This paper estimates switching autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (SWARCH) time series models for weekly returns of nine Asian forward exchange rates. We find two regimes with different volatility levels, whereby each regime displays considerable persistence. Our analysis provides...

This paper uses multivariate GARCH techniques to study volatility spillovers between the Chinese non-deliverable forward market and seven of its Asia-Pacific counterparts over the period January 1998 to March 2005. To account for the time-variability of conditional correlation, a dynamic...

With the rise of interconnected global financial systems, there is an increased risk that a financial crisis in one country may spread to others. The contagion effects of the 2008 global financial crisis hit advanced economies fast and hard while sparing less developed and less integrated...

China's long insistence on non-interference and sovereignty and frequent criticism of Western interventionism has contributed to a widely held impression that China lends and invests abroad without attaching policy conditions. This discussion paper surveys the general policy debate on...

We study three aspects of the Russian stock market - factors influencing stock returns, integration of the stock market with world financial markets, and market efficiency - from 1995 to present, putting emphasis on how these evolved over time. We find many highly unstable relationships, and...

Using data for 265 banks in Central and Eastern European Countries for the period of 1995-2003, this paper analyses the differences in profitability between domestic and for-eign banks. We show that foreign banks, especially greenfield institutions, earn higher profits than domestic banks....

The paper investigates the determinants of geographical distribution of international currencies in global financial market transactions. We implement a gravity model, in which international currency distribution depends on the characteristics of the source and destination countries. We find...

This paper analyzes empirically what determines the choice of countries signing an RMB-denominated Bilateral Swap Agreement (BSA) with China. The gravity motif is predominant (both in terms of country size and distance from China) but so is the trade motif, in terms of both exports to China and...

Using a novel way to identify relationship and transaction banks, we study how banks' lending techniques affect funding to SMEs over the business cycle. For 21 countries we link the lending techniques that banks use in the direct vicinity of firms to these firms' credit constraints at two...

In a broad sample of developed and emerging economies over the past ten years we apply the approximate factor model in a search for common global and regional driving-forces in stock market returns and volatility. We focus particularly on two emerging stock markets - Russia and China, because of...