The COVID-19 global health pandemic, which started in late December 2019, forced many countries to adopt unusual measures such as social distancing and strict lockdowns. It changed many of our certainties and practices, including the foundations of the market-led version of capitalism, by bringing social and health considerations back to the forefront of firms' considerations, investors' strategies and governments' priorities. Under the effects of this unprecedented crisis, all sectors of finance and real economy have been seriously affected.Health uncertainties and their increasing consequences for human life and activities require stronger and faster actions to shape pathways towards sustainability and better resilience. The COVID-19 health crisis is a visible part of a greater iceberg: the World Health Organization has tracked, over recent years, a large number of epidemic events around the world, suggesting that many other similar diseases could appear and evolve in the future from epidemic to pandemic in a globalized world.Financial Transformations Beyond the COVID-19 Health Crisis was specifically designed to provide the readers with new results, recent findings and future outlook on the impacts of COVID-19 on financial markets, firm behaviors, and finance and investment strategies. It favors multidimensional perspectives and brings together conceptual, empirical and policy-oriented chapters, using quantitative and qualitative methods alike. This is a timely and comprehensive collection of theoretical, empirical and policy contributions from renowned scholars around the world, and provides the thoughts and insights required to rethink the financial sector in the event of new shocks of the same nature.

This edited volume is based on original essays first presented at seminars in complexity economics, Sichuan University, China, in November 2018 and May 2019, and at the 12th International Conference on the Chinese Economy, University of Clermont-Ferrand, France, in October 2019. It also includes three contributions written especially for this volume. This research benefited from three French grants "Hubert Curien Research Fellowship" (Program Campus France 2019, 2020, 2021). All chapters assess the recent take-off of the Chinese economy from a historical perspective, enlarging the economic evidence that China's capitalism is a matter of institutional revolution.Institutional Change and China Capitalism aims to provide a radically new view of the rise of Chinese capitalism by drawing on recent developments in cliometrics and complexity economics, macroeconomic dynamics, network analysis and behavioral finance to illustrate the various facets of China's transition to capitalism. The chapters within innovate the study of China's take-off using the frontier of research in institutional cliometrics and complexity economics. Thus, the book is structured in three sections that seek to address — empirically, theoretically, and in terms of network structure, the profound institutional change that led China to progressively adopt capitalism.Together these papers attest to the vitality of current research in cliometrics and complexity economics.

Modern Finance and Risk Management is dedicated to our colleague, academic mentor, and adviser Professor Hermann Locarek-Junge. During his academic career, Hermann Locarek-Junge published several important contributions to the field of risk management and portfolio management and served as the chairman and board member of the German Finance Association (DGF) and the Data Science Society (Gesellschaft für Klassifikation).A short foreword by the mentors of Hermann Locarek-Junge and an introduction by the editors mark the beginning of the Festschrift. The first section on Modern Finance includes chapters on asset management, entrepreneurship, and behavioural finance. The second section on Modern Risk Management contains seven contributions covering considerations of risk measurement, risk management, and regulation. Finally, the third section includes topics on commodities and energy finance.This Festschrift comprises 20 original contributions of notable scholars in finance who have worked with Hermann Locarek-Junge over the last four decades. Due to numerous connections to practice and applications, Modern Finance and Risk Management is relevant and attractive not only to academics and researchers but also to practitioners in industry and banking.

From vehicles to music, power generation to retail, every aspect of our daily routine has experienced drastic changes in the recent past, driven by secular forces such as digitization, a growing focus on sustainability, regulatory changes and evolving consumer behavior. Financial services are no exception. A paradigm change is at play in the financial sector, with a surge in competition from non-traditional actors, a revolution in customer experience evidenced by rising transparency and customer-centric strategies. FinTech (financial technology) is disrupting financial services, providing a historic opportunity for formally underserved customers, a formidable threat to existing banks and a critical challenge to regulators. Through the lens of FinTech — including payments, lending platforms, insurtech, superapps and market infrastructure — the author highlights the practical policy opportunities and risks of financial inclusion with a wealth of data.This book tells the story of entrepreneurs, companies, investors, researchers and regulators who are building the financial services of tomorrow and the mechanisms that will allow us as a society to fulfill the promise of inclusion. There are still challenges to overcome, particularly high levels of informality, subpar quality in financial services, and low levels of financial education. Regulators play a crucial role to foster inclusion, proposing sandboxes and stepping up their efforts against risks triggered by technology such as monopolistic behavior, consumer protection and cybercrime.Finance with a Purpose combines the theory in the fields of economics, finance and law with ample professional experience in emerging markets. This book is essential for policymakers, scholars, and any reader who wants to understand the recent progress in financial inclusion and how it can be used to alleviate inequality and foster economic development.

