Issue #3 (Volume 21 2026)

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study examines how the representation of women in corporate governance, particularly on boards of directors and audit committees, impacts the quality of bank earnings in Indonesia from 2001 to 2024. To evaluate the impact of women’s representation on bank earnings quality, the two-step Generalized Method of Moments (2SYS-GMM) estimation system was applied, measured through Discretionary Loan Loss Provisions (DLLP). The results show that the presence of women on the board of directors and in audit committee chair positions significantly improves earnings quality, whereas the presence of female independent directors and female audit committee members has no significant impact on earnings quality. However, the overall representation of women on these bodies has no significant effect. These results conclude that having women in leadership, particularly as chairs of the board of directors and audit committees, is crucial for improving the quality of bank earnings. Women in these roles have greater confidence to prioritize higher earnings quality. This study fills a gap in the current literature on the relationship between women’s representation in corporate governance and banking profit quality. Further, it offers valuable insights for banking practitioners, including policymakers, regulators, investors, management, and bank depositors.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Digital transformation of banking is widely expected to reshape competition, but it remains unclear whether it strengthens individual banks’ competitive positions, particularly in emerging markets. This study examines how digitalization relates to bank competitiveness, distinguishing the national digital environment from banks’ fee-based business models and taking Kazakhstan – a digital frontrunner with an unusually profitable banking sector – as the focal case. A two-layer, two-way fixed-effects design is used: a cross-country panel of up to 147 economies (2004–2025), combining IMF Financial Soundness Indicators with the United Nations E-Government Development Index, and a bank-level panel of Kazakhstan’s second-tier banks (2016–2025), in which a fee-oriented business model is proxied by commission income relative to assets. Across countries, the strong negative cross-sectional association between digital maturity and bank profitability – a country-level correlation of −0.45 – disappears once fixed country differences are absorbed, as a standardized coefficient of −0.43 turns to an insignificant +0.09, revealing a development gradient rather than a competitive effect. No robust within-country effect on profitability, margins, spreads, or cost efficiency survives. Within Kazakhstan, by contrast, a one-standard-deviation increase in commission intensity is associated with a 0.7 percentage-point wider interest spread and a 0.8 percentage-point higher net interest margin (both p < 0.05). This bank-level relationship holds when the dominant digital bank is excluded and is stable in magnitude under more conservative inference, though its statistical significance weakens, indicating that the competitive returns associated with a fee-based business model led in this market by digital, platform-based banks are concentrated within markets, across banks, rather than across national aggregates.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study investigates whether competitive intensity and environmental complexity moderate the relationship between risk-taking and performance among rural banks in Central Java, Indonesia. The study was conducted in Central Java, Indonesia, during January-December 2024, using secondary data from the audited financial statements of 239 rural banks for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. Moderated regression models were estimated to examine the effects of credit risk (non-performing loan ratio), market risk (net interest margin), liquidity risk (loan-to-deposit ratio), and operational risk (operating expenses to operating income) on rural banks' performance (return on assets), and to test interaction effects with competitive intensity (Lerner index) and environmental complexity. The results indicate that net interest margin is positively associated with return on assets, whereas the operating expenses to operating income ratio is negatively associated; the non-performing loan ratio and loan-to-deposit ratio are not statistically significant. Lerner index and environmental complexity show no direct association with return on assets. However, the Lerner index strengthens the positive association between net interest margin and return on assets and exacerbates the negative association between operating expenses and operating income and return on assets. Environmental complexity weakens the positive association between net interest margin and return on assets. These findings suggest that market conditions and environmental complexity shape how risk indicators translate into rural bank performance in 2024, underscoring the importance of operational efficiency and adaptive risk management in competitive and complex environments.