Foreign direct investments and round tripping between Cyprus and Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-450
Author(s):  
Spyridon Repousis ◽  
Petros Lois ◽  
Pavlos Kougioumtsidis
Keyword(s):  
Banking Sector ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Outward Fdi ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Parallel Increase ◽  
Dramatic Decline ◽  
Capital Outflows ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Financial Transactions

Purpose This paper aims to look at the linkage of foreign direct investments (FDIs) and round-tripping in the Cyprus–Russia corridor. Design/methodology/approach The paper is divided into two chapters. The first chapter looks at the relationship between FDIs and round-tripping in Cyprus and Russia. The second chapter discusses and combines statistical data from different sources about illiciting financial flows from Russia and the linkage of FDIs and round-tripping with Cyprus. Findings Evidence suggests that, despite the obviously numerous and varied legislative provisions and initiatives, the movement of vast amounts of capital to or through the Cypriot financial system is a phenomenon, which has absolutely not been removed. The illegal outflow of money seems to grow rapidly over the years instead of decreasing. What actually happens is that after a dramatic decline in the years 2013-2015, the FDIs of the Russians to and from Cyprus in 2016 returned to pre-crisis levels of 2013, and so far, it seems the inflows–outflows system returned to “normal” levels. Cyprus ranks first in inward FDI and outward FDI with almost 35 per cent of total flows from Russia. An element that demonstrates the presence of round-tripping, is the sharp and rapid parallel increase of inward FDI and outward FDI, and that the category of total deposits in Cyprus by nonresidents, including special-purpose entity, recorded significant fluctuations caused by not only the large size of deposits but also the short time remaining in the banking sector. Russia ranked second among the countries with the largest average illegal capital outflows in the years 2004-2013. Movement of capital to exploit the particularly beneficial Cyprus tax system is still a tax backdoor for Europe and worldwide (hence the neologisms like Cyp-Rus), especially after the “de-offshorization” law in Russia in practice since January 1, 2015. Originality/value Evidence presented in this paper is important for national and supernational supervisory anti-money laundering bodies and compliance authorities to understand bad practices in financial transactions between Russia and Cyprus.

Macau gambling industry's quick V-shape rebound from 2014 to 2019

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Tingchi Liu ◽  
Shiying Dong ◽  
Sara Kit Peng Chang ◽  
Francis Tan
Keyword(s):  
Sense Making ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gambling Industry ◽  
Dramatic Decline ◽  
Economic Upturn ◽  
Casino Management ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Self Examination

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to summarize the factors that result in V-shape rebound of Macau gambling industry's from 2014 to 2019. Both internal and external factors are examined and discussed by representatives from academia, industry and government.Design/methodology/approachPractitioners from the gambling industry offered their cutting-edged analysis and viewpoints with observation and comments from scholars and government representatives in gambling domain.FindingsInternally, actions are taken by both the Macau government and Macau casino operators to rebrand Macau with nongambling elements and to adjust the strategies to attract more tourists from a wider range. Externally, global economic upturn and support from the China government also enhance Macau's quick rebound. A total of nine key factors are finally recognized.Originality/valueThis study provides answers and sense-making explanations to why Macau gambling industry can recover in such a short time after a big drop in Gross Gambling Revenue in 2014. This work reveals that Macau, by learning the lessons from the dramatic decline, conducts various self-rescue action plans which contribute to the quick V-shape rebound. This study is also a self-examination of Macau gambling industry from the firsthand perspectives of scholars, government representatives and casino management.

