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This paper examines the effect of competition on nonperforming loans in the Nigerian banking industry between 2011 and 2018 using the system generalized method of moments. The findings establish the competition‐stability hypothesis in the Nigerian context. The interaction between competition and bank size/capitalization has a positive and significant effect on nonperforming loans. These results showed that low competition increased nonperforming loans in the Nigerian banking industry while bank size and capitalization enhanced competition to increase nonperforming loans. Also, bank size/capitalization are complementary for addressing nonperforming loans. The paper recommends that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulates the market power of the five largest banks in the industry to address the adverse effects of competition on mounting nonperforming loans in the Nigerian banking industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to evaluate efficiency and competition dynamics of the banking sector in Kenya for the period 2001–2017 using bank‐level data for 37 commercial banks. We apply non‐parametric data envelopment analysis to analyze measures of various aspects of efficiency in the banking sector. We also adopt Panzar–Rosse, H‐statistics to assess the level of competition in the banking sector. To examine the effect of efficiency on competition, panel estimators are applied. The study findings indicate that efficiency was on an upward trend and averaged 69%. The banking sector is characterized by monopolistic competition as shown by an H‐statistic of.59. Managerial ability measured by data envelopment analysis efficiency score was found to be an important factor in promoting competition for the Kenyan banking sector. The study shows that there is room for Kenyan banks to improve their efficiency by optimizing the scale of operations and continuing to adopt technology. This paper recommends policy makers to continue adopting policies that promote greater banking sector efficiency and competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the importance of good institutions in harnessing the growth effects of the bulging economically active population in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). The paper utilizes a panel dataset comprising 39 countries over the period 2002–13. Based on the system generalized method of moments estimator, this paper finds that an increase in the relative size of the working‐age population has no direct significant impact on growth, except through the presence of strong and high‐quality institutions. The paper also finds that control of corruption, rule of law and political stability are the specific aspects of institutions that matter the most in reaping the dividend. These results do not only highlight the primacy of strong institutions but also shed light on the key institutional pillars that need to be strengthened to rake in the positive effects of an increasing working age population on economic growth in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the existence of a nonlinear relationship between bank stability and competition and analyzes the role that government intervention plays in shaping this relationship. We used a sample of 45 banks in North African countries over the period 2005–2019. We applied a semiparametric approach based on penalized spline estimation. The results unveil the specific shape of the competition–stability relationship at different levels of competition; banks reconsider their risk‐taking behavior at each level of competition. This nonmonotonic stability at different levels of competition is attributed to the quality of intervention, which is found to be an important determinant in shaping this relationship. Thus, we explain the dispersion of risk levels among North African banks in part by the quality of regulation in each country and conclude by recommending the strengthening of regulation, supervision and the macro‐prudential framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of external credit on the export decision of manufacturing firms in Nigeria using the 2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys data. The paper employs an instrumental variable (IV) probit model to assess the empirical relations. The results reveal that both bank and nonbank credit positively and significantly drive firms' foreign market entry decision in Nigeria. Policy interventions should therefore be directed at creating an enabling environment that would stimulate an increase in the breadth and depth of financial presence across Nigeria. This may be done through offering special tax reliefs to banks and nonbank financial institutions that seek to expand. Banks should also be encouraged to invest in innovative strategies such as branchless banking and mobile banking which have the capability to increase access without the huge cost outlays for physical infrastructure. They should further be encouraged to develop special 'export credit packages' for smaller but viable firms that are willing to go into exporting but lack the necessary collateral, and create special 'task forces' to monitor and redeem such loans when they fall due. The Government should also channel 'export development credit' through banks and nonbank financial institutions to manufacturing firms in Nigeria for efficient allocation, monitoring and collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of financial openness on financial sector development and income inequality. We use the de jure and de facto measures of financial openness across 78 countries from 1980 to 2019. By employing a system generalized method of moments (GMM) with 5‐year averaged data and a novel push and pull modeling framework, we obtain three key results. First, the de jure measure of financial openness exacerbates income inequality and is sensitive to banking crises and conflict intensity. Second, the de facto measure spurs stock value traded in emerging market economies (EMEs) and declines domestic credit in Africa. Third, the interaction between de facto measures