Islamic finance is one of the fastest-growing sectors in international banking and finance. Owing to the increasing availability and ease of access to Islamic services, Islamic finance has become increasingly important not only in Muslim countries, but around the world, making it a global industry. Under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as in some regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa, a dual financial system is implemented, where Sharia-compliant products are marketed alongside conventional financial systems.In this thoroughly researched collection of chapters, researchers from around the world examine the role of Islamic finance in the economies and prospects of different companies. They discuss Islamic finance literature from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The theoretical section of the book consists of conceptual chapters that enable readers to critically evaluate and expand their understanding of accounting and finance. The chapters in the empirical section of this handbook discuss and interpret empirical evidence to provide clear implications for practice, research, and society. This section bridges the gap between theory and practice and offers suggestions for future research. Islamic Accounting and Finance is geared towards scholars and students, but it is also of use to banking and finance practitioners.

This book aims to provide insights on the latest developments in Financial Technology (FinTech). It is a collection of scientific articles covering the primary areas of finance. The following key themes are covered in the book: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, FinTech Regulation and Smart Contracts, Cryptocurrencies, and FinTech in Financial Services. FinTech is a rapidly developing industry that uses technological innovations to improve financial activities and make financial services more accessible and affordable to businesses and individuals. This book contributes to the body of knowledge in FinTech, offering readers a chance to review and rethink the topics in question.

The coronavirus crisis and related business failures are widely discussed topics, with COVID-19 raising many concerns about existing risk management models. Many companies have struggled to understand which factors to consider in their business model to address the new risks associated with the pandemic. The resulting financial crisis has highlighted the importance of further research on risk management that will allow businesses to develop feasible models for handling various risks in the ongoing crisis and recovery period.Existing academic studies emphasise the necessity of revised risk management models, but focus on the risk posed by Artificial Intelligence and other advanced technologies. The detailed study thus fulfils the vital need to understand how the risk management strategies of businesses should be revised, to adapt to changes brought about by the pandemic.This book is essential reading for students studying risk management, researchers examining the relation between advanced technology and risk management mitigation strategies, businesses working on their strategies around managing risk, and policymakers looking for necessary policy changes for an effective support to businesses.

From a taboo topic in the early 1990s, corruption has now become an intriguing economic issue attracting broad attention from academics and practitioners. Political Corruption and Corporate Finance is the first attempt to scrutinize the effect of political corruption on corporate finance. It provides readers with a comprehensive overview of corruption-related issues and theoretical and empirical studies in corporate finance. This book summarizes the causes and effects of political corruption as well as anti-corruption mechanisms and initiatives; analyzes how political corruption at both state and local levels determines corporate financial decisions (investment, financing, and dividend); and discusses how the corruption environment determines firm-level financial behavior.The first three chapters of the book introduce political corruption, the status of political corruption, and anti-corruption campaigns around the world. The last three chapters focus on how firms make financial decisions, and the role of political corruption in corporate finance. By summarizing real problems and results from academic research, this work will help readers to understand how the corruption environment determines firm-level financial behavior.

The banking industry plays a critical role in ensuring global economic and financial stability. Effective governance is essential for mitigating bank risk-taking and limiting managerial opportunism in this industry, which is constantly under regulatory and market scrutiny. However, the complexity and diversity of banking financial instruments and transactions gives rise to substantial information asymmetries and ongoing debates regarding contemporary governance, sustainability, and data innovation issues.This book is one of the first to address these contemporary issues collectively, offering a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the global banking industry. It provides new insights, evidence-based recommendations, and future perspectives on the role of governance mechanisms, digital innovation, climate change, and green finance in shaping the industry pre- and post-COVID-19. The book is a valuable resource for a wide range of stakeholders in the banking sector, including international regulators, practitioners, policymakers, institutional investors, and auditors. It features contributions from renowned international scholars and offers a variety of theoretical, empirical, and policy-based perspectives. It provides updated evidence and new insights crucial for rethinking the global banking model and dominant regulations, and offers evidence-based recommendations and measures for promoting financial stability and resilience in this industry.

