Issue #3 (Volume 16 2021 )

Political risk is prevalent in Nigeria and tends to influence business outcomes and the stability of the banking system. As a result of this study, it was determined whether political risk matters to the performance of the banking sector in Nigeria. The effect of political risk on different banks’ performance measures, such as return on assets, return on invested capital, credit risk and stock price, were examined in a panel of 12 selected commercial banks for the period 2006–2018. Data was analyzed using a two-stage system of generalized method of moments. The results provided evidence that the effect of political risk on bank performance depends on the performance proxies. Specifically, political risk was found to be negatively related to banks’ returns on invested capital and positively related to deteriorating credit risk. Hence, it can be concluded that political risk induces poor banking system performance in Nigeria. The study provides a critical insight into the management of a country’s political systems in terms of their potential to create unfavorable conditions for banking systems to thrive.

Household demand for credits is quite volatile, which requires constant evaluation of it changes. The purpose of the paper is to identify quantitative signals, the use of which increases the predictability of the credit market development. The study utilizes technical analysis methods for an econometric estimation of trends in household demand for credits in Ukraine for the 2002–2019 period. Based on the analysis of historical market lows, it was argued that with all the negative effects of destabilizing factors, the household demand for loans will not fall below the market support point of UAH 50 million. The financial behavior of Ukrainian households when choosing the type of loan is stable and does not change with fluctuations in GDP. Short-term loans are quite dynamic and largely depend on macroeconomic conditions, provoking market movements. If the relevant direction is supported by medium-term loans, the general market trend will correspond to the GDP trend. The demand for long-term loans is quite inertial, its change does not affect the overall market trend. The constant and variable elements of household demand for credit are highlighted.

Financial crises have become a challenge for sustainable growth, given the frequency and intensity of crisis shocks and their destructive consequences in recent decades. The paper aims to study how the endogenously generated excess money supply can contribute to global financial crises. The creation of money supply is examined from the perspective of the Quantity Theory of Money (QTM) and endogenous money, namely Horizontalism, Structuralism, and Modern Money Theory. Given that prices are not flexible in the short term, increased volatility in the money market prevents a short-term ready balance between money supply and output. The overall result of money supply accommodation can be unpredictable if monetary authorities and commercial banks do not pool their interests, and the money demand volatility becomes extremely high. The study of the correlation between money supply and output allowed distinguishing between neutral countries in the creation of extra liquid assets and countries that can be a potential trigger for excessive money supply volatility. Monitoring the dynamics of M3 and GDP showed that before the significant crisis periods of 1997–1998, 2007–2008, and 2019–2020, the growth of money supply was more than 8%. The established critical level confirms the potential contribution of endogenously created excess money supply to global financial crises.

Indonesia is a developing country with many local cultures trying to continue increasing electronic transactions with e-Banking. UTAUT2 is the one of acceptance and use of the technology model. This study focuses on investigating the effect of Javanese cultural philosophy (local culture in Indonesia) on banking customer behavior in accepting and using banking transactions. This paper is supported by qualitative information, although it uses a quantitative approach. The Javanese cultural philosophy “Ojo Gumunan, Ojo Kagetan” was the main information before distributing the questionnaire as primary data. This model uses UTAUT2 and data analysis using PLS-SEM with SmartPLS. The main results reinforce the theory that the Javanese cultural philosophy “Ojo Gumunan, Ojo Kagetan” is a significant dominant factor in influencing behavior intention. The results of applying the UTAUT2 model show a variance of 86.4% for the endogenous variable behavioral intention and 72.4% for the endogenous variable use behavior to e-banking, which exceeds the value of the original model. Findings revealed that the variables of Javanese philosophy and promotion conditions have a significant effect on behavioral intentions. The facilitating condition variables, habit variables, and behavioral intentions variables on behavior using e-banking proved to affect significantly. This study aims to evaluate the model of acceptance and use of e-banking with a Javanese philosophical approach. The evaluation results show that Javanese philosophy is the main and dominant factor in the model. The contribution of this study can provide insights for practitioners and researchers that increasing non-cash banking transactions (less-cash society) through e-banking can use a local-cultural philosophical approach.

Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate cultural experts’ contributions, including Magnis Suseno, Didik Nini Thowok, Sujiwo Tejo, and members of the FGD in providing information about Javanese culture. The authors are grateful to all parties who have given their feedback and support in completing this paper.