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Core capital efficiency plays a central role in safeguarding banking sector resilience in emerging economies characterized by high credit risk, regulatory constraints, and limited access to external capital. This paper aims to examine the bank-specific, macroeconomic, and institutional determinants of core capital efficiency in the banking sector of emerging economies, using a comparative analysis between Bangladesh and Nepal as representative markets. Considering a balanced panel dataset of 200 observations from 10 banks in each country, spanning from 2014 to 2023, this investigation adopts pooled OLS, fixed effects, random effects, and GLS estimators with Tier 1 capital ratio as a proxy for core capital efficiency. Empirical results show that bank size and profitability exert a strong and positive influence on core capital efficiency, while non-performing loan ratios and cost-to-income ratios significantly erode capital efficiency across models. In contrast, GDP growth and fintech adoption show no significant impact, reflecting the dominance of bank-specific factors over macroeconomic or technological influences. Overall, Bangladeshi banks demonstrate higher core capital efficiency despite elevated credit risk, reflecting stronger asset bases and regulatory adjustments. The findings highlight the need for targeted reforms focusing on asset quality and cost efficiency to enhance banking sector resilience in emerging markets.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to express their heartfelt thanks to all participants in this study, especially the bankers who assisted in providing their banks' datasets for the analysis presented in this paper.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Weak risk governance and legacy non-performing loans have repeatedly destabilized banks in emerging markets, making the payoff from regulatory strengthening of internal control and internal audit a first-order policy question. This study aims to determine whether Kazakhstan’s 2019 risk-management and internal control requirements (National Bank Resolution No. 188), whose core assurance mechanism is a strengthened internal audit function, improved the financial stability of the country’s commercial (second-tier) banks, and to identify the channel of this effect. The analysis applies a continuous-treatment difference-in-differences design to an annual panel of 37 banks over 2015–2025 (287 bank-years), interacting each bank’s pre-intervention (2016–2019) weakness with the post-intervention period and measuring stability by the log Z-score. The results show that the stabilizing effect is concentrated in the asset-quality channel: banks that entered the post-2020 period with a one-standard-deviation greater non-performing-loan weakness recorded a 0.38-0.41 log-point (roughly 40-50%) larger post-intervention increase in the Z-score (p < 0.01), whereas composite pre-intervention weakness yields no robust effect under any weighting scheme. The effect emerges with a multi-year lag, becoming statistically detectable only toward the end of the sample period, and operates through capital rebuilding. Because pre-intervention weakness strongly predicts market exit (Cox hazard ratio ≈ 3.95), the estimates are a lower bound on the intervention’s full association with sector stability. The findings imply that supervisors should target credit-risk governance, loan classification, timely recognition of problem loans, and provisioning, where strengthened internal control and audit yield the largest stability gains.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The digital transformation of banking is entering a new phase, shifting from mobile applications toward AI-driven, personalized services, yet the readiness of national environments for this shift remains largely unexamined. The study aims to assess the cross-country readiness of banking systems for this shift by integrating demand-side digital financial inclusion with supply-side government AI readiness in a single composite measure. To this end, an AI-Banking Readiness Index (ABRI) is constructed by two-stage principal-component analysis from the World Bank Global Findex (2011–2024) and the Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index 2025 for 97 economies; it is complemented by k-means clustering, a demand–supply positioning matrix, and cross-sectional and two-way fixed-effects panel regressions. Three findings follow. First, at the index level, the two sides of readiness are only moderately aligned (r = 0.655), and 28 of the 97 economies lead on one side only – a mismatch that supply-only rankings conceal. Second, across countries, government AI readiness is positively associated with deeper household digital-finance adoption once income is controlled (β = 0.451, p = 0.017). Third, within countries over time, e-government capacity is related to account ownership in a pattern consistent with an infrastructure-mediated channel; this constitutes suggestive channel evidence rather than a formal mediation test. Practically, the index locates each economy’s binding constraint: supply-led economies need demand-side activation through connectivity, interoperable payments, and digital literacy, whereas demand-led economies need AI governance and supervisory capacity before personalized, AI-driven services can scale safely.