In contrast to non-financial firms, banks have undergone significant turbulence in the past decade, enduring severe financial crises and unprecedented regulatory reforms. New regulations, including heightened capital and liquidity requirements, measures to address regulatory migration, resolution authority, stress testing, and capital planning, have spurred the development of new tools to manage institutional failure. The primary goal has been to reduce the likelihood of poor performance and improve stock market valuations to restore public confidence in the industry. The banking industry plays a vital role in global economic and financial stability and is subject to intense regulatory and market scrutiny. Financial instability can be very costly for banks due to its spillover effects on other parts of the economy. Therefore, a sound, stable, and healthy financial system is essential for efficient resource allocation and risk distribution across the economy.This is the first book that comprehensively addresses a range of contemporary issues in the global banking industry, providing a thorough understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector. The book examines how banking business models, effective policies, and regulations can address these issues, covering corporate governance, asset-liability management, risk management, financial performance, and regulatory frameworks. The potential benefits of alternative banking models, including Islamic banking, and their contribution to global financial stability and resilience are also explored.Contributions from international scholars using both quantitative and qualitative methods provide new insights, recent findings, and perspectives on future bank stability and resilience in a global context. The book also presents updated evidence and debates on the impact of recent regulations and governance structures on the industry, which has undergone significant changes in response to financial turmoil and new laws and regulations aimed at enhancing bank resiliency, protecting against systematic risks, and promoting fair and ethical banking practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic undeniably wreaked havoc on global trade, profoundly affecting people's lives and having a significant impact on economic growth worldwide. Many people regard COVID-19 as "the fury of nature." However, even during the context, and now aftermath, of the pandemic there are still ongoing critical problems facing the world that have not cooled down — one of which is climate change. The recent unusual and extreme weather conditions have thrust climate change into the media limelight and to the forefront of the public agenda. Nowadays, climate change receives special attention from many organizations, countries and governments worldwide because of its profound influence on the global economy and people's lives. Natural disasters and prolonged drought can destroy infrastructure; threaten crops, food production, as well as human life; and lead to mass migration. The effects of climate change are evident everywhere globally and appear to be more severe than ever before.Handbook of Environmental and Green Finance contains conceptual, empirical, and policy papers that provide an insightful and timely read for researchers, investors, and policymakers interested in sustainable finance, development finance, and alternative finance to combat climate change. Throughout this book, readers are offered a global analysis of the current state of the sustainable finance sector and provided with potential solutions to address obstacles in this field.

Green finance plays a crucial role in promoting sustainable development by mobilizing financial resources toward environmentally sustainable projects. It enables the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, which is essential for achieving global climate goals. Green Finance and Sustainable Development Goals explores how, by aligning financial investments with sustainable development objectives, green finance can contribute to the achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The first part of the book examines the connection between climate change and green finance in emerging markets and developing countries, with a particular focus on the impact of globalization and financial development on climate change. The second part of the book focuses on environmental disclosure, standards, and their relevance, with a specific focus on how European countries have implemented green finance to support sustainable development and achieve climate goals. In the third and final part of the book, the authors discuss green finance and sustainable development goals from a global perspective, examining the role of finance and renewable energy transition in supporting sustainable economic development, and how this can be applied to green recovery post-COVID-19.The book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the relationship between green finance and sustainable development goals, offering insights and potential solutions for researchers, investors, and policymakers. It also includes real-life case studies, empirical analyses, and policy recommendations from scholars around the world, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding and addressing the challenges of climate change and sustainable finance in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fintech and Green Investment: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities is a comprehensive resource that provides insight into the difficulties and future potential of the transition to green investments through the fintech revolution.This book focuses on how the intersection of fintech and green investment can be used to overcome challenges and create new opportunities. It discusses how fintech is rapidly transforming the financial sector landscape and blurring the boundaries of financial firms and the sector more widely, resulting in a paradigm shift that has various policy implications. The importance of broadening monitoring horizons and reassessing the role of financial regulation in this new landscape is also considered.Covering a wide range of areas in finance, this book is a collection of scientific articles and case studies from a variety of countries. It is suitable for anyone interested in understanding the impact of fintech on green investment, offering valuable insights into how the transformative power of fintech can be harnessed to create a sustainable future.

According to World Bank (2021), the economic recovery post-COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has been uneven and tumultuous. Reasons for this include exposure to oil-price fluctuations, the impact of pandemic, public demonstrations, and political instability. Although the MENA region encompasses a variety of countries — wealthy, stable and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as less secure countries such as Iraq and Syria — it plays an important role in the global economy.Handbook of Banking and Finance in the MENA Region explores the trends in finance and banking of the MENA region, including theoretical and empirical perspectives from researchers around the globe. The first part of the book explores numerous reforms in the region's banking and finance, including digital technology, financial technology (fintech) and green finance. While financial inclusion in the Gulf Cooperation Council is much higher, the other countries in the MENA region have yet to overcome this trend, and the second part of the book provides specific case studies of ways in which banks have contributed to the region. The final section of the book considers macroeconomic factors and financial development. Together these perspectives enrich the discussion of facts and development challenges in the finance and banking of the MENA region as a whole.

