Issue #1 (Volume 16 2021 )

This study aims to investigate the role of Fintech in predicting the spread of COVID-19 based on consumers’ Fintech perceptions and behavior before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. The study used a questionnaire-based survey distributed in different countries of the world using the LinkedIn platform for this purpose to reach the targeted population. The snowball sampling technique was used. The study targeted consumers with Fintech experience, especially in digital payments services. 507 samples were retrieved. For the analysis, the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used. The study revealed novel results in predicting COVID-19 spread; these three variables (Fintech Behavior before COVID-19, Fintech Behavior after COVID-19, and Fintech Perception after COVID-19) could predict 52.5% of the variance in the dependent variable (COVID-19 Spread) (R² = 0.525, p < 0.05). The findings show that Higher Fintech perception and behavior among Fintech users will help in reducing the spread of COVID-19 by avoiding the use of contact payment methods. Contactless payment methods are the main tools in Fintech that might help in avoiding the probability of COVID-19 spread. Consumers’ Fintech perceptions and behavior are the most influencing factors that could predict the spread of COVID-19 in this study, where digital payments are the main concern. It is recommended that consumers adopt digital payment methods and tools, especially contactless payment methods, to fulfill their financial services. Other researchers are also encouraged to use the same model to predict the spread of this virus in the Fintech context.

The banking sector plays a vital role in the economy of each country. Banks are required to operate in a sound, efficient, and reliable manner in order to stimulate economic growth. To achieve that, a basic framework for the Indonesian banking system has been developed, known as the Indonesian Banking Architecture (IBA) aimed at strengthening the structure and enhancing the competitiveness of the banking industry. This study aimed to analyze the level of competition, the ability, and influence of the competition on banks efficiency, so banks can maintain the performance level and provide economic growth. This study used a quantitative approach with a panel regression analysis model. The results have shown that the banking industry in Indonesia tends to be monopolistic. The character of many sellers, differentiated products, sellers freely entering and leaving the market, as well as the presence of advertisement and product quality competitions were examined. Bank competition that leads to a monopolistic market structure stimulated banks to achieve higher profits and put bank projects and financing at high risk. Competition had a negative correlation with bank efficiency because competition encourages banks to focus on profit rather than efficiency, engage in risky financing/projects, and undertake high lending activities. Moreover, four big banks in Indonesia are in the “too big to fail” position. Banking regulators in Indonesia must maintain and produce reliable and stable banks to compete globally.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank all those who have contributed to the completion of this article, especially the leadership of the Department of Economics and the Faculty of Economics and Business, Brawijaya University, who provided facilitation for publication in reputable international journals.

The disclosure level in the interim financial reporting is important to users when making business decisions. Useful information from interim financial reporting ensures timeliness and flexibility of business operations. Information disclosures that ensure completeness will enhance the quality of information for users. The paper aims to examine the factors of corporate governance that affect the disclosure level in interim financial reporting of Vietnamese commercial banks. To test the model, ordinary least squares (OLS) are used. For the data of this study, 286 samples of 30 commercial banks were studied and time series data were used for 10 years from 2010 to 2019. The results show that there are two factors that positively influence the disclosure level in interim financial reporting, such as the Board size and foreign Board members. Thus, the paper offers some policy recommendations for the Central bank of Vietnam and Boards of directors of commercial banks, as well as investors to improve disclosure in interim financial reporting.

The state of banking systems is an important issue. The purpose of this paper was to test whether the well-known CAMELS microeconomic methodology, generally used for ranking banks, is applicable to evaluating Islamic banking systems. The hypothesis was tested by implementing a method for a particular case, public, free data – from 2013 till the first quarter of 2018 – on Islamic banking systems from the “Islamic Financial Services Board” (IFBS) database. As expected, modifications were necessary. First, because of the lack of data (in Islamic databases, no data refer to the management (“M”)), and second, to avoid the subjectivity of the five-degree method and to reach more sensibility. Thus, a hundred-level (standardized) rating system was introduced – “CAELS 100”, where “100” refers to the levels. The other part of the methodology – creating a simple average of the (now level 100) rating of raw indicators to get the letters of CA(M)ELS in the relevant period – remained unchanged. After the data cleaning, only six countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates) were able to participate in the analysis.
The result showed that Egypt, Turkey and Kuwait were the best ones respectively. Thus, it was concluded that this “CAELS 100” methodology is suitable for evaluating Islamic banking systems.

Acknowledgment
The research was supported by the project “Intelligent specialization program at Kaposvár University”, No. EFOP-3.6.1-16-2016-00007.