The paper is focused on the performance features of the monetary transmission mechanism (MTM) in Ukraine as a small open economy. To assess the efficiency of monetary transmission channels, it is important to disclose their interaction, define criteria and tools for analyzing their impact on key macroeconomic parameters. The study deepens approaches to the analysis of the intensity of using monetary, credit, interest rate and exchange rate channels in Ukraine in 2005–2020 and detects violations in the functioning of the MTM. Using economic and statistical methods and regression models, the influence of the main channels of monetary transmission on real GDP growth rate and inflation in Ukraine was assessed. It was concluded that it is advisable to clarify the conditions for increasing the efficiency of MTM in Ukraine; also, the parameters of forecasting the intensification of its channels in the medium and long term are determined. The paper highlights measures to improve the formation of volume and structure of the monetary base and monetary aggregates, improve credit and investment climate, and increase the efficiency of monetary regulation. Moreover, interest rate and foreign exchange policies of the central bank to transmit impulses from the decisions of monetary authorities to market participants were substantiated.

The main objective of this study is to find out if Balkan banks use income smoothing (IS) as a creative accounting practice. The IS level is analyzed to see whether banks are focused on these practices as a tool to produce a better picture of financial views in the sight of decision makers. The data are provided from the audited financial reports presented on the banks’ web pages. Eckel’s modified equation was used to find out if banks use the technique of IS. As a result, the findings showed that banks use IS, and the factors that influence the use of this practice are analyzed. The factors studied are: age of banks, profitability, and loan provision. Of a total of seven banks in Kosovo, only three use income smoothing. In Albania, of a total of 11 banks, only one uses income smoothing. Surprisingly, the results show that none of the variables measured affect the usage of income smoothing. The study contributes to understanding the practice of IS on the one hand, and on the other hand, to opening the eyes of investors and depositors promoting vigilance when they make decisions about investing their funds in banks.

The impact of technology on commerce cannot be denied, especially in relation to trade. This study was conducted to examine the impact of electronic banking on the financial performance of Nigerian deposit money banks. The data for the study was obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Statistical Bulletin and the National Bureau of Statistics’ Statistical Bulletin for various years, as well as from published financial statements of the banks under study. An ex-post facto research design was used and a normality test was carried out to establish the goodness of the data; descriptive statistics and a multicollinearity test were conducted in which the independent variables were found good. Regression was adopted to test two hypotheses. It was found that ATM has a positive and significant association with Earning EPS and ROA; POS and NEFT significantly affect ROA only, while WEB has an insignificant impact on both EPS and ROA. It is concluded that electronic banking significantly affects financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Thus, the study recommended that deposit money banks in Nigeria should educate their customers more in the use of NEFT, WEB, and POS, and that the amount of ATM withdrawals should be increased to improve bank performance.

This paper analyzes the effect of profitability and size of Indonesian Islamic banks on the level of Islamic Social Reporting (ISR) disclosure. This study also investigates the role played by the Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB) in the effect of profitability and size of an Islamic bank on ISR disclosure. The presence of SSB is very important in the operations of Islamic banks. SSB should be involved in important company decisions, including the ISR disclosure. The study covers all 14 Indonesian Islamic commercial banks as a population; the analysis will be conducted based on annual reports of the banks’ divisions for the period 2014–2018. A documentation technique was used to collect the data. Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) was used for data analysis. The results show that the adjusted R-squared coefficient of the equation is 0.341. R-squared contributions of ROA, ROE, size, and SSB are –0.093, 0.010, 0.983, and –0.081. Other results show that profitability (ROA) and size (total assets) significantly affect the level of ISR disclosure among Indonesian Islamic banks. However, the results were indifferent regarding the role of SSB. There is no significant effect of SSB on ISR disclosure. SSB was important for moderating the relationship between profitability (ROA and ROE) and bank size and ISR disclosure level. SSB’s involvement in the decision making of Islamic banks will have a positive effect on the activities of Islamic banks. Islamic banks will tend to have a high level of ISR. Further researchers can develop SSB measurements for more accurate results.

