Banking governance of external AML evidence: UK ownership, crypto benchmarking and temporal signals

The purpose of this article is to analyze the effect that halving has on the fair market value of bitcoins. The main hypothesis of the study is that the decline in the cost of miners’ remuneration for mining is a significant factor that affects the price of cryptocurrencies. The article examines the factors that regulate the issuing process. The significance of a limited supply of bitcoin is detailed in the article, as well as the mechanism for the implementation of the issue of new bitcoins. The study compares the historical inflation data of the US dollar and the projected data on the inflation of bitcoin. The article analyzes the main technical element of cryptocurrency – halving – when the miner’s reward is halved. This analysis includes the mathematical methods of statistical data processing. Research results show that reducing remuneration by half every four years leads to an increased market value of the cryptocurrency. This relationship is clearly illustrated by the Kendall rank correlation method. The results of the study can have a significant impact on the fundamental assessment of bitcoin and can also enable investors to assess any of the existing and operating cryptocurrencies according to this method.

The emergence of Bitcoin in 2009 has received considerable attention surrounding the validity of cryptocurrencies as a viable and, in some jurisdictions, a legal currency alternative. Despite widespread concern that these cryptocurrencies are fostering the environment within which a substantial bubble can occur, it is important to analyze whether these new assets are behaving similarly to major international currencies. This paper investigates the effects of international monetary policy changes on bitcoin returns using a GARCH (1.1) estimation model. The results indicate that monetary policy decisions based on interest rates taken by the Federal Open Market Committee in the United States significantly impact upon bitcoin returns. After controlling for international effects, we find significant evidence of volatility effects driven by United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Japanese quantitative easing announcements. These results show that, despite its nature and ideals, bitcoin seems to be subject to the same economic factors as traditional fiat currencies, and is not entirely unaffected by government policies. This result has implications for investors using bitcoin as a hedging or diversification tool. In addition, we contribute to the existing debate regarding the classification of bitcoin as an asset class, by illustrating that bitcoin volatility exhibits various reactions that bear resemblance to both currency pairs and store-of-value assets.

The increasing role of digitalization in the banking sector necessitates an in-depth analysis of the impact of information technology (IT) investments on bank profitability. The paper analyzes the influence of IT investments on the profitability of Vietnamese commercial banks. The data were collected from 27 commercial banks in Vietnam between 2010 and 2022. The methodology used in this paper is the Feasible Generalised Least Squares (FGLS) regression. The key results indicate that investment in IT has improved the overall performance of banks, as evidenced by an average increase of 1.8% in Return on Assets (ROA) and 15.3% in Return on Equity (ROE). In addition, the Equity-to-Asset ratio exerts a favorable influence on bank performance, increasing ROA by 15.7% and ROE by 40.9%. Furthermore, bank size also demonstrates a positive correlation with both ROA and ROE, raising it by 0.3% and 2.3%, respectively. Based on these findings, more efficient investment in digital transformation, collaboration with Fintech firms, IT competence enhancement for staff, and communication promotion for Vietnamese commercial banks are recommended. Enabling environments for bank digital transformation should be provided by the Government in building a centralized database and electronic systems, introducing fintech regulations, establishing digital ecosystems, and implementing security solutions.

Acknowlegment
This paper is funded by the National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the comments from chairs, scholars, and audiences at the 19th International Conference on Humanities & Social Sciences 2024 – Applying Humanities & Social Sciences for a sustainable future, Khonkhaen University, Thailand (ICHUSO-011). This paper has been revised significantly after presenting at the IC-HUSO 2024 Conference.