The main vulnerabilities in the financial sector can be found in the banking system and the social security fund (SSNIT). The Ghanaian financial sector is also confronted by a large number of development challenges. The factual updates of Ghana’s observance of the three international...

This paper examines Mozambique’s Request for a New Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. Mozambique’s performance under the authorities’ program continues to be generally satisfactory. Real GDP growth remained strong in 2003, real interest...

An examination of the relationship between bank profitability and concentration using recent data from a sample of institutions drawn from non-metropolitan statistical area counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

We develop new techniques to assess the relationship between commercial bank performance and the economic conditions in the markets in which they operate. In the analysis, we allow for heterogeneity in the responses of banks to regional economic conditions. We find a statistically significant...

We analyze the foreign exchange trading earnings of large U.S commercial banks over the past several years. In particular, we use several approaches to try to determine to what extent these profits can be attributed either to position-taking by banks or to the provision of intermediation...

Although many people believe that the payments area is a fairly minor business function within the banking sector, an increasing share of banks' revenue comes from fee services. To understand the full scope of the payments area, the author develops a broad definition of this business line and...