Banks prefer to lend to bigger clients for a variety of reasons, including transaction costs and risk considerations. Due to this phenomenon, the Central Bank of Indonesia issued a regulation that requires banks to channel a minimum proportion of their credit portfolio to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Nevertheless, the impact of channeling funds to MSMEs remains a subject of controversy, in part depending on the dimensions and metrics used. This study examines how MSME lending affects the efficiency of banks in Indonesia, a country where MSMEs constitute more than 99% of business entities. Using a total of 175 panel data observations of banks in Indonesia from 2014–2018, banks’ cost efficiency is first estimated using a stochastic frontier approach (SFA). Panel data regression is used to examine the impact of MSME lending on efficiency. The result of this study shows a significant and positive impact of the proportion of MSME lending on bank efficiency, which indicates that requiring banks to channel funds to MSMEs does not only potentially support economic development, but also is beneficial from the business perspective in the Indonesian context.

Acknowledgment
The research was also made possible with the support of PUTI Grant by Universitas Indonesia No. NKB-2036/UN2.RST/HKP.05.00/2020.

This study aims to compare the credit risk and profitability of banks in Indonesia. For this, the descriptive-quantitative method is used. The sample collection is based on the purposive sampling method. The study involved 71 Indonesian banks listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange and Financial Services Authority, both conventional and Sharia. The research data are secondary data that include published results of quarterly financial reports of both conventional and sharia banks obtained from the website of the Financial Services Authority or the official websites of banks. The profitability of banks in making profit is measured by the Return on Assets ratio. The method of analysis used is the paired sample t-test. The results show significant differences in nonperforming loans (NPL) before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in conventional banking. However, there is no significant difference in Sharia banking. Moreover, there is no significant difference in profitability before and after the new normal implementation. This study provides empirical evidence that Indonesia’s banking restructuring policies to anticipate the impact of COVID-19 did not work optimally. The study is expected to help bank managers and the Financial Services Authority as a basis for evaluating the implementation of government policies to restructure the banking system.

The high probability of risk transfer from banks to their counterparties in the field of non-state pension provision (pension account owners, non-state pension funds, insurance companies, asset management companies, etc.) determines the relevance of this study. The paper aims to develop a toolkit for identifying the compliance risk volatility for pension custodian banks based on causal modeling.
This toolkit contributes to: 1) tentative cognitive mapping of the causal relationship between the compliance risks of pension custodian banks in the field of financial monitoring and financial and reputational risks to assess their acceptability by stakeholders in non-state pension programs, and 2) impulse modeling.
The created toolkit is based on the performance data provided by Ukrainian banks, as well as on the reports of the National Bank of Ukraine. Apparently, an increase in penalty rates by 0.1% would reduce the compliance risks for banks by 0.03%, and the number of violations in financial monitoring (specifically the improper assessment/reassessment of customer risks) by 0.01%. In turn, the compliance risk volatility inherent in custodian banks affects the variability of their reputational and financial risks. Thus, reducing the compliance risks by 0.1% would improve the reputation of banks and increase their regulatory capital by 0.01%.
The study findings substantiate the use of the created toolkit to supplement the risk profile components for pension custodian banks, thereby demonstrating the potential volatility of their compliance risks and their consequences for banks and individual groups of their stakeholders.

Acknowledgment
The work is prepared and financed within the framework of the state budget research work No. 45/20202021 “Formation of a risk-oriented system of accumulative pension provision” (DR No. 0120U101508).

Successful management of a retail bank’s brand requires some form of brand image, such as brand personality. Creating a retail bank’s brand personality is effective in establishing attachment between customers and the retail-banking brand they choose to support based on self-identification. As such, this study’s aim is to investigate the bank identification and perceived brand personality dimensions of retail banks among the profitable and significantly sized Generation Y banking market. For this study, a non-probability convenience sample of 300 Generation Y banking customers was used. A self-administered questionnaire was developed for data collection. The results of the study suggest that Generation Y customers perceive their chosen retail bank as successful, sophisticated, sincere, rugged, community driven and classic. Moreover, the results showed that the brand personality dimensions of community driven and successfulness are mostly related to the identification of Generation Y customers with their retail bank brand. Customers who easily identify with their retail bank brand bring financial benefits to the bank, as these customers remain loyal to the brand. The results provide insights that can help retail banks to better understand their current brand personality perceptions, which is important given that brand personality can improve bank brand identification among customers.

