The degree of the banking sector concentration is a structural variable and refers to the number of banks in the system and the degree of their market power. The importance of measuring concentration in the banking sector stems from the causal relationship between the market structure and the...

After the financial deregulation that marked the last two decades of the 20th century, banks lost their monopolistic position and faced a number of competitors on the financial market. Fighting for their market share, banks began to grant loans under more relaxed terms. This policy increased the...

Prohibitions of interest and interest based income, proscribed by the Shariah law, have forced the Islamic banks and other financial institutions to develop special models of financing. Author examines the legal nature of various financial arrangements offered by the Islamic banks which could be...