Issue #2 (Volume 17 2022)

Microfinance banks were set up to provide financial services to poor people to reduce the rate of poverty and improve the quality of living in the country. As such, this study ascertained the effect of microfinance banks on the economic development of Nigeria. Secondary data were obtained from the CBN Bulletin and records of the National Population Commission from 1996 to 2019. The study used Vector Autoregressive (VAR) estimates to test the effect of the independent variables (microfinance banks’ total loans and advances, total investments, and total deposits) on the dependent variable (per capita income). Johansen Co-integration results showed a relationship between microfinance banks and Nigeria’s economic development in the long run. The VAR results show that the activities of microfinance banks have a positive but insignificant effect on Nigeria’s economic development in the short term. Microfinance banks have not done well in their intermediation function to positively and significantly affect economic development, especially reducing the poverty rate, unemployment rate, and improving living standards, among other macroeconomic development indices in the short run. The study recommends that microfinance banks will help to improve the standard of living in the country by granting more credits to rural dwellers through the creation of corporative societies, age grades, and unions that are predominant in rural areas.

Acknowledgment
We are grateful to all researchers who contributed to this paper.

The efficiency of banks is an important factor that effectively contributes to the stability of the world financial system, thus reducing financial failure rates of banks and international financial crises that leads to the stability of the global financial system. This study aims to investigate whether the efficiency of Egyptian banks adversely affects financial stability. A sample of 30 banks operating in Egypt was selected to answer this question using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach and financial ratios. This study enables the Central Bank of Egypt to identify which banking system (Islamic banks or traditional banks) is more efficient and contributes significantly to boost economic growth. Results revealed that the efficiency of banks is a core factor to affect financial stability. The statically explanatory power of this effect is significant but weak at 14.1% for all Egyptian banks, 6.3% for traditional banks, strong for traditional banks with Islamic window at 22%, and stronger for Islamic banks at 55%. Consequently, the Islamic banking system in Egypt is more efficient compared to traditional banks and has a greater impact on financial stability as one of the pillars of financial inclusion to boost economic growth in Egypt.

The purpose of this study is to determine an index for loan loss provision as a new measurement and examine its effect on bank risk. The study also compared the results with a commonly used measurement, which is the ratio of loan loss provision (LLP). The population of this study is all conventional banks, including foreign banks with branch offices in Indonesia. The period of observation is from 2015 to 2018. The sample selection based on the purposive sampling method resulted in 86 banks. This study used panel data analysis. The data were collected from the annual reports of each bank and the website of the Financial Services Authority. The research findings show that the index of loan loss provision can decrease credit risk, liquidity risk, and operational risk. Meanwhile, the ratio of the loan loss provision only affects operational risk and does not affect credit risk and liquidity risk. The findings of this study suggest that the index for loan loss provision is more suitable to be used as an alternative measurement in the research design related to loan loss provision because the implementation of IFRS 9 requires more detailed disclosure of how banks estimate the amount of loan loss provision.

The purpose of this paper is to substantiate the determinants of Indonesian banking profitability before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and net interest margin (NIM) were used to measure banking profitability. The research population is 43 banks listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2020. Purposive sampling has been used to determine the research sample. The criteria are banks issued annual reports during the observation period (2019–2020). The data collection method used is documentation. Data analysis techniques used are descriptive analysis methods and multiple regression analysis. The results of the study indicate that banks experienced a decrease in profitability during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic. ROA before the pandemic was 0.82 and dropped to 0.62 during the pandemic; ROE from 1.76 to 1.32; and NIM became 4.79 from 4.91. Other results show that only Capital Adequacy Ratio CAR and Non-performing Loans (NPL) can determine bank profitability (ROA and ROE) significantly, both before and during the pandemic (the coefficient is –0.112 and –4.856 for CAR; –0.977 and –0.913 for NPL). CAR and NPL influence profitability negatively. Meanwhile, size and liquidity are not able to significantly influence profitability of Indonesian banking (ROA, ROE, and NIM). Bank management that can control NPL well will have a significant impact on profitability.

Acknowledgment
We thank to Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Diponegoro for the funding of research and publication.