Acknowledgment
This article was prepared based on the results of a study funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine entitled “GovTech for Ukraine: A Digital, Secure, Transparent, and Equitable State in Times of War and Post-War Reconstruction” (registration number: 0126U000544)

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
With five years remaining to the 2030 deadline of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the relationship between monetary policy and SDG progress remains largely unexplored. This paper aims to quantify the association between short-term policy rates and SDG 1, SDG 8, and SDG 10 achievement across high-income, upper-middle-income, and low- and lower-middle-income economies. The analysis draws on a panel of 129 economies over 2000–2023, combining SDSN SDR2025 goal scores, IMF interest-rate series, World Bank WDI controls, and WGI 2.0 indicators (2,563 country-year observations), estimated using two-way fixed-effects regressions with country-clustered standard errors and eight robustness blocks. First, higher policy rates show a modest and consistent positive association with SDG 8 across income groups (β ≈ +0.045, all p < 0.10), robust to two-period lags and a dynamic LSDV re-specification. Second, the pooled association with SDG 1 is null, but interaction estimates reveal significant income-group heterogeneity: within-HIC β = +0.412 (p = 0.006) and a significantly weaker UMC association (interaction β = −0.590, p = 0.002), with a negative but insignificant net UMC estimate (−0.178, p = 0.20). Third, the aggregate SDG Index is negatively associated with the policy rate only in the UMC sub-sample (β = −0.048, p = 0.027), and the SDG 8 association disappears when real or lending rates replace the policy rate – consistent with a signaling interpretation rather than an identified mechanism. Assessments of monetary policy in the SDG context should distinguish between goals with consistent associations and goals whose association varies significantly with income group.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study examines aggregate asset quality and capitalization in Jordan’s banking sector from 2010 to H1 2024. A source audit showed that the international database values used previously repeated the same non-performing loan (NPL) ratio and capital adequacy ratio for 2010–2014 and were not demonstrably comparable with later supervisory observations. The revised dataset therefore uses Central Bank of Jordan publications consistently for banking indicators, World Development Indicators for macroeconomic variables, and treats H1 2024 as descriptive only. Annual regressions use 2010–2023 year-end data. Pearson correlations and two parsimonious OLS specifications are estimated with HC3 standard errors and t-based finite-sample inference. The NPL ratio averaged 5.743% and the capital adequacy ratio 18.393% over the 14 annual observations. In the contemporaneous model, capital adequacy is positively associated with the NPL ratio (coefficient 1.243, p = 0.005), but this association is not interpreted causally because regulation, provisioning, and common trends can generate reverse or simultaneous responses. In the limited dynamic model, the lagged NPL coefficient is 0.769 (p = 0.001), whereas lagged capital adequacy is imprecise (0.079, p = 0.866). These results indicate short-run persistence in aggregate asset quality, not a comprehensive measure of banking resilience. The small annual sample, influential observations, and incomplete public methodological detail require cautious interpretation.

Acknowledgment
The author thanks the reviewer for comments that led to a complete source audit and a more transparent empirical design. Public data were provided by the Central Bank of Jordan and the World Bank.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Global financial crises over the past two decades have significantly increased academic attention to board diversity as an important aspect of corporate governance. This study examines the relationship between board diversity and financial reporting quality (FRQ) in listed Vietnamese commercial banks. The sample includes 27 Vietnamese banks observed over the period 2016–2024. Panel data are analyzed using a fixed effects model (FEM). Board diversity is examined along multiple dimensions, including gender diversity, educational level diversity, tenure diversity, age diversity, and a composite board diversity index that captures the overall level of board heterogeneity. FRQ is proxied by the absolute value of discretionary loan loss provisions (DLLP), where lower DLLP indicates higher reporting quality. The results show that greater overall board diversity is associated with higher FRQ. Among the individual diversity dimensions, only tenure diversity exhibits a statistically significant association with FRQ, whereas gender diversity, educational diversity, and age diversity do not show significant associations. Overall, the findings suggest that board tenure diversity and overall board heterogeneity are the primary drivers of the observed association between board diversity and FRQ in Vietnamese listed banks. The study is limited by the relatively small sample size, the focus on listed banks only, and the proxy-based measurement of FRQ.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Vietnamese commercial banks enlarged their physical distribution networks throughout the past two decades, at a time when banks in most developed markets were closing outlets. How large a network can become before additional outlets stop paying for themselves has not been settled, partly because existing studies infer non-linearity from the sign of a squared term instead of testing it. This study aims to examine whether a non-linear relationship exists between branch network size and bank profitability in Vietnamese commercial banks and to identify the corresponding turning points. The analysis applies a two-step system generalized method of moments estimator to an unbalanced panel of 28 commercial banks observed from 2008 to 2024 and tests the shape of the estimated relationship formally, requiring the turning point to fall inside the observed range and the slope to change sign across it. Profitability rises with network size up to a threshold and declines beyond it, and monotonicity is rejected at the 10 percent level in every specification. Measured by total transaction points, the threshold is 172 outlets when profitability is assessed against assets and 261 outlets when it is assessed against equity, a gap consistent with the network raising equity returns partly through leverage. About 51 percent of bank-year observations already lie beyond the asset threshold. A bank that judges its expansion capacity by return on equity alone will therefore read it too generously, and slightly more than half of the networks observed here have passed the size at which further outlets add to profitability.