with schooling and governance factors affects financial sector development and income inequality. We highlighted that the mere usage of the de jure measure and their interaction is incorrect. The key implication is that valuable information about the real impact of openness can be obtained from the de facto measures and their interaction with favorable macroeconomic fundamentals, governance factors, and adverse nonpolicy factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between market power and cost efficiency for a sample of 63 banks in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) from seven countries over the period of 2004–2016. Our empirical methodology relies on a panel data analysis. Our results show that an increase in market power reduces banking efficiency in the WAEMU countries, and therefore suggest that competition in the banking sector improves cost efficiency. These findings are consistent with the quiet life hypothesis. However, our nonlinear investigation indicates that beyond a specific threshold of competition, this latter deteriorates the cost efficiency of banks, thus confirming the efficient structure hypothesis. These results indicate the efficiency improvement of the banking system in the WAEMU countries by the control of operating costs. Moreover, the central bank and the banking regulators must increase their supervision over the most competitive banks of the WAEMU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of capital structure on profitability of commercial banks in Ghana. The study used a sample of 21 commercial banks over the period 2000–2014 using panel corrected standard errors and two‐stage least‐squares estimation approaches. The results show that bank capital structure measured as capital‐to‐asset ratio is a robust and positive driver of bank performance (profitability) measures (return on assets and net interest margin). Additionally, the results further indicate that share of customer demand deposit positively affects bank profitability. The positive relationship between the capital‐to‐asset ratio and performance provides support for the bank capitalization policy implemented by the Bank of Ghana. Also, the findings provide evidence in support of the recent upsurge in bank short‐term deposit mobilization strategies and promotions by commercial banks in the country to enhance their deposit base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of board gender diversity on banks' performance and risk for the case of a developing African country. Our sample includes a unique data set of Tunisian banks during the period 2005–2018. We use the two‐way cluster regression proposed by Petersen. This approach corrects for the unobserved firm effect (time‐series dependence) and time effect (cross‐sectional dependence). It gives robust standard errors adjusted for heteroscedasticity, serial correlation, and cross‐sectional correlation. Our results support a positive relationship between gender diversity and banks' performance measured by ROA and ROE, while women board members are associated with more default risk measured by Z‐score. Our results remain robust to various measures of gender diversity, banks' performance and risk. The findings contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence from Tunisia, an African emerging economy, where the examination of the role of board gender diversity on bank governance is unexplored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of common equity capital in determining the risk-taking behaviour of banks in South Africa. Using system GMM, the results show that higher common equity capital is associated with lower bank risk. Additionally, the results show that there is a negative and significant relationship between business cycles and bank risk, while the relationship between bank market power and risk is positive and significant. The findings remain robust after using alternative measures of bank risk. On the whole, this study recommends that an increase in common equity capital should be coupled with control of bank market power to achieve the goal of curtailing excessive risk appetite of banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From marginal access to school before 1960, African modern education systems expanded steadily during the 1960s and 1970s, prompted by high priority given to education. The 1980s experienced stagnation and decline due to a drastic decrease in education financing further to the balance of payment and budget deficits, and the ensuing structural adjustment programmes. Since 1990, there have been intensified efforts to reverse the trend through national and international efforts. The African education sector continues to face serious challenges of low and inequitable access to education, irrelevant curriculum and poor learning outcomes, inadequate political commitment and financing, weak education system capacity, and weak link with the world of work. Drawing on relevant documents and data, the paper discusses briefly those challenges and the education policy measures taken to address them. It also assesses to what extent the Bank response was relevant and effective in addressing the African education challenges. While progress has been made in bringing more children to schools, the results in terms of quantity and quality have been far from the targets, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper concludes with a call for a greater effort to keep the promise for education for all and for quality education. This may require an invitation for a new forum on education to take stock and try again more realistic policies and better defined means to effectively implement them. The forum's resolutions should not be limited to the primary education but consider the education sector as a whole in the context of a globalized economy and labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macroeconomic models currently used by policymakers generally assume that the functioning of financial markets can be fully summarized by financial prices, because the Modigliani and Miller (1958) theorem holds. However, the assumption that