We wrote this book to help financial experts and investors to understand the state of the art of artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance. But first, what is artificial intelligence? The foundations of artificial intelligence lie in the human desire to automate. Often this desire has had foundations in grand civilization-defining visions or economic needs, such as the Antikythera mechanism, circa 200 BCE. Considered to be the oldest known example of an analog computer, it is thought that the mechanism automated the prediction of the positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets to assist in navigation.No matter the specific industry or application, AI has become a new engine of growth. Both finance and banking have been leveraging AI technologies and algorithms, applying them to automate routine tasks, procedures and forecasting, thereby improving overall customer experience.The topics covered in this book make it an invaluable resource for academics, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners alike who want to understand how AI has affected the banking and financial industries and how it will continue to change them in the years to come.

This Handbook presents recent trends and new developments in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) research within the realms of business, finance, and sustainability. Divided into three distinct parts, it encompasses 19 chapters that offer insightful studies conducted in diverse national environments and organizational settings.Part I focuses on DEA applications in business, including healthcare, supply chain management, and governmental organizations. Part II delves into the application of DEA in banking and finance, providing valuable insights into the efficiency and performance of financial institutions. Part III explores DEA's diverse applications in sustainability, addressing topics such as sustainability indicators, resource mobilization, food production, and farming. In essence, this Handbook stands as an invaluable reference work for stakeholders seeking to optimize organizational efficiency and performance across a variety of sectors.

Finance is undergoing a profound transformation. Digital technologies are reshaping payments, lending, insurance, and wealth management. Big data technology is now an integral part of the financial services industry and will continue to drive future innovation. Digital finance has fundamentally changed how we live and do business, and it has been a major disruptor of the finance industry. The advantages of digital finance have long been recognized. Rapidly growing digital technologies also have the potential to deliver financial services at significantly reduced costs, thereby increasing financial inclusion and generating significant efficiency improvements across the economy. To build inclusive societies and address rising inequalities, global and national leaders must bridge the digital divide across and within countries to reap the benefits of digital financial services and build appropriate regulatory frameworks for ensuring trusted transactions in a digitalized economy. This means finding the right balance between enabling financial innovation and addressing risks, including insufficient consumer protection, a lack of financial and digital literacy, unequal access to digital infrastructure, and data biases that need action at the national level.This book focuses on financial technology, with a particular emphasis on the impact of digital finance on the finance and banking industries. Chapters address topics such as FinTech, big data, Bitcoin, corporate governance, and economic policy, while also considering current global issues like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by the most recent research and illuminating case studies, this handbook offers an insightful overview of how the finance and banking sectors are changing under the influence of the digital age.

This review volume describes and evaluates a range of both traditional and emerging forms of business financing. The first section covers topics of traditional finance, such as debt choice, leverage target adjustments, and IPOs. This is followed by a discussion of venture capital and private equity, including a literature review on venture capital relationships, private equity investment strategies, governance issues in private equity financing, geographic differences among European venture capitalists, and the interplay between different investor types. The final section of the book shifts focus to modern finance, examining global cryptocurrency adoption, gender dynamics in equity crowdfunding, the impact of digitalisation and AI on entrepreneurial finance, and systemic risks in innovative banking. Each chapter explores how these factors are reshaping financial practices and regulations.This comprehensive volume offers diverse perspectives from experts in the field, facilitating a deeper understanding of both established and cutting-edge financing strategies. Given the many recent developments in the financial landscape and their influence on how companies raise money, this book is an indispensable resource for academics, postgraduate students, and finance practitioners alike.

From vehicles to music, power generation to retail, every aspect of our daily routine has experienced drastic changes in the recent past, driven by secular forces such as digitization, a growing focus on sustainability, regulatory changes and evolving consumer behavior. Financial services are no exception. A paradigm change is at play in the financial sector, with a surge in competition from non-traditional actors, a revolution in customer experience evidenced by rising transparency and customer-centric strategies. FinTech (financial technology) is disrupting financial services, providing a historic opportunity for formally underserved customers, a formidable threat to existing banks and a critical challenge to regulators. Through the lens of FinTech — including payments, lending platforms, insurtech, superapps and market infrastructure — the author highlights the practical policy opportunities and risks of financial inclusion with a wealth of data.This book tells the story of entrepreneurs, companies, investors, researchers and regulators who are building the financial services of tomorrow and the mechanisms that will allow us as a society to fulfill the promise of inclusion. There are still challenges to overcome, particularly high levels of informality, subpar quality in financial services, and low levels of financial education. Regulators play a crucial role to foster inclusion, proposing sandboxes and stepping up their efforts against risks triggered by technology such as monopolistic behavior, consumer protection and cybercrime.Finance with a Purpose combines the theory in the fields of economics, finance and law with ample professional experience in emerging markets. This book is essential for policymakers, scholars, and any reader who wants to understand the recent progress in financial inclusion and how it can be used to alleviate inequality and foster economic development.