This study contributes to the current debate on the downsides and benefits of revenue diversification. Diversification may affect banks when they invest in riskier activities with lower returns, while they benefit from diversified activities that are less risky but have higher returns. The study offers extended implications in the empirical literature using a different measure of revenue diversification from an emerging market perspective. The study uses recent financial data from 26 Malaysian and Nigerian banks for the period 2009–2017, totaling 234 observations. The GMM estimation technique is employed to test the relationship. The results show that revenue diversification – non-interest income/gross revenue ratio (NII), fee and commission income/revenue ratio (NII1), and non-interest income/total assets ratio (NIITA) – significantly affect the firm value and stability of Nigerian banks. Liquidity, administrative expenses, net interest margin (NIM), non-performing loans (NPL), size, GDP growth rate and inflation also affect the firm value and stability of a bank. For Malaysian banks, diversification variables do not significantly affect firm value of a bank, while liquidity, administrative expenses, NIM and size significantly affect firm value. Diversification (NII and NIITA), liquidity, administrative expenses, NIM, NPL, size, GDP growth and inflation rate has a significant impact on the stability of Malaysian banks. The study concludes that revenue diversification affects both the firm value and stability of banks, and to achieve sound financial stability, banks that focus on interest-generating activities may diversify into non-interest-generating activities.

Nowadays, the banking system is undergoing significant changes. Digitalization that appears in Industry 4.0 also pioneers in the banking system, so we can also talk about Bank 4.0 as a new development direction. In this shift in the digital age, it becomes even more critical to examine the performance of banks. The case study approach was based on an attempt to diagnose the performance of a sample of local commercial banks in Qatar and Kuwait based on their financial statements for the period 2013–2017, and approve the existing accounting data as sources for the financial analysis process, by using essential financial analysis tools such as financial ratios. The output of the analysis was used to measure performance. All this is applicable when using the CAMELS rating model to evaluate the financial performance of the banking sector. The results show statistically significant differences between countries for four factors (Asset quality, Management efficiency, Earnings quality and Sensitivity) and none for the remaining two (Capital adequacy and Liquidity management) because the significant level is higher than 5%. However, the two factors with no significant differences are vital to the prudent operation of banks, mainly that Qatari banks perform better than Kuwaiti banks.

Internal (firm-specific) and external (macroeconomic) determinants of stock price fluctuations are vital for investors seeking to invest their money in a firm’s stocks. Thus, the main aim of this study is to explore macroeconomic and firm-specific factors that influence stock price fluctuations for all conventional banks in Jordan in 2010–2019. Ordinary least squares multiple regression (panel data) is applied for data analysis. The results report that trading volume (TV), dividend yield (DY), and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have a positive effect on stock price volatility, while stock price volatility is statistically negatively affected by return on assets (ROA), dividend payout ratio (DPR), and price-earnings ratio (PE). On the other hand, money supply (MS) does not affect stock price volatility. Paying more dividends can reduce stock risk and, in turn, reduce stock price volatility. The findings can benefit current and potential investors, firm managers, brokers, dealers, portfolio managers, regulatory bodies, policy makers, and researchers.

An individual’s ability to exercise freedom in how he/she plans his/her work is referred to as job autonomy, and this is associated with many positive work outcomes. Work engagement is a positive work outcome that many organizations desire to see in their employees due to its impact on productivity. This study was carried out to examine the extent of job autonomy in ensuring that banking industry employees in Nigeria attain a certain level of work engagement. The study used a mixed investigation method, including both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The quantitative analysis involved the distribution of 438 copies of the questionnaire, of which 353 copies were retrieved from bank employees. For a qualitative assessment, 15 respondents were randomly selected from among the senior officers of the selected banks. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (PLS). As a result, job autonomy was found to be stronger with cognitive engagement (β = 0.524, Tval = 6.268, P = 0.000) and emotional engagement (β = 0.440, Tval = 4.372, P = 0.000) than with physical engagement (β = 0.341, Tval = 2.485, P = 0.000). This implied that though job autonomy had a significant influence on employee work engagement, the aspects of scheduling work and making decisions were weak areas. This study concludes that there is a need to rethink the decision-making element in the banking system, given that the workplace is tilting to a more dynamic and flexible culture, fueled by digital innovation.

Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the support of Covenant University, Ota (Nigeria), both financial and in provision of other educational resources, in making this publication possible.