This study provides comparative perspectives on the current and prospective situation of financial market development in ASEAN, the PRC, and India, identifies key priorities for strengthening financial infrastructure to promote financial development and regional integration, and produces policy...

This paper investigates whether there is any consistency between banks financial strength ratings (bank rating) and their risk-return profiles. It is expected that banks with high ratings tend to earn high expected returns for the risks they assume and thereby have a low probability of...

The paper reviews the innovations developed by some financial institutions to meet the challenges of microfinance and rural finance markets. Innovations could be new products and methodologies or refinements to existing practices that are created in response to market inefficiencies and changing...

This study assesses the state of micro-insurance in the country, identifies the players and their performance, and the challenges facing micro-insurance development. The term micro pertains to the capacity of a program to handle the small, sometime irregular cash flows of poor households, who...

Illness or injury, death of a family member, man-made calamities and natural disasters have a devastating effect on those poor households cash flow, liquidity and earning capacities and thus, on household welfare. Demand for micro-insurance products is growing in view of continuing risks to...

This paper proposes a use of multi-factor seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) in event study analysis to study mergers and acquisitions in Singapores financial industry. We also study the cross-sector (banking and insurance) domestic acquisition in Singapores financial industry. By contrasting...

Low income households find it hard to cope with the risks brought about by an illness or injury, death of a family member, man-made calamities and natural disasters. Demand for microinsurance products is growing and both formal and informal microinsurance schemes have started to emerge to...

Is the harmonization of financial regulatory regimes possible in East Asia? Focusing on corporate governance, which many see as a critical part of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and which is also seen as unresponsive to calls for change, this paper argues that such harmonization is possible,...

Is the harmonization of financial regulatory regimes possible in East Asia? Focusing on corporate governance, which many see as a critical part of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and which is also seen as unresponsive to calls for change, this paper argues that such harmonization is possible,...

Is the harmonization of financial regulatory regimes possible in East Asia? Focusing on corporate governance, which many see as a critical part of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and which is also seen as unresponsive to calls for change, this paper argues that such harmonization is possible,...