Acknowledgment
This research forms a component of Thi Yen Nhi Nguyen's doctoral dissertation at University of Finance – Marketing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Duc Huy Pham, my supervisor, for his guidance and support throughout this research. This research is funded by the University of Finance – Marketing, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The digitalization of banking operations and resource allocation has opened up possibilities to enhance financial resilience but has also raised operating cost and performance volatility challenges. This study aims to investigate the relationship between digital investment, operating efficiency, operating income volatility, and bank stability for Jordanian listed banks. The secondary data included audited annual reports and financial statements of 15 banks, with an equal number of banks from the Amman Stock Exchange for the period 2014–2024, resulting in a balanced panel of 165 bank-year observations. The pooled OLS, fixed-effects, and random-effects models were first estimated, and then the best model was selected using the cross-section F-test, Breusch–Pagan LM test, and Hausman specification test. This result bolsters the fixed-effects estimator, and the final model includes bank and year effects and uses bank-clustered robust standard errors. Digital investment intensity is positively and significantly related to bank stability (coefficient = 0.284, p = 0.004). By contrast, operating-income volatility has a negative association with bank stability (coefficient = –0.198, p = 0.031), and the cost-to-income ratio also has a significant negative association with bank stability (coefficient = –0.246, p = 0.005). The stability coefficient is negative and significant (–0.121, p = 0.049) regarding bank size. The between-bank variation is about 11% of the total, and the fixed-effects model accounts for about 51% of this variation. The results show that investment in technology, operating efficiency, and the management of volatility in operating performance are closely linked to bank stability in Jordan.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study examines the bidirectional association between the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and net interest margin (NIM) in Indonesian listed commercial banks, with loan growth and market power as potential transmission channels. Using annual data from 2000 to 2024, the study estimates simultaneous-equation models by a three-stage least squares (3SLS). The common FE-3SLS sample contains 268 bank-year observations from 28 banks. Bank and year fixed effects are implemented through indicator variables, and first lags of the endogenous variables are used as internal instruments to mitigate simultaneity. Bank-cluster bootstrap inference and Monte Carlo simulation are used to evaluate the indirect effects.
The full-sample results do not show a significant relationship between CAR and loan growth, either linearly or through CAR squared. CAR is positively associated with the Lerner index but negatively associated with NIM. In the reverse direction, NIM is positively associated with the Lerner index but is not significantly associated with loan growth, while its direct association with CAR is negative. The loan-growth mediation channel is not supported by the bank-cluster bootstrap and appears only at the upper tail of CAR under Monte Carlo inference. By contrast, the Lerner-index channel is positive and supported in both directions under both inference methods. Subsample results indicate additional heterogeneity across high- and low-CAR banks. The evidence therefore points to market power as the more consistent channel linking capital adequacy and interest margins.

Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate participants at Universitas Pelita Harapan for their helpful comments and suggestions. 

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Commercial banks invest heavily in social media to manage customer relationships; however, it remains unclear which components of social CRM capability drive service innovation and through what mechanism. This study aims to determine how each component of social CRM capability – information generation, information dissemination, and market responsiveness – affects service innovation in Vietnamese commercial banks, and to what extent customer knowledge mediates these effects. In May 2026, an online questionnaire was distributed among 800 managers and specialists who operate social media channels and develop services at Vietnamese commercial banks; 372 valid responses were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling. Market responsiveness has the largest direct effect on service innovation (β = 0.225, p < 0.001); information dissemination has a weaker direct effect (β = 0.146, p = 0.010), whereas information generation has no direct effect (β = 0.043, p = 0.418) and operates entirely through customer knowledge (indirect effect = 0.084). Information dissemination carries the largest coefficient on customer knowledge (β = 0.310, p < 0.001), and customer knowledge in turn positively affects service innovation (β = 0.362, p < 0.001). The model explains 35.4% of the variance in customer knowledge and 40.1% of the variance in service innovation. Bootstrap tests show only the advantage of market responsiveness over information generation to be significant. Banks should therefore treat responsiveness and cross-functional dissemination as complements rather than alternatives.

