Capitalization of banks: theory, practice and directions of ensuring

The purpose of the research is to find the right strategic formula to resolve bad loans suitable to environment and characteristics of micro-financial institutions and their consumers. It applies qualitative approach by means of interactive method put forward by Milles and Huberman (2009) as analysis method. Data are obtained from indepth interview with superordinates, staff and consumers of microfinance institutions in Kendari city. A microcredit institution “Harum” needs several strategis to handle bad loans. It includes: institutional reinforcement (improvement in service procedure, increase in human resources’ skill, more branch offices, more new recuitments, the involvement of sub-district government, the use of information system), reinforcement of consumers’ capacity (tight selection process, counseling of business management, advisory service, and special relationship). The research results serve as solutions to microfinancial institutions in handling bad loans, from which development and sustainability can be assured. Consumers might make use of this information to develop their business. They also might serve as references for regional government in making the right policy for the development of micofinancial institutions and small business empowerment. This is the first study exploring formulation of strategy for microfinancial institutions in handling bad loans. The research explores internal and external aspects of microfinancial institution, with holistic view of the right policy in terms of institutions and consumers.

This research examines the way in which traditional banks are competing against the emerging fintech startups. This study identifies driving factors and uniqueness that illustrate the peculiar characteristics of incumbents, analyzes their internal readiness and capabilities, and examines their strategic response against fintech startups. In doing so, this paper examines Small Town Bank (STB)1, a regional bank in Indonesia, regarding its ability to innovate. Data are obtained from primary sources through internal and external questionnaires, as well as secondary data. The results of the study indicate that, in general, the bank already has a reasonably good innovation readiness, but there are several aspects that need to be noted, namely: optimization of current services, consolidation, and internal restructuration. Concurrently, while fintech has a very broad and massive technical and managerial impact, it does not mean that incumbent banks and traditional financial services cannot compete.

This study investigates the effect of credit risk and macroeconomic factors on profitability of 20 ASEAN banks, particularly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines, covering the period of 2012 to 2017. The unbalanced panel data were tested for heteroscedasticity and normality. A fixed effects model and a random effects model were utilized followed by simple ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The obtained results show that credit risk and GDP growth negatively affect Return on Equity (ROE) at 5% level of significance. The inflation rate increases ROE by 0.323%. In terms of influence, inflation has the highest impact on ROE followed by GDP growth and credit risk. Credit risk and GDP growth negatively affect Return on Assets (ROA) at 5% level of significance. ROA was also influenced by an increase in inflation rate. Therefore, this study will help banks and bank managers, depositors, investors, policy makers and governments to identify factors affecting bank profitability.