this theorem holds is questionable. This paper argues that there are frictions in the market which traditional models based on the Modigliani and Miller theorem fail to take into account in explaining how monetary policy and other shocks are transmitted to the economy and points to new directions. A comprehensive macroeconomic model should incorporate financial market interactions to enhance the understanding of the transmission mechanisms of monetary policy and other shocks. If market dynamics are not taken into account, macroeconomic models used by policymakers may point to wrong policy choices. Motivated by the lack of assessment of the recently launched financial reforms, deregulation, consolidations, financial innovations and joint payment systems, the paper assesses the process of monetary transmission mechanism by investigating evidence of a bank lending channel in SADC during the period 1990–2006 using data from the banking sector. Data from a panel of banks is used to identify shifts in the loan supply curve in response to changes in monetary policy using a vector autoregression (VAR) model. Although the results are mixed the paper generally reports the existence of a bank-lending channel in all SADC countries in the sample. The take-off point for monetary policy effects differs from one country to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the seminal paper by Rajan and Zingales in 2003, a plethora of studies have been motivated to establish whether the simultaneous opening of trade and capital borders leads to financial sector development. We test whether the simultaneous openness hypothesis is valid for Nigeria, with a focus on the banking sector and stock market. Using annual data from 1990 to 2015 and an instrumental variable regression estimation technique, we show that the simultaneous increase of trade and financial openness limits banking sector and stock market development. Thus, there is no empirical evidence to validate the simultaneous openness hypothesis in Nigeria. It also shows that trade openness is more beneficial for banking sector and stock market development in Nigeria than financial openness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial deepening is universally considered to be one of the vital means to trigger inclusive growth, in economies the world over, Tanzania being no exception. However, the lack of traditional collateral among the poor has made it virtually impossible for them to have access to financial services particularly in the formal financial institutions. It is in this context that the informal financial groups (IFGs) are so crucial in filling the financial inclusiveness gap among the poor in Tanzania. It is thus crucial that the efficacy of IFGs in improving the well‐being of the poor is assessed. It is in this context that the present study employs a quasi‐experiment mixed methodology to answer research questions. Findings have categorically shown that membership to IFGs has a positive and significant impact on various socio‐economic variables. Efforts to intensify education and training activities in IFGs, and their access to loans are some of the key recommendations that this paper suggests. It is hoped that the newly promulgated 2017 National Microfinance Policy shall be implemented to that effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By investigating factors influencing interest margins adjustment, this paper aims to provide some answers on how to improve the efficiency of the Tunisian banking system. Focusing on different theoretical views on the determinants of banks intermediation margins using a quite representative sample observed between 1999 and 2014, we estimate an augmented model using the system GMM estimator assuming the existence of adjustment costs. Estimations results and robustness checks show that reducing intermediation margins of Tunisian banks is fundamentally a matter of improving cost efficiency, scale economies and competitiveness. Considering the highly distressed economic and financial context in which Tunisian banks operate since 2011, we think that improving bank efficiency and credit access in Tunisia is closely related to the capacity of the government and the regulatory authority to enforce urgent strategic reforms in order to consolidate the banking system and to improve its competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper aims to assess qualitatively and quantitatively the level of resilience of the financial sector in the CEMAC sub-region to macroeconomic shocks and highlight the financial policies that could be implemented. For this purpose, a descriptive analysis of the CEMAC sub-region banking sector, followed by a panel-based econometrics study has been undertaken. The main result from the analysis is that the banking sector of CEMAC is relatively vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks. Accordingly, the decrease of GDP per capita growth rate, long-term financing and real exchange rate as well as the increase of interest rate leads to lower bank provisions. Lower levels of short-term financing induce a lower level of net income commission, while the change in interest rates is an increasing factor. The influence of changes in interest rates on bank's interest margin remains ambiguous. These results confirm the necessity of taking into account the existence of macroeconomic shock constraints in the implementation of financial policies in the sub-region. The paper is original in the manner that it bridges some knowledge gaps of shock management in the monetary zone. It offers policymakers two main insights: the potential rewards for timely intervention to mitigate potential shocks and the need for better control for the credibility and sustainability of the banking system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of market-based financial sector reforms on the competitiveness and efficiency of commercial banks, and economic growth, in Zambia. The results show that reforms adopted in Phase II (strengthening of regulatory and supervisory, payments and settlements, and financial operations frameworks) and Phase III (implementation