign currency. The resulting financial deepening also involved partial dollarization. This investigation sought to determine whether partial dollarization led to negative balance sheet effects (in the form of reduced access to investment credit due to depreciation-induced reduction in firms' net worth as a result of currency mismatches on their balance sheets) and, therefore, to investment contractions, at the firm level, in the face of real currency depreciations. Support was found for that thesis. However, there was also evidence that banks expanded credit more rapidly in the face of currency depreciations. These apparent contradictory movements in credit and investment were shown to be a result of the absence of any clear causal link (in a Granger sense) between bank credit to the private sector and private investment in Paraguay. [source]