This paper examines the changes in bank credit to private sector across six economies in the South Pacific. An extensive time-series and cross-country panel data allow us to draw new and broader lessons compared to existing research, which have tended to focus mostly on single countries with...

Driven by higher profit incentives, banks' marketing strategies have tended increasingly to exclude sections of the retail market on socio-economic lines. Ironically, these strategies are now seen to have profitability and social responsibility implications. Little previous attempt has been made...

In light of the growing finance - private sector - economic growth findings, this article examines, from a supply - side perspective, obstacles to private sector financing in Fiji, a representative South Pacific small island, growth deprived, fragile economy. A survey of 80 percent of the formal...

Although the many perceived benefits of a stock market may have led to their rapid formation and development aspirations across economies, emerging findings that stock markets may not be as useful as previously thought, even a detraction in the case of some developing economies, raises the...

This article investigates the determinants of Net Interest Margins (NIM) of banks in Fiji, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in the South Pacific, over the period 2000-2010. Based mainly on the Ho and Saunders' (1981) dealership model and extensions thereto, this study uses a number of...

The widespread failures in the financial sector during the Global Financial Crisis prompted many governments worldwide to re-intervene in a market that had become increasingly state-free over the years. The re-intervention, however, has re-ignited a global debate on the role of the state in...

Motivated by the Sharma and Gounder (2012b) finding that deposits may play a key role in enhancing bank credit to private sector in the Pacific, this study investigates a pertinent gap in the literature — the efficiency of banks in the region in converting deposits into credit. Data...