The joint effect of investment motives and institutional context on Russian international acquisitions

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 674-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desislava Dikova ◽  
Andrei Panibratov ◽  
Anna Veselova ◽  
Lyubov Ermolaeva
Keyword(s):  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Institutional Distance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Outward Fdi ◽  
Foreign Investments ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Border

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge about factors that influence the location of Russian foreign direct investments. In particular, it focusses on the role of institutional distance (represented by corruption perception distance, political distance and cultural distance) as a moderator of the relationships between traditional investment motives and the number of M&A deals made by Russian companies in a specific country. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is conducted on panel data of Russian cross-border M&As launched in 46 countries during the period 2007-2013. The final data set includes 322 observations. Due to the nature of dependent variable and the results of pre-tests, negative binomial regression is used in the main analysis. Findings The key finding of the study reveals the importance of institutional distance, in particular, the moderating effect of different dimensions of institutional distance on the relationships between internationalization motives and the number of Russian M&As. Corruption, political and cultural differences show different effects in terms of both direction and strength, but all three were found to be significant. Research limitations/implications The major concern stems from the type of secondary data used in the paper. This indicates the necessity to improve data collection methods which could allow for better transparency of Russian foreign investments, would facilitate more sophisticated research and probably more accurate business forecasts. Originality/value By conducting a systematic examination of Russian cross-border M&As the authors contribute to the literature on emerging markets firms by addressing the important yet under-researched domain of Russian foreign direct investments. Building on the macroeconomic and institutional logic proposed in this study, future research on Russian cross-border activities could add to the understanding by providing more generalizable and critical evidence. The study provides a point of departure from prior studies on Russian outward FDI which the authors hope to inspire future research to further analyze the drivers of Russian M&As and foreign investments in general.

Illicit financial flows: HSBC case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Ahmad Naheem
Keyword(s):  
Money Laundering ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Services Sector ◽  
Financial Services Sector ◽  
Beneficial Ownership ◽  
Illicit Financial Flows ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper provides examples of how illicit financial flows (IFFs) are occurring through the formal banking and financial services sector. The purpose of this paper is to explore which elements of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance need to be addressed to strengthen the banking response and reduce the impact of IFFs within the banking sector. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a number of sources of secondary data including the Swiss leaks data for HSBC and also the Permanent Sub Committee Report on HBUS in the USA, the OECD report on money laundering compliance and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines on beneficial ownership. It links this information to the relevant IFF reports produced through Global Financial Integrity to highlight the connection between banking AML compliance and IFF transfers through the banking sector. Findings The main findings from the analysis are that banks have a greater legal responsibility towards detecting and reporting suspicious transactions than they would have previously considered. This includes identifying the source and purpose of fund transfers and establishing the beneficial ownership of recipients. Research limitations/implications The research topic is new; therefore, analysis papers and other academic writing on this topic are limited. Practical implications The research paper has identified a number of implications to the banking sector on addressing AML deficiencies, especially the need to improve standards of beneficial ownership verification and customer due diligence (CDD) checks for politically exposed persons. Social implications This paper has implications for the international development and the global banking sector. It will also influence approaches to AML regulation, risk assessment and audit within the broader financial services sector. Originality/value The originality of this paper is the link between the HSBC cases and IFFs and the implications this will have for future AML compliance processes across the banking sector.

Russia faces twin hits from COVID-19 and cheap oil

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Banking Sector ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Additional Funding ◽  
Capital Outflows ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Government ◽  
To Receive

Significance The steep fall in global oil prices and rapid spread of COVID-19 have ended hopes of economic revival in 2020. The government has allocated 300 billion rubles (4 billion dollars) for immediate use, and Putin has announced hefty taxes on the rich to boost revenues. The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has no plans for monetary expansion but will provide additional liquidity to the banking sector and relax regulations to encourage credit for badly hit industries. Impacts A temporary hike in inflation is expected due to ruble devaluation and possible price hikes on some products. The government will make regulatory changes to ensure food supplies. The deteriorating economic situation is likely to spur higher capital outflows. Poorer regions are likely to receive additional funding from Moscow.