Although research in the past focused on the direct association between organizational culture and staff performance, the effect of any mediating variable was not fully investigated. Thus, this study aimed to examine the effect of innovation and communication as mediating variables in the association between institutional culture and staff performance.
A quantitative methodology was used to collect data through a survey using an on-line Likert-scale questionnaire. Simple random sampling was used to select 19 employees from two commercial banks in South Africa, which included senior executives, managers, supervisors, administrative staff and cashiers. Since these banks were very similar in size, 10 respondents were selected from Bank A and 9 from Bank B according to the above selection criteria. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted to address the aim of the study.
The findings confirmed that communication and innovation facilitated the relationship between institutional culture and employee performance, which was mediated by innovation and communication. Thus, the leadership of the banks should strategically and effectively employ communication tools to ensure that the institution remains innovative. Furthermore, an innovative culture should be nurtured, which encourages and invites participation by staff.

This study analyzes the factors responsible for the lower net interest rate at commercial banks located in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Data were collected from 35, 10 and 13 commercial banks in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, respectively, from 2012 to 2020 using the Fixed effect model. The Simultaneous Equation Model was used to analyze the macroeconomic factors and banks’ specific characteristics towards Loan and Time Deposit rates. The result showed that macroeconomic factors, such as the inflation rate, significantly affect loan and time deposit rates in these countries. In Indonesia, bank competition should be reduced and banks’ stability should be higher to minimize Net Interest Margin Spread (difference between Loan Rate and Deposit Rate). In the Philippines, banks should increase their capital and liquidity. So, they will be more confident and prudent in lowering their NIM. Thailand’s banking industry has unique characteristics with high monopoly power. The bigger and greater the market share, the larger the interest rate spread on customers. Therefore, regulators in each country need to consider these important variables when making decisions on lowering the net interest rates by banks to enhance social welfare.

Internet banking is an essential component of banking. However, most bank customers in Nigeria do not make optimal use of the service. The paper investigates the influence of behavioral characteristics, security risk and perceived service quality on internet banking usage. A research model was developed by incorporating security risk to the antecedent variables of the Theory of Planned Behavior with perceived service quality serving as a mediator. A questionnaire was utilized to gather information from 333 bank customers who had signed up for internet banking. According to the results of structural equation modeling, internet banking usage is positively correlated with subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and perceived service quality. Security risk, on the other hand, has a negative correlation. The use of internet banking is unaffected by one’s attitude. Regarding the relationship with perceived service quality, attitude and subjective norm were insignificant, while perceived behavioral control and security risk were significant. The mediating effect indicates that perceived service quality did not mediate the association between attitude and internet banking usage. However, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and security risk partially mediate the relationship. Thus, aside from attitude, the study confirms the Theory of Planned Behavior. The findings provide essential insights into internet banking usage behavior, which is relevant to bank managers and industry regulators.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of executives’ ethical commitment and corporate governance on the Islamic banks’ performance in the Saudi context. The sample of this study consists of Saudi Islamic banks over the period 2012–2020. The financial data were extracted from the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul). While the behavioral data, particularly the executives’ ethical commitment, is measured through the ethical commitment index. In the econometric analysis, a generalized least square regression method (GLS) is applied to two different sub-models with different dependent variables (return on assets and return on equity). Empirical results suggest that board size and board independence have a significant impact on bank performance. The ethical commitment of executives contributes positively and significantly to the performance of Islamic banks in terms of return on assets. However, there is no statistical evidence of the effect of ethical commitment on Islamic banks’ returns on equity. Therefore, boards of directors of Islamic banks should include expert independent directors to promote best governance practices and enhance executives’ commitment. Larger boards can improve their credit ratings and access to resources.

Acknowledgment
This study was funded by Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (Grant No. 39/S/243).

In the last two decades, central banks in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have witnessed a trend of the recapitalization policy for commercial banks, and many more are bracing up to undertake the same reform. This has raised debates on whether and how it affects the competitiveness of commercial banks. Nevertheless, empirical evidence remains sparse and inclusive, especially for SSA countries. It is on this premise that this study, therefore, investigates competition in commercial banks before and after recapitalization for six selected SSA countries. The study employs the Panzar-Rosse model to analyze bank-level and macroeconomic indicators between 2000 and 2015. The results show that the H-statistic increased from –0.15, –0.28 and -0.82 before capitalization to 0.94, 0.97 and 0.7 after recapitalization for the first, second and third estimations respectively. This showed that bank competition is higher for the period after recapitalization than the period before recapitalization. The study, therefore, concludes that bank recapitalization could be necessary, especially for countries with low minimum paid-up capital. It is to the extent that banks can now be self-reliant with a higher capacity to invest, as this will significantly improve competition in commercial banks’ services.