of a comprehensive financial sector development plan) had significant positive effects on bank cost efficiency. Macroeconomic variables such as per capita GDP and inflation were insignificant. Further, using an endogenous growth model in which industrial production is a proxy for GDP growth, it was found that bank cost efficiency, financial depth, Phase II and III financial sector reforms, the degree of economic openness, and rate of inflation were significant determinants of economic growth. Phase II policies and the inflation rate have negative effects while the rest of the variables have positive effects on economic growth. Some plausible policy lessons are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the broad structural shifts in banks and other financial institutions in Kenya in the face of globalization. It is found that Kenya has moved into universal banking, reflected by the gradual elimination of 'specified' non-bank financial institutions since 1994 and the increased share of net commissions and fees in the banks' total income, from 10 per cent in 1998 to 21 per cent in 2007. The evidence suggests that the sector experienced reduced concentration and presumably more competition during 1998-2007. Further, it is found that small banks are the least competitive (most concentrated), followed by large banks and then medium-sized banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the transmission of monetary policy to the real economy after the adoption of bank reforms in emerging market economies (EMEs). The Egyptian case is empirically studied to test the efficacy of the banking sector as a transmission agent subsequent to the banking reforms that extended from 1991 to 2009. The structural vector autoregressive methodology is employed to investigate the impact of the interest rate and foreign exchange rate channels on output and inflation. The results of the study reveal several interactions among the two types of channels. Second, interest rate intervention proves to have substantial effects on output, but less on inflation. Third, exchange rate intervention has some effects on inflation, but less on output. Thus, both transmission channels have showed superior effectiveness after the banking reform. This indicates that the Central Bank of Egypt should not continue to depend on the interest rate channel alone, but has to additionally utilize the exchange rate channel in order to successfully achieve inflation targeting that has been its prime goal since 2003 and even more after the global food crisis of 2007/8. This ruling could prove functional when conducting monetary policy in EMEs of similar circumstances to Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the complementary relationship between commercial banks and microfinance institutions in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) as a means to sustain economic growth. Using panel data on seven countries from 1999 to 2005 with the Feasible Generalized Least Squares and the AR(1) disturbances, the study indicates that the banking and microfinance sectors are prone to operating individually, and that banks benefit from microfinance activities. A joint effort of both sectors in facing credit allocation appears to be very significant over the single action of microfinance institutions. The study, therefore, suggests a joint or complementary approach through savings management to face the challenge of the economic growth in the Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable (LSDV) estimator to examine the relationship between economic growth and four different types of private capital inflows (cross-border bank lending, foreign direct investment (FDI), bonds flows and portfolio equity flows) on a sample of 15 selected sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1980–2008. Our results show that FDI and cross-border bank lending exert a significant and positive impact on sub-Saharan Africa's growth, whereas portfolio equity flows and bonds flows have no growth impact. Our estimates suggest that a drop by 10 per cent in FDI inflows may lead to a 3 per cent decrease of income per capita growth in sub-Saharan Africa, and a 10 per cent decrease in cross-border bank lending may reduce growth by up to 1.5 per cent. Therefore, the global financial crisis is likely to have an important effect on sub-Saharan Africa's growth through the private capital inflows channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines empirically the determinants of financial market development in Africa with an emphasis on banking systems and stock markets. The results show that income level, creditor rights protection, financial repression, and political risk are the main determinants of banking sector development in Africa, and that stock market liquidity, domestic savings, banking sector development, and political risk are the main determinants of stock market development. We also find that liberalizing the capital account promotes financial market development only in countries with high incomes, well-developed institutions, or both. The powerful impacts of political risk on both banking sector and stock market development suggest that resolution of political risk may be important to the development of African financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of the optimal spread between bank lending rates and rates that banks pay on deposits, which is fair to bankers, depositors and borrowers, has dogged economies for some time. In Ghana, there is widespread perception that the spread is too wide. Bankers, on the other hand justify the spread on the basis of economic variables that affect them. This paper contributes to the literature by identifying, in the case of Ghana, the short-run response of the net interest margin of banks to changes in bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic variables within the broad framework of Ho and Saunders (1981) . We find that increases in the following factors significantly increase net interest margin — bank market power (or concentration), bank size, staff costs, administrative costs, extent of bank risk aversion and the