Poor enforcement hinders Mexico's anti-laundering laws

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Money Laundering ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Property Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Car Sales ◽  
Financial Intelligence ◽  
Financial Transactions

Subject Anti-money laundering efforts. Significance July 17 will mark two years since the 'Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Operations with Illicit Resources' came into force. The law regulates sectors considered susceptible to money laundering, such as property development, construction, car sales and art sales which were left out of earlier legislation on financial transactions. The provisions -- enacted by the President Enrique Pena Nieto government -- were welcomed by international regulators such as the Financial Action Task Force, which, in its February 2014 evaluation report, said that Mexico had successfully addressed most of its outstanding recommendations. Impacts High demand for illegal narcotics will continue to fuel money laundering despite improved laws. Anti-laundering legislation will have mixed effects in both financial and non-financial sectors. The finance ministry and Financial Intelligence Unit are receptive to feedback, amending regulation accordingly. The legislation's unintended consequences in the banking sector have been compounded by stringent foreign anti-laundering provisions.

Where are Islamic finance indices pointing towards?

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-281
Author(s):  
Mohammed El Hadi El Maknouzi ◽  
Iyad Mohammad Jadalhaq
Keyword(s):  
Capital Markets ◽  
Stock Markets ◽  
Islamic Finance ◽  
International Capital ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Capital Markets ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Financial Transactions ◽  
Financial Indices

Purpose This paper aims to survey the screening practices and regulatory arrangements that can be gleaned from the experience of Islamic financial indices on international stock markets. Such indices can be regarded as experiments in the demarcation of “pockets” of Sharī‘ah-compliant securities exchange, in the context of non-Sharī‘ah-compliant stock markets. They offer valuable regulatory precedent, with a view to the development of a transnational domain of Islamic financial transactions. Design/methodology/approach The paper leverages the experience of Islamic financial indices for charting the fault lines between the foundational principles of Islamic finance, and those of interest-based investment commonly accepted on international financial markets. It subsequently reviews the most salient regulatory arrangements in place for discriminating between permissible and forbidden securities and modes of trading, as implemented on Islamic financial indices. These include selection criteria for index inclusion, and Sharī‘ah committees with ex ante and ex post supervisory duties. Findings The paper makes a case for viewing Islamic finance indices on international capital markets as capacity-building experiments for the regulation of transnational Islamic financial flows. Originality/value The study rejuvenates the pragmatic approach towards the development of Islamic capital markets, by suggesting that incremental organisational innovations, as developed in connection with Islamic financial indices, can build institutional capacity towards an economy that abides by Islamic values.

scholarly journals Investigation on firm efficiency: evidence from selected Asia-Pacific countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 3062-3080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khar Mang Tan ◽  
Fakarudin Kamarudin ◽  
Amin Noordin Bany-Ariffin ◽  
Norhuda Abdul Rahim
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Scale Efficiency ◽  
Scale Level ◽  
Firm Efficiency ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Parametric Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the firm efficiency or technical efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE) in the selected developed and developing Asia-Pacific countries. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of a sum of 700 firms in selected developed and developing Asia-Pacific countries over the period from 2009 to 2015. The non-parametric data envelopment analysis under the production approach is used to investigate firm efficiency. Findings On average, this paper discovers that the firms in selected Asia-Pacific countries are moderately efficient. Scale inefficiency (SIE) is found to be the dominant source of firms’ technical inefficiency. The analysis of return to scale shows that the large firms tend to operate at decreasing return to scale level, while the small firms tend to operate at increasing return to scale level. Practical implications The findings from this paper provide significant insights to the policy makers and firm managers in promoting the efficient firms of Asia-Pacific countries. Originality/value The present paper conducts a critical analysis on return to scale in the firms sector of Asia-Pacific context, which is ignored by the past studies on firm efficiency since the analysis of return to scale is mostly emphasized on banking sector. The precise nature of SIE is important for a firm to be efficient in achieving the firm’s primary goals of profit maximization and sustaining market competitiveness.