This paper aims to analyze the link between the disclosure of zakat information and the performance of Islamic financial institutions in Yemen. Panel data of three Islamic banks working in Yemen were used. The study used a 16-item disclosure index to measure zakat disclosure information, and the financial performance of banks was calculated using two proxies, such as return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Based on secondary data, this study used correlation matrix, descriptive analysis and regression analysis. ROA results revealed that zakat data and the age of a bank significantly affected financial results calculated by ROA, while the size of Islamic banks had an insignificant influence of banking performance. Zakat information and the size of Islamic banks have a positive effect on bank performance, while the age of the bank negatively influences the performance of banks. The results concerning ROE indicated that zakat data and the age of a bank have a strong and significant influence on the performance of banks, determined by ROA, while the size of a bank has a negative and insignificant effect on the performance of banks, determined by ROE.

This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the increase in bad credits at conventional commercial banks in Indonesia. The data used in this study are secondary data sourced from the Ministry of Health and from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), each of which consists of 50 data samples. The data analysis technique used in this study is simple regression analysis to determine the magnitude of the influence of COVID-19 on non-performing loans. The results of the data analysis show that COVID-19 has a significant effect on non-performing loans, and the COVID-19 variable can be used as an external indicator of the increase in non-performing loans for commercial banks in Indonesia. The implication of the research is that other researchers can make COVID-19 an external indicator of an emergency beyond human ability that can affect the level of non-performing loans. For banking, this study can be used as a reference when considering credit risk management policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acknowledgment
The researchers are grateful to University of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa for financial support. In addition, the authors sincerely apologize for the errors and mistakes found in this paper.

The rapid growth in the number of cybercrimes committed in the banking sector requires the creation of an effective system for preventing such crimes and ensuring the cybersecurity of the state. The constant updating of means and methods for cybercrime commission necessitates the identification of effective measures to combat them. The paper uses a survey method to study the theoretical experience and practical measures to prevent cybercrime in the banking sector to identify effective ways to combat crime in the virtual space of Ukraine. The paper analyzes the experience of the world’s leading countries concerning cybercrime prevention, deals with measures to improve the level of cybersecurity of national and international cyberspace. It is concluded that the current state of cybersecurity in Ukraine does not meet contemporary requirements and needs initiating effective measures and coordinated cooperation between private and public sectors in order to effectively combat cybercrime, in particular: enshrining the classification of cybercrimes in the regulatory legal acts of Ukraine; introduction of the concept of “banking criminal law” in the scientific and legal sphere; creation of Ukrainian cyber forces, whose activities will be aimed at preventing and combating crimes committed in cyberspace.

The article examines the competitiveness of Ukrainian banks influenced by economy digitalization, the dynamic spread of electronic payments and e-commerce, as well as innovative technologies aimed at providing digital services. When shifting to an Online Platform business model, a bank can expand its range of banking products, attract more customers, thereby forming a competition policy and gaining competitive advantages. The paper aims to assess the digitalization level affecting the general competitiveness of banks and its components based on Ukrainian banks. For this purpose, the following methods were used: standardized input statistical indicators, comparison and ranking, a cluster analysis, and a regression and correlation analysis. The cluster analysis confirmed the current role of digitalization as a competition driver that determines the competitive advantages of banks and creates additional opportunities to expand the customer base and the range of services. The correlation and regression dependence of the competitive position identified by the activity indicators of certain banks on the level of competitive digitalization confirmed a close direct impact on the competitive position of personal deposits arising from the development of digital banking technology; the pre-tax income, profiles of assets and personal loans, and corporate deposits are subject to a significant direct impact, while the weakest direct impact determines corporate loans. The foregoing substantiates the feasibility of large-scale introduction of innovative digital technologies by banks to maintain competitive positions in the banking sector of the economy. Applying the proposed approach based on certain regression equations, managers of Ukrainian banks will be able to assess the efficiency and make appropriate decisions concerning investing in digital tools and services.

The banking industry is one of the major industries in the Vietnamese stock market, so understanding how the industry index reacts to unusual events such as COVID-19’s impact is very important for the development of the Vietnamese stock market. This study examines the response of the banking sector index to three lockdown/blockage announcements to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam in 2020. Three times of lockdown/blockage: On February 13, 2020, blockade of Son Loi commune, Vinh Phuc province; on March 30, 2020, Vietnam announced the nationwide epidemic of COVID-19 and then nationwide lockdown, and on July 28, 2020, blockade in Da Nang. In the first case, the abnormal returns changed the sign around the notification date indicating that the stock price deviated from its fair value, but accumulating abnormal returns CAR (0;3] and CAR (0; 2] are both positive and statistically significant, which means that investors are more secure when the epidemic area is tightly controlled. The nationwide lockdown was the event that had the strongest impact on the stock price when both AR and CAR were negative and statistically significant before and after the date of the event’s announcement. Nationwide lockdown was the event that had the strongest impact on stock prices as both AR and CAR were negative in the days before and days after the event. This result supports the theory of imperfect substitution. Only AR [2] was positive and statistically significant, showing that the blockade event in Da Nang had a slight impact on the banking sector’s stock price.