Acknowledgment
This research is partly funded by the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Finance – Marketing.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Commercial banking employees are increasingly expected to exceed formal role requirements, yet how proactive work behavior relates to sustained extra-role performance remains poorly understood. This study tested whether job crafting is associated with contextual performance through a sequential chain in which work engagement and thriving at work were positioned as a proximal and a more distal correlate, respectively. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 245 full-time employees across ten commercial banks in Medan, Indonesia, and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with second-order reflective constructs. All three hypothesized structural paths were statistically significant: job crafting was positively associated with work engagement (β = 0.540), engagement with thriving (β = 0.530), and thriving with contextual performance (β = 0.520), all large effects (f2 = 0.368-0.414), together explaining 27.4%–30.0% of the variance in the endogenous constructs. The corresponding sequential indirect effects were also significant (job crafting-thriving: 0.286; engagement-performance: 0.275; job crafting-performance via both intervening variables: 0.149; all 95% CIs excluding zero). Because the model did not simultaneously estimate the corresponding direct paths, these indirect effects are reported as sequential associations rather than as evidence of a verified mediating mechanism, and, given the cross-sectional design, the ordering of engagement and thriving reflects a theoretical assumption rather than a demonstrated temporal sequence. With this caveat, the findings suggest that HR practitioners in banking and similar service contexts should pair structural support for job crafting with explicit developmental follow-through.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Vietnam is an increasingly open economy with a heavily bank-based financial sector. This makes banking stability highly sensitive to external forces and governance quality. This study examines whether the effects of financial and trade globalization on banking stability vary with the strength of corruption control. Using 390 bank-year observations from 26 Vietnamese commercial banks over 2009–2023, we estimate a Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) model measuring financial and trade globalization at the country-year level. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), where higher values indicate lower perceived corruption and stronger corruption control, serves as the transition variable. System GMM estimation serves as a robustness check.
Empirical results confirm that the effects of economic globalization on banking stability change from negative to positive as corruption control exceeds a threshold level. Financial globalization yields a negative baseline effect of –3.131 and transition coefficient of 5.458, with an estimated CPI transition location of 33.13. The corresponding estimates for trade globalization are −1.932, 3.757, and 33.27. These findings suggest that while economic globalization erodes banking stability under weak corruption control, its marginal effects turn significantly positive once the CPI moves beyond the thresholds. Corruption control itself has a positive effect on banking stability. The system GMM results confirm the same regime-dependent pattern.
These findings suggest that the benefits of globalization depend on institutional quality. Strengthening corruption control, governance, and bank risk management is therefore essential for ensuring that deeper global integration contributes to banking stability in Vietnam.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Digital government platforms are expected to accelerate the shift to cashless payments, and banks stand between the two: they hold the accounts that digital credentials open and process the government-to-person and person-to-government flows that digital services generate. Cross-country evidence for transition economies remains scarce and largely contemporaneous. The study aims to determine whether digital government maturity is associated with the uptake of cashless payment instruments contemporaneously or with a delay, and whether the deployment model shapes that association beyond aggregate index scores. Wave panels combining the Global Findex database (2011–2024) with the UN E-Government Development Index for eleven transition economies were estimated using pooled, fixed-effects, between-country, lagged, and first-difference specifications, supplemented by an exploratory annual panel of ATM density and a structured comparison of three deployment models. A strong cross-country association between GovTech maturity and both digital payment adoption (0.551, p < 0.001) and account ownership (0.730, p < 0.001) did not survive within-country identification: fixed-effects coefficients turned negative and insignificant, so H1-H3 are not supported. With a four-to-five-year lag, the Online Service Index entered positively and significantly in the baseline specification (0.290, p < 0.05); as significance is not retained with controls, the evidence is consistent with a delayed association rather than establishing it. Adoption expanded under all three deployment models, from 47% to 85% in Kazakhstan, 48% to 83% in Ukraine, and 12% to 61% in Armenia; what distinguished the cases was the interface between the state and private bank ecosystems, which aggregate indices do not capture.