The COVID-19 global health pandemic, which started in late December 2019, forced many countries to adopt unusual measures such as social distancing and strict lockdowns. It changed many of our certainties and practices, including the foundations of the market-led version of capitalism, by bringing social and health considerations back to the forefront of firms' considerations, investors' strategies and governments' priorities. Under the effects of this unprecedented crisis, all sectors of finance and real economy have been seriously affected.Health uncertainties and their increasing consequences for human life and activities require stronger and faster actions to shape pathways towards sustainability and better resilience. The COVID-19 health crisis is a visible part of a greater iceberg: the World Health Organization has tracked, over recent years, a large number of epidemic events around the world, suggesting that many other similar diseases could appear and evolve in the future from epidemic to pandemic in a globalized world.Financial Transformations Beyond the COVID-19 Health Crisis was specifically designed to provide the readers with new results, recent findings and future outlook on the impacts of COVID-19 on financial markets, firm behaviors, and finance and investment strategies. It favors multidimensional perspectives and brings together conceptual, empirical and policy-oriented chapters, using quantitative and qualitative methods alike. This is a timely and comprehensive collection of theoretical, empirical and policy contributions from renowned scholars around the world, and provides the thoughts and insights required to rethink the financial sector in the event of new shocks of the same nature.

This edited volume is based on original essays first presented at seminars in complexity economics, Sichuan University, China, in November 2018 and May 2019, and at the 12th International Conference on the Chinese Economy, University of Clermont-Ferrand, France, in October 2019. It also includes three contributions written especially for this volume. This research benefited from three French grants "Hubert Curien Research Fellowship" (Program Campus France 2019, 2020, 2021). All chapters assess the recent take-off of the Chinese economy from a historical perspective, enlarging the economic evidence that China's capitalism is a matter of institutional revolution.Institutional Change and China Capitalism aims to provide a radically new view of the rise of Chinese capitalism by drawing on recent developments in cliometrics and complexity economics, macroeconomic dynamics, network analysis and behavioral finance to illustrate the various facets of China's transition to capitalism. The chapters within innovate the study of China's take-off using the frontier of research in institutional cliometrics and complexity economics. Thus, the book is structured in three sections that seek to address — empirically, theoretically, and in terms of network structure, the profound institutional change that led China to progressively adopt capitalism.Together these papers attest to the vitality of current research in cliometrics and complexity economics.

Modern Finance and Risk Management is dedicated to our colleague, academic mentor, and adviser Professor Hermann Locarek-Junge. During his academic career, Hermann Locarek-Junge published several important contributions to the field of risk management and portfolio management and served as the chairman and board member of the German Finance Association (DGF) and the Data Science Society (Gesellschaft für Klassifikation).A short foreword by the mentors of Hermann Locarek-Junge and an introduction by the editors mark the beginning of the Festschrift. The first section on Modern Finance includes chapters on asset management, entrepreneurship, and behavioural finance. The second section on Modern Risk Management contains seven contributions covering considerations of risk measurement, risk management, and regulation. Finally, the third section includes topics on commodities and energy finance.This Festschrift comprises 20 original contributions of notable scholars in finance who have worked with Hermann Locarek-Junge over the last four decades. Due to numerous connections to practice and applications, Modern Finance and Risk Management is relevant and attractive not only to academics and researchers but also to practitioners in industry and banking.

From vehicles to music, power generation to retail, every aspect of our daily routine has experienced drastic changes in the recent past, driven by secular forces such as digitization, a growing focus on sustainability, regulatory changes and evolving consumer behavior. Financial services are no exception. A paradigm change is at play in the financial sector, with a surge in competition from non-traditional actors, a revolution in customer experience evidenced by rising transparency and customer-centric strategies. FinTech (financial technology) is disrupting financial services, providing a historic opportunity for formally underserved customers, a formidable threat to existing banks and a critical challenge to regulators. Through the lens of FinTech — including payments, lending platforms, insurtech, superapps and market infrastructure — the author highlights the practical policy opportunities and risks of financial inclusion with a wealth of data.This book tells the story of entrepreneurs, companies, investors, researchers and regulators who are building the financial services of tomorrow and the mechanisms that will allow us as a society to fulfill the promise of inclusion. There are still challenges to overcome, particularly high levels of informality, subpar quality in financial services, and low levels of financial education. Regulators play a crucial role to foster inclusion, proposing sandboxes and stepping up their efforts against risks triggered by technology such as monopolistic behavior, consumer protection and cybercrime.Finance with a Purpose combines the theory in the fields of economics, finance and law with ample professional experience in emerging markets. This book is essential for policymakers, scholars, and any reader who wants to understand the recent progress in financial inclusion and how it can be used to alleviate inequality and foster economic development.

