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...

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...

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...

La Porta et al. (1998) assign Pakistan, a common-law country, the maximum score of 5 for their anti-director rights index. Pakistan should therefore be a country with good investor protection attracting large amounts of investments. However, the reality could not be more different. Pakistan has...

After analyzing the different reasons why the financial system and also the regulatory framework induced procyclicality, this paper reviews the experiences of three countries which have introduced dynamic provisioning as a regulatory tool to limit procyclicality. The case of Spainthe country...

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...

This paper uses a unique bank level data from 1991 to 2000 and evaluates how financial reforms affect banking efficiency of domestic and foreign banks in Pakistan. The results suggest that banking efficiency falls during initial reform period when banks adjust to enhanced competition, but...

This paper discusses what is longevity risk, why it is important, approaches used by the West to manage longevity risk and what lessons can be learnt by Asian countries from the experiences of the West. Increasing and uncertain longevity has emerged as a key risk affecting individuals,...

This paper discusses what is longevity risk, why it is important, approaches used by the West to manage longevity risk and what lessons can be learnt by Asian countries from the experiences of the West. Increasing and uncertain longevity has emerged as a key risk affecting individuals,...

This paper discusses what is longevity risk, why it is important, approaches used by the West to manage longevity risk and what lessons can be learnt by Asian countries from the experiences of the West. Increasing and uncertain longevity has emerged as a key risk affecting individuals,...