Luisa Anderloni – författare

This valuable book discusses in detail, through a blend of theory and empirical research, the processes of innovation and the diffusion of new financial instruments. The contributors explore theoretical issues such as the relationship between financial innovation and market structure and the legal protection of financial innovation. They examine various topics on retail banking, from payment services and procedures, trading online, internet banking and profitability of retail banking to microfinance. This comprehensive book also focuses on innovation in corporate banking, such as credit derivatives and their implications for the relationship between banks and markets in financial systems.This book will be invaluable to postgraduate students, researchers and academics with an interest in economics and finance and financial innovation in particular.

The postal systems in Europe, as well as in other industrialised and non industrialised countries, are currently undergoing radical changes in their institutional set-up, competitive behaviors, productive and distributive processes, range of services offered. The study of these changes and of the strategic options that become available to the different operators in this field is interesting. And this is so not only per se for the postal system but also in the perspective of the banking system and for the wider financial field, which interacts with the postal sector within a framework of competion and collaboration.

Deals with the subject of unbanking or underbanking in developed countries.

Banking privatisation represents one of the major forces which are significantly changing the banking sector in Europe. Studying the process of banking privatisation thus helps to understand the dynamics of the sector. This book analyses - from the perspective of both commercial banking and investment banking - the various processes of banking privatisation in Europe and their effects on the strategies and structures of banks. In its theoretical part, the book considers technical and financial aspects of banking privatisation from Spain, France, Italy, Norway, Germany, and Russia. An indispensable reading for investment bankers, regulators as well as policy-makers responsible for the existence of efficient and stable banking systems.

The postal systems in Europe, as well as in other industrialised and non industrialised countries, are currently undergoing radical changes in their institutional set-up, competitive behaviors, productive and distributive processes, range of services offered. The study of these changes and of the strategic options that become available to the different operators in this field is interesting. And this is so not only per se for the postal system but also in the perspective of the banking system and for the wider financial field, which interacts with the postal sector within a framework of competion and collaboration.

This book is devoted to an issue that is the subject of growing interest amongst policy makers, financial providers and academics. That issue is the problem of unbanking or underbanking in developed countries. The issue has arisen because, faced with an ever more sophisticated and efficient financial system, an increasing number of people have found themselves in danger of being excluded from it. The goal of the papers that follow is to draw attention, both through a theoretical framework and through field study, to the need for banks, financial institutions, public authorities and non profit associations to increase their efforts to understand the process of financial exclusion, so that they can develop approaches to help people on low to moderate incomes to gain access to the whole range of financial services, from payment to savings, and from loans to investment. Some farsighted banks and financial institutions have already developed strategies, and introduced new products and services, to promote financial inclusion in these untapped markets. The research group is international and multi-disciplinary. The authors are grateful to the Italian Ministry for University Research (MIUR) for financial assistance provided under the “PRIN 2003” programme. The volume has been produced thanks to support from the University of Valle d’Aosta – Université de la Vallée d’Aoste (Italy), which has an leading reputation for encouraging research on financial innovation aimed at marginalised groups.