Islamic finance is one of the fastest-growing sectors in international banking and finance. Owing to the increasing availability and ease of access to Islamic services, Islamic finance has become increasingly important not only in Muslim countries, but around the world, making it a global industry. Under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as in some regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa, a dual financial system is implemented, where Sharia-compliant products are marketed alongside conventional financial systems.In this thoroughly researched collection of chapters, researchers from around the world examine the role of Islamic finance in the economies and prospects of different companies. They discuss Islamic finance literature from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The theoretical section of the book consists of conceptual chapters that enable readers to critically evaluate and expand their understanding of accounting and finance. The chapters in the empirical section of this handbook discuss and interpret empirical evidence to provide clear implications for practice, research, and society. This section bridges the gap between theory and practice and offers suggestions for future research. Islamic Accounting and Finance is geared towards scholars and students, but it is also of use to banking and finance practitioners.

This book aims to provide insights on the latest developments in Financial Technology (FinTech). It is a collection of scientific articles covering the primary areas of finance. The following key themes are covered in the book: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, FinTech Regulation and Smart Contracts, Cryptocurrencies, and FinTech in Financial Services. FinTech is a rapidly developing industry that uses technological innovations to improve financial activities and make financial services more accessible and affordable to businesses and individuals. This book contributes to the body of knowledge in FinTech, offering readers a chance to review and rethink the topics in question.

The coronavirus crisis and related business failures are widely discussed topics, with COVID-19 raising many concerns about existing risk management models. Many companies have struggled to understand which factors to consider in their business model to address the new risks associated with the pandemic. The resulting financial crisis has highlighted the importance of further research on risk management that will allow businesses to develop feasible models for handling various risks in the ongoing crisis and recovery period.Existing academic studies emphasise the necessity of revised risk management models, but focus on the risk posed by Artificial Intelligence and other advanced technologies. The detailed study thus fulfils the vital need to understand how the risk management strategies of businesses should be revised, to adapt to changes brought about by the pandemic.This book is essential reading for students studying risk management, researchers examining the relation between advanced technology and risk management mitigation strategies, businesses working on their strategies around managing risk, and policymakers looking for necessary policy changes for an effective support to businesses.

From a taboo topic in the early 1990s, corruption has now become an intriguing economic issue attracting broad attention from academics and practitioners. Political Corruption and Corporate Finance is the first attempt to scrutinize the effect of political corruption on corporate finance. It provides readers with a comprehensive overview of corruption-related issues and theoretical and empirical studies in corporate finance. This book summarizes the causes and effects of political corruption as well as anti-corruption mechanisms and initiatives; analyzes how political corruption at both state and local levels determines corporate financial decisions (investment, financing, and dividend); and discusses how the corruption environment determines firm-level financial behavior.The first three chapters of the book introduce political corruption, the status of political corruption, and anti-corruption campaigns around the world. The last three chapters focus on how firms make financial decisions, and the role of political corruption in corporate finance. By summarizing real problems and results from academic research, this work will help readers to understand how the corruption environment determines firm-level financial behavior.

The banking industry plays a critical role in ensuring global economic and financial stability. Effective governance is essential for mitigating bank risk-taking and limiting managerial opportunism in this industry, which is constantly under regulatory and market scrutiny. However, the complexity and diversity of banking financial instruments and transactions gives rise to substantial information asymmetries and ongoing debates regarding contemporary governance, sustainability, and data innovation issues.This book is one of the first to address these contemporary issues collectively, offering a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the global banking industry. It provides new insights, evidence-based recommendations, and future perspectives on the role of governance mechanisms, digital innovation, climate change, and green finance in shaping the industry pre- and post-COVID-19. The book is a valuable resource for a wide range of stakeholders in the banking sector, including international regulators, practitioners, policymakers, institutional investors, and auditors. It features contributions from renowned international scholars and offers a variety of theoretical, empirical, and policy-based perspectives. It provides updated evidence and new insights crucial for rethinking the global banking model and dominant regulations, and offers evidence-based recommendations and measures for promoting financial stability and resilience in this industry.