Acknowledgment
This research study was supported by a grant from the African Economic Research Consortium, Nairobi Kenya. The findings, opinions and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Consortium, its members or the AERC Secretariat.

The credit expansion policy and banking regulations have attracted widespread attention of bank regulators and policymakers over the last few years. This research aims to examine how the interest rate, prudential capital, and their interaction impact banking profitability in emerging economies like Egypt. The final sample of banks registered by the Central Bank of Egypt comprises 22 banks during the period of 2011–2020. The cross-sectional time-series Generalized Least Squares (GLS) regression approach is used to estimate the panel data. The findings confirm that low-interest rates indeed harm banks’ profitability. In addition, higher prudential capital enhances the profitability of banks. Importantly, the impact of low-interest rates on bank profitability can be diminished only when banks are maintaining higher prudential capital. Based on the findings, it is recommended that bank managers and policymakers in Egypt as well as in similar emerging economies shall promote the application of the Basel Capital Accord to increasingly strengthen the profitability of banks, which in turn reinforces the performance of the banking sector, especially during low-interest rate times. The findings also reveal that bank-specific characteristics such as large bank size, increased efficiency, and less concentrated market enhance banks’ profitability. Overall, the findings of this research are highly relevant since improved profitability is one of the main objectives of bank supervisors and regulators.

Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Mr. Ali Shaker and Amira Ragab for their valuable support.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, bank stability became a priority for the Indonesian Financial Services Authority and the government. Economic activity is expected to be restored by muffling the shocks caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. This paper investigates the influence of COVID-19 on banking stability by differentiating bank core capital size and ownership. Using data from 108 commercial banks in Indonesia for the period March 2020 and March 2021, the paper analyzes data using fixed effects regression. The results show that COVID-19 has a detrimental and significant effect on bank stability in Indonesia. Regardless of the size and ownership of a bank’s core capital, it was found that no bank is immune for a year to the severe implications of COVID-19. This condition was experienced by both state banks and private banks, large and small. To assist in the absorption of COVID-19 shocks, this paper proposes policies for regulators that include stimulus packages and countercyclical roles in the banking system via government-owned banks.

The shifting trend toward m-banking services has caused competition, as multiple banks compete to convince customers to adopt m-banking services, and so must deliver excellent services. As a result, banks must prioritize meeting client expectations and providing high-quality services to compete. This study aims to examine the factors influencing Muslim students’ intentions to use mobile banking (m-banking) in Islamic banks (IB), conventional banks (CB), and conventional Islamic banks in Indonesia (ICB). The study sample consisted of 315 Muslim students who use m-banking in Islamic banks, 369 Muslim students who use conventional banks, and 207 Muslim students who use conventional Islamic banks. The partial least square (PLS) method was used to evaluate the unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology (UTAUT) on Muslim students’ intention in using m-banking. Based on the value of the coefficient of determinant (R2), the UTAUT model in this study is classified as a moderate model. This study reveals that facilitating conditions (FC), habit (HA) and performance expectancy (PE) affect Muslim students’ intentions to use m-banking at Islamic and conventional banks. Meanwhile, the intentions of Muslim students who use m-banking in conventional Islamic banks is influenced by effort expectancy (EE), FC, HA and PE. Surprisingly, social influence (SI) has no effect on Muslim students’ intentions to use mobile banking at Islamic, conventional, and Islamic conventional banks.