rate of inflation. On the other hand, increases in the following variables decrease net interest margin significantly — bank excess cash reserves, the central bank lending rate, management efficiency and the passage of time. To help reduce interest rate margins, we recommend that banks should not get too big, the central bank should consider lowering the capital adequacy ratio and banks should be required to pass on to borrowers the full extent of reductions or increases in the central bank lending rate. Continued efforts at keeping inflation at bay will also help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the strategic fit of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Mozambican banks, using a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to compute the impact of contextual variables on efficiency scores and returns to scale of the resulting virtual merged banks. In an 'M&A DEA' model, different pairs of bidder and target companies are considered. In the first stage an M&A DEA model is used. Simplex regression is adopted in the second stage. The results reveal that ownership (public or foreign) impacts virtual efficiency levels. However, the findings also show that care must be exercised with M&A because the resultant banking organization could be oversized when foreign ownership is predominant, especially when public ownership is low. Given the relative sizes of the markets in terms of productive resources, M&A involving Mozambican banks can easily lead to decreasing returns to scale. Thus, a greater emphasis should be given to merging purely public banks with foreign ones and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between financial development and economic growth in the North Africa region, using a panel regression and different indicators of financial development. We find that the relation depends on the type of the indicator of financial development. In fact, while both financial institutions and markets in Morocco and Tunisia have a positive effect on the economic growth, only the financial markets in Egypt will improve economic growth by increasing the supply of financial services. For Algeria, the banking system has a positive effect on economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of regulations on the perceptions and management of risk. The study focuses on Zimbabwean banks. We evaluated the influence of banking regulatory policy using data gathered from a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) questionnaire and data measuring annual overall output from Zimbabwean banks. We employed a number of statistical models ( Binomial, HLogLinear models and time series forecasting) to test various hypotheses concerning the perception of bank employees of the impact of regulation on the management of risk in Zimbabwean banks. We found that: (1) respondents' perceptions of the impact of regulation on risk management correlated among different risk types in Zimbabwean banks; (2) respondents generally appeared to perceive dollarization and Basel II positively; and (3) respondents were not optimistic about the impact of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) policy on overall banking efficiency. Overall, we found that due to its near chaotic nature, RBZ regulation policy initiatives had no impact on the performance of banks in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repayment of loans in microfinance is a very important subject for study. Microfinance institutions lend to poor and low-income borrowers and thus the terms of lending should be as easy as possible for more poor people to have access. On the other hand, poor and low-income borrowers tend to have no collateral and thus would constitute a considerable risk to lenders once they default. Lenders, therefore, have to devise a special system whereby to ensure that loan defaults are as low as possible in order to avoid charging a higher interest rate which will defeat the very purpose of microfinance-lending. In this paper, using a binary logistic regression model, we undertake to examine the factors that affect default among borrowers. It has been discovered that borrowers' socio-demographic characteristics, past participation in microcredit loans and past credit history have significant impacts, as special features, on their default rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper empirically investigates the degree of bank competition and intermediation efficiency in Ghana. The evidence obtained suggests a non-competitive market structure in the Ghanaian banking system, which hampers financial intermediation. The study also finds that Ghanaian banks are monopolistically competitive. It is argued that the structure, as well as the other markets characteristics, constitutes an indirect barrier to entry thereby shielding the large profits in the Ghanaian banking system. Further, it is argued that policies that encourage and stimulate greater consolidation in the financial sector would go a long way to enhance competition among banks and improve efficiency and profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of financial reforms on competitiveness and production efficiency of the banking sector, as well as the short-term and long-term impact on economic growth, in Egypt during 1992-2007. The results suggest that the reforms have a positive and significant effect on competitiveness and production efficiency. Also, the evidence shows that state-owned banks are generally less competitive than private banks and foreign banks are less competitive than domestic banks. The average x-inefficiency of Egyptian banks is around 30 per cent, which is comparable to those reported for other African countries. Finally, there is evidence to suggest a significant relationship between financial bank productive efficiency and economic growth in the short run but not in the long run. Overall, the results support the argument for continuing the financial sector reform programme in Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1991, Tanzania has made important improvements in reforming its financial sector, dismantling the state-dominated