In contrast to non-financial firms, banks have undergone significant turbulence in the past decade, enduring severe financial crises and unprecedented regulatory reforms. New regulations, including heightened capital and liquidity requirements, measures to address regulatory migration, resolution authority, stress testing, and capital planning, have spurred the development of new tools to manage institutional failure. The primary goal has been to reduce the likelihood of poor performance and improve stock market valuations to restore public confidence in the industry. The banking industry plays a vital role in global economic and financial stability and is subject to intense regulatory and market scrutiny. Financial instability can be very costly for banks due to its spillover effects on other parts of the economy. Therefore, a sound, stable, and healthy financial system is essential for efficient resource allocation and risk distribution across the economy.This is the first book that comprehensively addresses a range of contemporary issues in the global banking industry, providing a thorough understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector. The book examines how banking business models, effective policies, and regulations can address these issues, covering corporate governance, asset-liability management, risk management, financial performance, and regulatory frameworks. The potential benefits of alternative banking models, including Islamic banking, and their contribution to global financial stability and resilience are also explored.Contributions from international scholars using both quantitative and qualitative methods provide new insights, recent findings, and perspectives on future bank stability and resilience in a global context. The book also presents updated evidence and debates on the impact of recent regulations and governance structures on the industry, which has undergone significant changes in response to financial turmoil and new laws and regulations aimed at enhancing bank resiliency, protecting against systematic risks, and promoting fair and ethical banking practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic undeniably wreaked havoc on global trade, profoundly affecting people's lives and having a significant impact on economic growth worldwide. Many people regard COVID-19 as "the fury of nature." However, even during the context, and now aftermath, of the pandemic there are still ongoing critical problems facing the world that have not cooled down — one of which is climate change. The recent unusual and extreme weather conditions have thrust climate change into the media limelight and to the forefront of the public agenda. Nowadays, climate change receives special attention from many organizations, countries and governments worldwide because of its profound influence on the global economy and people's lives. Natural disasters and prolonged drought can destroy infrastructure; threaten crops, food production, as well as human life; and lead to mass migration. The effects of climate change are evident everywhere globally and appear to be more severe than ever before.Handbook of Environmental and Green Finance contains conceptual, empirical, and policy papers that provide an insightful and timely read for researchers, investors, and policymakers interested in sustainable finance, development finance, and alternative finance to combat climate change. Throughout this book, readers are offered a global analysis of the current state of the sustainable finance sector and provided with potential solutions to address obstacles in this field.

Green finance plays a crucial role in promoting sustainable development by mobilizing financial resources toward environmentally sustainable projects. It enables the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, which is essential for achieving global climate goals. Green Finance and Sustainable Development Goals explores how, by aligning financial investments with sustainable development objectives, green finance can contribute to the achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The first part of the book examines the connection between climate change and green finance in emerging markets and developing countries, with a particular focus on the impact of globalization and financial development on climate change. The second part of the book focuses on environmental disclosure, standards, and their relevance, with a specific focus on how European countries have implemented green finance to support sustainable development and achieve climate goals. In the third and final part of the book, the authors discuss green finance and sustainable development goals from a global perspective, examining the role of finance and renewable energy transition in supporting sustainable economic development, and how this can be applied to green recovery post-COVID-19.The book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the relationship between green finance and sustainable development goals, offering insights and potential solutions for researchers, investors, and policymakers. It also includes real-life case studies, empirical analyses, and policy recommendations from scholars around the world, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding and addressing the challenges of climate change and sustainable finance in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fintech and Green Investment: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities is a comprehensive resource that provides insight into the difficulties and future potential of the transition to green investments through the fintech revolution.This book focuses on how the intersection of fintech and green investment can be used to overcome challenges and create new opportunities. It discusses how fintech is rapidly transforming the financial sector landscape and blurring the boundaries of financial firms and the sector more widely, resulting in a paradigm shift that has various policy implications. The importance of broadening monitoring horizons and reassessing the role of financial regulation in this new landscape is also considered.Covering a wide range of areas in finance, this book is a collection of scientific articles and case studies from a variety of countries. It is suitable for anyone interested in understanding the impact of fintech on green investment, offering valuable insights into how the transformative power of fintech can be harnessed to create a sustainable future.

According to World Bank (2021), the economic recovery post-COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has been uneven and tumultuous. Reasons for this include exposure to oil-price fluctuations, the impact of pandemic, public demonstrations, and political instability. Although the MENA region encompasses a variety of countries — wealthy, stable and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as less secure countries such as Iraq and Syria — it plays an important role in the global economy.Handbook of Banking and Finance in the MENA Region explores the trends in finance and banking of the MENA region, including theoretical and empirical perspectives from researchers around the globe. The first part of the book explores numerous reforms in the region's banking and finance, including digital technology, financial technology (fintech) and green finance. While financial inclusion in the Gulf Cooperation Council is much higher, the other countries in the MENA region have yet to overcome this trend, and the second part of the book provides specific case studies of ways in which banks have contributed to the region. The final section of the book considers macroeconomic factors and financial development. Together these perspectives enrich the discussion of facts and development challenges in the finance and banking of the MENA region as a whole.