Acknowledgment
Liudmyla Zakharkina’s contribution to this article was made within the framework of the research project “GovTech for Ukraine: A Digital, Secure, Transparent, and Equitable State in Times of War and Post-War Reconstruction” (registration number: 0126U000544), funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Type of the article: Research article

Abstract
In transition economies, banking sector integrity is a critical prerequisite for economic resilience against exogenous shocks. This study evaluates the direct and indirect transmission channels through which public digital governance and systemic crisis shocks relate to banking stability and financial inclusion across 22 transition economies. Utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) and path analysis based on annual panel data from 2003 to 2024 – supplemented by latent factor analysis, Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality tests, and post-estimation Wald tests – we analyze structural macro-level associations. Empirical results show that the static factor association between digital governance and banking stability is positive but marginally significant (β = 4.102, p = 0.079). In short-run dynamic first-difference specifications, no statistically significant immediate responsiveness is observed (β = 0.027, p = 0.516). Concurrently, improved banking stability significantly co-moves with financial inclusion (β = 0.042, p = 0.008), driven primarily by non-performing loan suppression (λ = −3.684, p = 0.018) and corruption control (λ = 0.034, p = 0.006). Systemic crisis shocks persistently depress both banking stability (β = −0.130, p = 0.009) and citizen financial engagement (β = −0.027, p < 0.001). Post-estimation Wald tests confirm cross-regional slope homogeneity (χ2(1) = 0.48, p = 0.487 for governance-to-stability; χ2(1) = 0.03, p = 0.855 for stability-to-inclusion). Contrary to conventional assumptions, public digital governance does not act as an immediate countercyclical shock absorber, highlighting the necessity of pairing digital reforms with long-term structural policies.

Acknowledgments
Oleksii Zakharkin’s contribution to this article was prepared as part of a research project funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, titled “GovTech for Ukraine: A Digital, Secure, Transparent, and Equitable State in Times of War and Post-War Reconstruction” (registration number: 0126U000544).

Type of the article: Research article

Abstract
Interest rates facilitate credit flow in the economy, serve as a monetary transmission mechanism, and support banks in their role as financial intermediaries. Macroeconomic performance enhances people’s economic well-being and enables stable economic development. The study aims to examine the effects of Nigerian banks' interest rates on macroeconomic performance in both the long and short run. The study used a historical research design. The model was estimated using the Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) approach. The results showed that the effect of interest rates on gross domestic product was significantly negative in the long run (C = –0.48985, t = –2.31238, p < 0.05), but not in the short run (p > 0.05). Interest rates exerted a negative, insignificant effect on savings in the long run (C = –0.01912, t = –0.73741, p > 0.05) and an insignificant effect in the short run (p > 0.05). Interest rates had a negative significant effect on gross fixed capital formation in the long run (C = –0.16559, t = –4.25940, p < 0.05) and insignificant effect in the short run (p > 0.05), while interest rates had a negative significant relationship with money supply in the long run (C = –0.05094, t = –2.10251, p < 0.05), and also significant in the short run (p < 0.05). Interest rate behavior is crucial for determining bank performance; therefore, banks should develop and deploy policy instruments to stabilize interest rates and encourage substantial investment.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Integrating environmental, social, and governance factors into the credit granting process is an imperative requirement for financial risk management. This study aims to quantify the impact of the perceived corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information disclosure on Credit Decision-Making Orientation and determine the mediating role of the intention to use sustainability information. Research data were collected through a survey of 235 credit officers and managers at 32 commercial banks in Vietnam from February to August 2024 and subsequently analyzed utilizing partial least squares structural equation modeling. The empirical results indicate that the disclosure levels of environmental, social, and governance information do not have a direct impact on credit decision-making orientation. However, these three factors positively affect the intention to use sustainability information, wherein the environmental factor exerts the most substantial influence (β = 0.447), followed by governance (β = 0.416) and social factors (β = 0.363). Furthermore, the intention to use sustainability information acts as a full mediator, exerting a strong positive impact on credit decision-making orientation (β = 0.558) and explaining 26.2% of the variance in the dependent variable. The study concludes that subjective credit appraisal orientations among banking personnel are primarily driven by their cognitive intention to integrate sustainability data rather than the mere presence of corporate disclosures.