The purpose of the paper is to identify promising areas of business architecture of the banking sector of Ukraine’s economy based on public-private partnerships. Business architecture integrates risks due to the predominance in a certain period of development of the banking sector of different business models. Its development should involve the subordination of private interests of the banking business to national and public needs to achieve economic growth. Such a public-private partnership should become an institutional tool for the formation and functioning of a business architecture, based on socially responsible banking.
Development directions of business architecture of the Ukrainian banking sector based on public-private partnership are determined by the results of correlation and regression assessment of the impact of business architecture on economic growth in 2015–2020.
The generalization of the effects on gross investment and gross consumption allows identifying the following areas for targeted changes in business architecture of the banking sector in Ukraine’s economy: 1) reducing the lending activity of banks with retail, corporate, and universal business models; 2) incitement the lending activity of banks with a corporate business model with retail financing and a business model of limited credit intermediation.
The paper substantiates the feasibility of transition to mesoprudential banking regulation and supervision. The main priority of this approach is to reduce systemic risks, which is determined by the propensity for similar risks within groups of financial institutions with the same business models.

In Ukraine, card payment systems develop at a rate similar to that of modern digital payment instruments in most European countries.
The purpose of the paper is to establish interdependence and explain the nature of changing situations in the market of bank payment cards (BPC) taking into account the dynamics of economic development parameters in non-financial sectors of the Ukrainian economy.
The methodology of the study includes graphic methods analyzing the dynamics of economic development indicators and a method for analyzing the cause-and-effect relationship between the studied parameters considered with different lags.
Results showed that the most significant parameters for the development of the payment card infrastructure were the level of provision with POS terminals and the share of non-cash transactions. Their correlation with the economic development indicators reached 0.97. Up to the stage when the volume of non-cash payments by cards reached 5% of GDP, the impact of the BPC market on the change in the level of economic development had been insignificant according to the general idea. The development of the economy up to that point stimulated the development of the BPC market. Subsequently, the BPC market that was already sufficiently developed became one of the drivers aimed at the development of non-financial sectors of the Ukrainian economy after overcoming the 5% GDP level.

This study investigates the relationship between human capital and improvements in organizational performance in Yemeni commercial banks operating in Sana’a. The individual human capital dimensions such as knowledge, experience, skills, innovation, and employees’ morale were taken as human capital variables. A quantitative methodology was used, and a Likert-scale questionnaire was distributed to collect the data. A combination of convenience and random sampling techniques was adopted to distribute the questionnaire to eight banks and 162 employees of these banks. A descriptive approach was used to analyze the data statistically. The results indicated that all the human capital factors had a varying level of practical effect on the organizational performance and all of these were statistically significant. Overall, 76.4% change in performance was observed if human capital elements were employed effectively. Each element such as knowledge, experience, skills, innovation, and employees’ morale had a varying level of positive impact on performance as observed. It is recommended to adopt and put in place knowledge and skills improvement systems in organization to achieve a sustained organizational growth.

Acknowledgment
This research publication was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.

This paper investigates the wealth effects of the consumer price index, interest rate, domestic credit and real economic activity on the Amman Stock Exchange performance. Over the period 1991–2020 using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test. While the interest rate is a powerful monetary tool to fight inflation and recession, it can be detrimental to investors. The target variables, consumer price index (CPI) and interest rate (IDR), are both highly significant with the correct signs. An increase of 1 percent in CPI and IDR leads to a fall in stock prices by 1.6 percent and 5 percent, respectively. While the central bank is targeting inflation by raising interest rates, its actions reflect negatively on the stock market. The short-run model confirms the causality from the independent variables to the dependent variable. Moreover, the error correction term (ECT) is very high and significant at the 1 percent level amounting to 83.3 percent, which confirms the evidence of the long-run relationship. Monetary objectives are really important, but financial stability is also important.

Digital channels (websites, bank apps, mobile banking) are incrementally improving as a result of technology innovation and changing customer behavior. The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has just added to this trend by urging people to work and make all financial transaction through the Internet. In this context, the question arises of whether banks should revive their physical branches or take the opportunity to shift to mainly digital platform? This research focuses on the branch network trend of Vietnamese commercial banks during the period 2012–2019 to answer the question, what is the contribution of bank branch networks to the banks’ profits. Panel data from 22 largest Vietnamese commercial banks in terms of owners’ capital has been analyzed, using Random Effect Model (REM) regression models. The results show that Vietnamese banks are still expanding their branch networks, despite the fact that bank customers are increasingly engaging in digital bank services. The number of branches has a positive correlation with the banks’ profits, although there is a disparity between large network banks and the rest. The research suggests some implications that can help optimize the branch network in the context of digitalization in an emerging market.