We wrote this book to help financial experts and investors to understand the state of the art of artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance. But first, what is artificial intelligence? The foundations of artificial intelligence lie in the human desire to automate. Often this desire has had foundations in grand civilization-defining visions or economic needs, such as the Antikythera mechanism, circa 200 BCE. Considered to be the oldest known example of an analog computer, it is thought that the mechanism automated the prediction of the positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets to assist in navigation.No matter the specific industry or application, AI has become a new engine of growth. Both finance and banking have been leveraging AI technologies and algorithms, applying them to automate routine tasks, procedures and forecasting, thereby improving overall customer experience.The topics covered in this book make it an invaluable resource for academics, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners alike who want to understand how AI has affected the banking and financial industries and how it will continue to change them in the years to come.

This Handbook presents recent trends and new developments in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) research within the realms of business, finance, and sustainability. Divided into three distinct parts, it encompasses 19 chapters that offer insightful studies conducted in diverse national environments and organizational settings.Part I focuses on DEA applications in business, including healthcare, supply chain management, and governmental organizations. Part II delves into the application of DEA in banking and finance, providing valuable insights into the efficiency and performance of financial institutions. Part III explores DEA's diverse applications in sustainability, addressing topics such as sustainability indicators, resource mobilization, food production, and farming. In essence, this Handbook stands as an invaluable reference work for stakeholders seeking to optimize organizational efficiency and performance across a variety of sectors.

Finance is undergoing a profound transformation. Digital technologies are reshaping payments, lending, insurance, and wealth management. Big data technology is now an integral part of the financial services industry and will continue to drive future innovation. Digital finance has fundamentally changed how we live and do business, and it has been a major disruptor of the finance industry. The advantages of digital finance have long been recognized. Rapidly growing digital technologies also have the potential to deliver financial services at significantly reduced costs, thereby increasing financial inclusion and generating significant efficiency improvements across the economy. To build inclusive societies and address rising inequalities, global and national leaders must bridge the digital divide across and within countries to reap the benefits of digital financial services and build appropriate regulatory frameworks for ensuring trusted transactions in a digitalized economy. This means finding the right balance between enabling financial innovation and addressing risks, including insufficient consumer protection, a lack of financial and digital literacy, unequal access to digital infrastructure, and data biases that need action at the national level.This book focuses on financial technology, with a particular emphasis on the impact of digital finance on the finance and banking industries. Chapters address topics such as FinTech, big data, Bitcoin, corporate governance, and economic policy, while also considering current global issues like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by the most recent research and illuminating case studies, this handbook offers an insightful overview of how the finance and banking sectors are changing under the influence of the digital age.

This review volume describes and evaluates a range of both traditional and emerging forms of business financing. The first section covers topics of traditional finance, such as debt choice, leverage target adjustments, and IPOs. This is followed by a discussion of venture capital and private equity, including a literature review on venture capital relationships, private equity investment strategies, governance issues in private equity financing, geographic differences among European venture capitalists, and the interplay between different investor types. The final section of the book shifts focus to modern finance, examining global cryptocurrency adoption, gender dynamics in equity crowdfunding, the impact of digitalisation and AI on entrepreneurial finance, and systemic risks in innovative banking. Each chapter explores how these factors are reshaping financial practices and regulations.This comprehensive volume offers diverse perspectives from experts in the field, facilitating a deeper understanding of both established and cutting-edge financing strategies. Given the many recent developments in the financial landscape and their influence on how companies raise money, this book is an indispensable resource for academics, postgraduate students, and finance practitioners alike.

From vehicles to music, power generation to retail, every aspect of our daily routine has experienced drastic changes in the recent past, driven by secular forces such as digitization, a growing focus on sustainability, regulatory changes and evolving consumer behavior. Financial services are no exception. A paradigm change is at play in the financial sector, with a surge in competition from non-traditional actors, a revolution in customer experience evidenced by rising transparency and customer-centric strategies. FinTech (financial technology) is disrupting financial services, providing a historic opportunity for formally underserved customers, a formidable threat to existing banks and a critical challenge to regulators. Through the lens of FinTech — including payments, lending platforms, insurtech, superapps and market infrastructure — the author highlights the practical policy opportunities and risks of financial inclusion with a wealth of data.This book tells the story of entrepreneurs, companies, investors, researchers and regulators who are building the financial services of tomorrow and the mechanisms that will allow us as a society to fulfill the promise of inclusion. There are still challenges to overcome, particularly high levels of informality, subpar quality in financial services, and low levels of financial education. Regulators play a crucial role to foster inclusion, proposing sandboxes and stepping up their efforts against risks triggered by technology such as monopolistic behavior, consumer protection and cybercrime.Finance with a Purpose combines the theory in the fields of economics, finance and law with ample professional experience in emerging markets. This book is essential for policymakers, scholars, and any reader who wants to understand the recent progress in financial inclusion and how it can be used to alleviate inequality and foster economic development.