banking sector and allowing foreign bank entry. Despite this, the banking industry is still concentrated with low accessibility to financial services. Large foreign banks dominate the financial landscape, preventing competitive dynamism to permeate the sector. This paper analyses the competitive nature of the Tanzanian banking industry from 2004 to 2008. Utilizing a rich bank level data set, we employ the Panzar-Rosse methodology to compute the competitive index, taking into account risk, efficiency, regulatory and macroeconomic factors. The results show that banks in Tanzania earned their income under conditions of oligopolistic conduct. Moreover, the competitive index derived from an interest revenue equation was not significantly different from that obtained using an aggregate revenue measure. This suggests that the degree of contestability from traditional intermediation activities approximates overall bank behaviour. The overall message is that greater market contestability can be achieved by adopting measures aimed at stimulating competitiveness in the banking sector, including consolidating gains on the macroeconomic front and allowing more foreign bank entry so as to increase the spread of banking services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the potential effect of COVID‐19 on agricultural financing by drawing lessons from past global crises and their link to agricultural financing. With significant impact in multiple sectors, COVID‐19 has caused significant liquidity shortage in the banking and financial institutions sectors that led to widespread business failure. Analysis at the macro, sectoral, and farmer levels confirms the decline in the financing allotted to the agricultural sector in Africa, which could exacerbate the existing structural gap in agricultural financing. Many policy responses and stimulus packages designed to address the negative effects of the crisis are found not to be enough. At the farmer level, findings indicate that many farmers are finding it more difficult to access credit than before the COVID‐19 crisis. For individual governments, a better understanding of the magnitude of the agricultural sector financing and investment needs to propose appropriate complementary responses is lacking. We suggest that, in the face of such a crisis, while in the short term the agricultural sector needs emergency funding, in the medium and long term, greater financial support is required, including long‐term resources at concessional rates, guarantee funds, and more suitable insurance products combined with social safety nets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs the Panzar-Rosse H-statistic to assess the competitive conditions of the Tunisian banking industry over the period 1999 to 2003. The results show that the banking market is in long-run equilibrium and the Panzar-Rosse H-statistic indicates that the Tunisian banking market is operating under conditions of monopoly. It seems therefore that the liberalization process and the reforms implemented since 1987 to the banking sector could not compensate, for the period under study, the existence of market power in this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the evolution of competition and efficiency of the banking sector in South Africa using firm-level data for the period 1999-2008. We adopt a three-step estimation approach. First, we measure efficiency using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology. Second, we use the Panzar-Rosse approach to derive the H-statistic for competitive conditions in banking. In the third stage, we take into account the role of managerial ability in competition by re-estimating the Panzar-Rosse model, with the DEA efficiency scores as an explanatory variable. Overall, the results show that although average efficiency was trending upwards over the period, the number of efficient banks was falling. Also, it is found that for the period 1999-2008, the structure of the South African banking industry was characterized by monopolistic competition. This result may reflect domination by five large banks, which together account for over 85 per cent of total banking assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates technical efficiency and total factor productivity change in the Nigerian banking sector for the period 2005–14, which encapsulates the post‐consolidation era and subsequent regime of banking reforms aimed at stabilizing the sector from the effects of financial crisis. The study applies both non‐parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and parametric Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA), using the Malmquist Productivity Index, and error component production function respectively, to ascertain if any significant variation in efficiency exists on a sample of 12 banks covering over 80 percent of total bank assets in Nigeria. The theoretical intermediation approach is applied for selection of input and output variables. The input variables considered are total deposits, total equity and operating expenses including staff costs, and output variables are loans and operating income, which accounts for off‐balance‐sheet items such as non‐interest or fee‐based income. Findings reveal that the mean technical efficiency under SFA and total factor productivity change in DEA decreases as bank output moves toward non‐interest or fee‐based income. Although the magnitude differs, both SFA and DEA follow a similar direction for technical efficiency and total factor productivity change. Study implications suggest that policymakers should be concerned about arbitrariness in bank's ability to earn fee‐based income, which portends high cost of banking services in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the nexus between institutional quality and stock market development. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL (1,1)) and ARDL bounds testing procedure (Pesaran et al., ) was adopted for the estimation. We used annual time series data that covers the periods 1985 to 2013. Institutional quality is measured with corruption control, democratic accountability and bureaucratic quality, while stock market development is measured with market capitalization ratio. The institutional quality captures the degree of transparency and the level of investors' confidence while market capitalization measures overall performance. In addition, we also accounted for the influence of the banking sector (proxy: ratio of credit to the private sector). We control for the influence of variables such as stock market liquidity and per capita income. The results of the bounds test suggest that institutional quality and market development move together in the long run. Further investigation also shows that corruption control and democratic accountability are key institutional measures that impact significantly on stock market development, suggesting that institutional quality promotes the degree of transparency and investors' confidence. Other variables such as stock market liquidity, bureaucratic quality and per capita income were also found to be important determinants of stock market development in Nigeria. Hence, given the above findings, the relevant authorities should increase their efforts to control the level of corruption through the enhancement of the regulatory framework that could ensure accountability and efficient monitoring of the market actors for the sustainability of investors' confidence and the promotion of stock market development in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of information sharing through credit reference bureaus (CRBs) on the profitability of banks in Ghana. We adopt a Prais-Winsten panel regression for 25 banks across four years to examine the empirical relations. We establish that information sharing through CRBs is positively related to bank profitability. This implies that as banks use the services of CRBs (indicating information sharing) they are able to boost their profitability. This is because information sharing can lead to an increase in interest income by reducing incomplete and false information which in turn leads to a reduction in collateral constraints. Further, information sharing reduces information asymmetry by lowering the evaluation (adverse selection) and monitoring costs (moral hazard) associated with the lending proposition. The major implications of our findings are that sharing information across banks is important for the profitability of the banking system as a whole. In this regard, it would be useful to find more efficient and cost-effective ways to provide information sharing services to banks and other non-bank financial institutions. We recommend that the laws that mandate the gathering of credit information be expanded to include credit data from tax agencies, utility agencies and court rulings on financial matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between interest rate spreads in the Ghanaian banking industry and variables that reflect convergence/divergence between managerial goals and corporate goals of which the key variables are executive compensation and bank ownership structure. Using data covering the period 1999-2011, this study employs a panel regression to examine how agency factors affect interest rate spreads in Ghana. The results of the study indicate that executive compensation is associated with higher net interest margins, suggesting that managers operate on higher margins since they can extract excess rents. The findings of the study also show that asset size, the level of concentration in the banking industry, the level of capital held by banks, the reserve requirement, and the level of inflation all positively contribute to the observed high interest spreads. Our results are robust to the control of several bank-specific, industry-specific, regulatory and macroeconomic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We investigate the interrelationships among bank competition, risk taking and efficiency during banking sector reforms in Nigeria (1993-2008). Our modelling procedure involves three stages: we measure bank productive efficiency, using data envelopment analysis, and the evolution of bank competition, using conjectural variations (CV) methods; then, we use the CV estimates to test whether regulatory reforms influence bank competition; finally we investigate the impact of the reforms on bank behaviour. The evidence suggests that deregulation and prudential re-regulation influence bank risk taking and bank productive efficiency directly (direct impact) and via competition (indirect impact). Further, it is found that as competition increases, excessive risk taking decreases and efficiency increases. Overall, the evidence on Nigeria affirms policies that foster bank competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an acknowledgment for scholar peer reviewers of the 2002 issue of 'African Development Bank.'

Mutual guarantee associations (MGAs) can be a viable solution to the problem of access to credit from banks for those small entrepreneurs who cannot offer sufficient collateral, in particular for artisans. After providing a general description of an MGA, the most successful model in Europe, both in number and in volume of guarantees, is considered and its factors of success are analysed. Findings from Europe as well as from some developing countries are presented. Some applications of the MGA scheme in a few African countries are described and potential ways to improve the current situation of those MGAs are highlighted. An MGA is an association comprised of entrepreneurs who join together to create an organization which establishes a dialogue with banks. The association plays the role of an intermediary between artisans and banks: small- and micro- enterprises (SMEs) join the association to obtain credit from banks and the association negotiates with banks to secure loans for its members. Successful MGAs strengthen private initiatives and SMEs, which is widely regarded as a key ingredient to development and poverty-alleviation in most countries. They may become strong entities which can deal with banks on an equal level, helping SMEs gain access to credit that is normally unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]