The study aims to measure the intermediary performance of Islamic banks in relation to economic growth in Indonesia in the short and long term. There are four main variables used, namely financing, fund placement in BI (Central Bank of Indonesia), investment in securities, and third-party funds in all Islamic banks from 2007 to 2019. The data were tested using vector error correction models (VECM), Granger Causality, Impulse Response Function (IRF), and Variant Decomposition (VDC) to examine causality relationships, the short- and long-term effects, shocks, and variances in Islamic bank intermediary performance to economic growth. The results show that there is a two-way causality relationship between financing and third-party funds to economic growth. While in the short term, fund placement in BI, investment in securities, and financing have a significant influence on economic growth, but in the long run, only the placement of funds in BI will affect economic growth. Also, only fund placement in BI can shock and significantly contribute to economic growth in the long term. The overall intermediary performance of Islamic banks has not contributed to Indonesia’s economic growth in the long term.

The creation of deposit insurance systems in world practice has become a tool for solving problems of maintaining the stability of banking systems, increasing customer confidence in banks and other credit institutions, and preventing cases of mass withdrawal of deposits during economic crises. The paper aims to examine why such an important pillar of the banking union as the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) has not yet been implemented. The deadlock in the EDIS negotiations is unprecedented, and the likelihood that the agreement towards this pillar will be reached is rather low. The main reason for its blocking is the existing differences of interests between the main actors, and as a consequence, it makes the progress towards the completion of this process impossible. This study attempts to structure these interests, and it seems that the necessary tool to help bring them together is the concept of moral hazard. The results obtained confirmed the hypothesis that the main barrier for EDIS introduction is the severe difference of interest between countries that can be potentially major contributors and those that hope to benefit from that. Moreover, one of the arguments for such a delay is that cross-border subsidization leads to the problem when the country with better economic indicators pays for the debts of weaker economies as the costs should be socialized.

Shares of listed banks in Vietnam gain a lot of interest from investors and regulators. It is important to study the primary drivers of the banks’ share prices. In this context, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gold Price (GP), Ninety-day Interbank Interest Rate (R), and USD/VND Exchange Rate (FX) are selected as representatives for macroeconomic variables. A new contribution of this study is the application of interactive factors between macroeconomics and bank performance (i.e., Equity Capital (E), Deposit Аmounts (D), Loan Amounts (L), Non-performing Loans (NPLs), Leverage (LEV), Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Return on Assets (ROA), and Stock Beta (Beta)) in evaluating their impact on bank share prices. Applying the econometric method of Two-Stage Least Square (2SLS) and the quarterly financial data of 13 listed banks from Q1/2009 to Q3/2020, the regression results show that GDP improvements can foster an increase in bank share prices, and this impact is strengthened if banks have good performance of ROA, CAR, and with strict control of NPLs. The R also has a positive impact on bank share prices, and the price level increases if NPLs, LEV, and Beta are controlled at optimal levels. However, empirical evidence drawn from the study also suggests that an increase in FX and GP is not a significant contributor to bank share prices, especially if the bank does not manage NPLs and LEV. Moreover, the impact of E, D, and L on the movements of bank share prices is not significant.

An important factor in restoring the confidence of financial consumers in banks is to provide auditors with credible and detailed financial statements and their solvency. This study is a pilot step in clarifying the auditor’s role in ensuring the banks’ reliability as public interest entities in Ukraine. It is aimed at investigating the segmentation of the banking audit services market in Ukraine and its comprehensive characteristics. Structural and dynamic analysis were applied to investigate market, regional and branch concentration, as well as main trends in bank audit market development within the data and registers of the Audit Chamber of Ukraine (ACU) and 75 annual reports of Ukrainian banks. Key aspects of the bank audit market in Ukraine are highlighted: the potential of the bank audit market, the ability of auditors to provide audit services and current characteristics of market conjuncture. Bank audit market is highly segmented: this study differentiates strong segments of international audit networks, associations and alliances, including Big 4 companies and the segment of weak Ukrainian audit companies. Kyiv and Kyiv region are the dominant economic active regions in terms of the regional bank market concentration and the presence of international audit networks. The study results are the basis for improving the regulation of the banking audit services market by the National Bank of Ukraine and ACU.