Type of the article: Empirical Research Article

Abstract
Affective responses are an important component of customer experience, but evidence on how positive and negative affect relate to downstream outcomes in US retail branch banking remains limited. This study examines generalized affect associated with branch interactions, measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and its associations with satisfaction, loyalty, and willingness to recommend. Cross-sectional survey data were collected in April 2024 from 400 US retail banking customers through the Pollfish online panel and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modeling. Standardized structural estimates show that Positive Affect is positively associated with Satisfaction (β = 0.441, p < 0.001), whereas Negative Affect is negatively associated with Satisfaction (β = –0.292, p < 0.001). Satisfaction is associated with Loyalty (β = 0.504, p < 0.001) and Recommendation (β = 0.248, p < 0.001), while Loyalty is also associated with Recommendation (β = 0.572, p < 0.001). The model explains 28.0% of the variance in Satisfaction, 25.4% in Loyalty, and 53.2% in Recommendation. Overall fit is satisfactory (χ2(400) = 545.123, CFI = 0.991, TLI = 0.990, RMSEA = 0.030, 90% CI [0.023, 0.036]). PANAS is applied as an established affect measure rather than newly validated. Because no specific recent branch encounter or recall period was defined, affect scores are interpreted as generalized recalled affect, and the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Banks rely on ownership, transaction, and institutional information to support anti-money-laundering decision-making, yet these sources differ in decision proximity, uncertainty, and evidentiary strength. This multi-study article evaluates three external anti-money-laundering signals within a decision-governance framework emphasizing provenance, auditability, and bounded interpretation. Study 1 examines United Kingdom Persons with Significant Control records as ownership-verification workload signals. Of 6.2 million active companies, 745,200 (12.0%) met at least one verification-priority rule. Among flagged companies, 58.3% were assigned to multi-layered control structures, 25.0% to non-United Kingdom or foreign-linked controllers, 11.2% to high officer/controller turnover, and 5.5% to circular ownership patterns. Study 2 compares extreme gradient boosting, graph convolutional networks, Graph Sample and Aggregate, and graph attention networks on the Elliptic transaction-network benchmark. Graph attention networks recorded the highest point estimates (AUROC = 0.960; AUPRC = 0.740), followed by Graph Sample and Aggregate (0.930; 0.610), graph convolutional networks (0.910; 0.560), and extreme gradient boosting (0.820; 0.370). Study 3 identifies a reported −6.8% posterior mean deviation in the Persons with Significant Control Anomaly Index after the late-June 2020 filing-regime boundary (95% credible interval: −10.9% to −2.4%), interpreted descriptively rather than causally. Overall, the findings establish an evidentiary hierarchy for governing heterogeneous anti-money-laundering signals while preserving boundaries between decision support, adjudication, and causal inference. The empirical objects are companies, transaction nodes, and register observations rather than banks.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The paper aims to analyze the impact of bank-specific factors on credit growth and examines the moderating role of bank size in this relationship. Research data were collected from the audited financial statements of 27 commercial banks in Vietnam covering the period from 2013 to 2024. The study employs the system generalized method of moments (SGMM) estimator to address dynamic panel bias and endogeneity issues. The research results indicate that non-performing loans, bank liquidity, and equity capital hurt credit growth; however, this effect is mitigated in large-scale banks due to their strong financial state. In contrast, factors such as profit, deposit growth, and net interest income have a positive impact on credit, with deposit growth and net interest margin having a more substantial effect in large banks, while profit is used less for credit growth in this group. The study confirms that size is an important moderating factor, which can weaken or amplify the impact of bank characteristics on credit activities. On this basis, the study recommends that banks expand the scale of their operations to improve credit efficiency. At the same time, it suggests that the Government issue policies to support capital increases, ensuring that the role of financial intermediation is effectively performed and contributing to promoting sustainable economic growth.