Consequences of corporate social responsibility on employees

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-249
Author(s):  
Evans Asante Boadi ◽  
Zheng He ◽  
Eric Kofi Boadi ◽  
Josephine Bosompem ◽  
Philip Avornyo
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Work Motivation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Time Lagged ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to draw on affect social exchange theory and related literature to develop and test a research model linking employees’ perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to their outcomes [performance and organisational pride (ORP)] with moderating variables: perceived work motivation patterns (autonomous and controlled motivation) to sustain firm’s operations through their employees. Design/methodology/approach The authors used Ghana as a case for this study due to recent turbulences in the banking sector of Ghana. A sample data of 244 subordinate/supervisor dyads from rural and community banks was collected with a time-lagged technique and analysed through a structural equation modelling for this study. Findings These employee’s perceptions of CSR positively related to their performance and ORP. Autonomous motivated employees had a stronger positive moderated impact on perceived CSR-Performance link whereas controlled motivated employees recorded a stronger impact on perceived CSR-ORP link. Practical implications Based on these results, managers and human resource (HR) professionals can aim at acquiring favourable employees’ perception of their firms’ CSR initiatives. In that, it can help firms to remain in business particularly in difficult times. Also, autonomous and controlled motivators may seem inversely related, however, they are not contradictory to each other. Both can coexist within a firm and it is crucial that HR professionals and managers endeavour to balance them discreetly to attain organisational goals. Originality/value Despite the growing interest in CSR across continents, CSR outcomes on employees among small and medium scale firms especially in Africa has fairly been toned-down by respective management of firms, governments and researchers.

The impact of globalization on the performance of Banks in South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadzlan Sufian ◽  
Fakarudin Kamarudin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Estimation Method ◽  
Bank Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multinational Banks ◽  
Dynamic Panel Regression ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to provide empirical evidence for the impact globalization has had on the performance of the banking sector in South Africa. In addition, this study also investigates bank-specific characteristics and macroeconomic conditions that may influence the performance of the banking sector. Design/methodology/approach The authors use data collected for all commercial banks in South Africa between 1998 and 2012. The ratio of return on assets was used to measure bank performance. They then used the dynamic panel regression with the generalized method of moments as an estimation method to investigate the potential determinants and the impact of globalization on bank performance. Findings Positive impact of greater economic integration and trade movements of the host country, while greater social globalization in the host country tends to exert negative influence on bank profitability. The results show that banks originating from the relatively more economically globalized countries tend to perform better, while banks headquartered in countries with greater social and political globalizations tend to exhibit lower profitability levels. Originality/value An empirical model was developed that allows for the performance of multinational banks to depend on internal and external factors. Moreover, unlike the previous studies on bank performance, in this empirical analysis, we control for the different dimensions of globalizations while taking into account the origins of the multinational banks. The procedure allows us to test for the home field, the liability of foreignness and global advantage hypotheses to deduce further insights into the prospects of banking across borders.

Assessing the bank profitability in the MENA region

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rim Ben Selma Mokni ◽  
Houssem Rachdi
Keyword(s):  
Method Of Moments ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Bank Profitability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conventional Banks ◽  
Econometric Technique

Purpose – Which of the banking stream is relatively more profitable in Middle Eastern and North Africa (MENA) region? Design/methodology/approach – The empirical study covers a sample of 15 conventional and 15 Islamic banks for the period 2002-2009.The authors estimate models using the generalized method of moments in system, of Blundell and Bond (1998). They exploit an up-to-date econometric technique which takes into consideration the issue of endogeneity of regressors to evaluate the comparative profitability of Islamic and conventional banks in the MENA region. Findings – Empirical analysis results show that the determinants’ significance varies between Islamic and conventional banks. Profitability seems to be quite persistent in the MENA region reflecting a higher degree of government intervention and may signal barriers to competition. Originality/value – The main interest is to develop a comprehensive model that integrates macroeconomic, industry-specific and bank-specific determinants. The paper makes comparison of the performance between two different banking systems in the MENA region. The authors consider a variable crisis to gain additional insights into the impacts of the financial crisis on MENA banking sector.

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