Basel III accord was introduced in 2010 to support banks facing the sever effect of the 2007–2008 financial crisis in terms of liquidity and capital adequacy. The importance of this paper stems from the investigation of the implementation of this Accord in the UAE, and what are the reasons behind the effective implementation. While some previous studies on the UAE have examined Basel Accord, no studies have so far examined the effective implementation of Basel III. In this study, a modified questionnaire was used, a total of 90 bank senior managers responded to the questionnaire and their responses were used to answer the research questions and hypotheses. The results of the regression analysis support the hypotheses proposing a significant positive relationship between implementation effectiveness and expected benefits and availability of resources needed. The results of the analysis did not support the influence of the variables of awareness, the role of management, and the role of the central bank. Based on the findings of this study, three recommendations were made. First, to promote the effective implementation of the Basel Accords in the UAE’s banking sector. Second, banks should review current implementation processes and plans to ensure that employees understand the requirements for implementing Basel III. And third, the UAE Central Bank should be more involved in setting a framework for implementing regulations to ensure the effective implementation of Basel III.

This paper aims to discover the association between various audit committee and board attributes and the market performance of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study intends to determine the influence of audit committee size, gender diversity, expertise, board size and board shareholding on market performance (measured by Tobin Q). Panel data was gathered from twelve (12) banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2017. The study used fixed and random regression analysis. The results concluded that the association between audit committee size, board size and Tobin Q was negatively significant. There was a positively significant impact of audit committee gender diversity and audit committee expertise on Tobin Q. The study showed a positive but insignificant influence of board shareholding on market performance. The results imply that weakness in governance structures might lead to lower market performance. This study recommends that firms ensure that appointment criteria prioritize knowledge and competence, and regulatory bodies are also encouraged to track the compliance of listed firms with corporate governance regulations.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge Covenant University for its financial support during the course of this research paper.

VUСA is a chaotic and rapidly changing business environment that, based on the variability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the modern world, transforms the approach of banks to the analysis of financial stability. The aim of the paper is to improve tools for monitoring the impact of VUCA-world conditions on the financial stability of banks, namely a model for studying and analyzing the impact of the modern business space “VUCA” on the financial stability of the country's banks. To test the model, the method of constructing regression equations in multifactor regression analysis is used. For this study, data from some Eastern European countries (Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova) were used, and time series data were used for 10 years from 2010 to 2019.
Having considered the definition of “VUCA-world conditions”, the model of modern business space “VUCA” was developed when analyzing the activity of banks in the studied countries. Drivers, consequences, requirements and macroeconomic indicators of the countries’ activities in the VUСA-world conditions are determined. The VUCA-world conditions also consider the study of key macroeconomic indicators that allow building long-term relationships throughout the value chain. The analysis of the studied Eastern European countries showed that with the increase of factors of GDP growth, GNI per capita growth, research and development costs, foreign direct investment, and net inflow of 1%, the effective ratio of bank capital and assets also increases. The assessment, in contrast to the existing ones, makes it possible to consider the impact of the macroeconomic environment of banks on their financial stability.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of the cost of borrowing, processing time and documentation on the service quality of banking institutions in India that sanction housing loans. A research framework was designed to consider the independent variables influencing service quality by unearthing research gaps in the extant literature on housing loans. All research gaps were transformed into a questionnaire, to which 535 useful responses were received. A five-point Likert scale was used, and a structural equation model was formulated using ADANCO 2.0.1 – all hypotheses were tested with ADANCO. The findings clearly indicate the relevance of the service quality in banking sectors in India. There is a significant relationship between the three independent variables (cost of borrowing, processing time and documentation) and service quality. The outcome of banking service quality is measured through initial personal contact, online banking services, the humanitarian approach, provision of information for services, promise of service delivery and field verification, with all these measures having a very strong impact. This study is restricted to India only, but could be extended to other developing countries in South Asia in the future. This study could also be extended to cover other types of banking loans offered by banking institutions in India. The paper concludes that it is time for banking institutions to take action to sanction housing loans with a view to introducing the instant sanctioning of bank loans that come with real-time access, without resorting to bureaucratic policies and procedures for housing loan customers.

In the financial system and economy, the banking industry plays a crucial role. Default risk takes central stage in preserving financial stability and needs to be mitigated as it can trigger a crisis. The study examines the combined effects of monetary policy and bank competition on banking defaults. Using a sample of 95 commercial banks in Indonesia between 2009 and 2019, this study employs the Generalized Method of Moments, a two-step dynamic panel-data estimation system, to analyze it. Empirical estimation results show that monetary policy, through an increase in the benchmark interest rate, negatively affects probability of default. The extent of banking stability is also enhanced by monetary policy. Banking competition has a negative and significant effect on probability of default and has a positive effect on the banking distance to default. Furthermore, the combined impact of monetary policy and banking competition positively affects probability of default but has a negative impact on the distance of default. Building on this study, to promote a stable and more efficient banking system, policymakers should develop policies that foster complementary monetary and competition policies.