The Tunic of Christ and the Crown Jewels: Relics in the Byzantine Diplomacy of the Fourteenth Century

ntroduction. This article discusses the “reliquary diplomacy” introduced by Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos during the Ottoman siege of Constantinople (1394–1402). The emperor widely used the relics in the creation of the anti-Ottoman alliance. This article addresses a specific case of this diplomatic practice, Manuel II Palaiologos’ request to Venice for a loan for the deposit on the Tunic of Christ and other relics. Methods. From the juxtaposition of sources and the comparative analysis of the fourteenth-century relations between Byzantium and Venice there are good reasons to discover the motives behind the Venetians’ denial of the emperors’ proposal. Analysis. After 1261 Constantinople kept numerous relics, particularly the Seamless Tunic of Christ and the Purple Robe. The sources in possession do not allow an unequivocal conclusion if the artifact offered to the Venetians was the Seamless Tunic or another one. In the author’s interpretation, the reason of Venice’s withdrawal from the deal was the empire’s bad “credit history.” In August 1343, the Senate of Venice gave credit of 30,000 gold ducats to the Empress Anna of Savoy for the deposit of the jewels of the crown. The Venetians permanently reminded Byzantium about the repayment of the debt and the ransom for the jewels, and, moreover, offered to take the island of Tenedos as a compensation. Therefore, the unsolved problem of the old debt made the new deal with the emperor hopeless in the Venetians’ eyes. Results. The case under analysis sheds light on the state of the Empire in the late fourteenth century. Manuel II Palaiologos put into the “diplomatic circulation” the relics which were convertible in the Christian West. The failure of his negotiations with Venice turned him to active search for other allies, whom he sent parts of the Tunic of Christ in order to gain their military and financial support.

Understanding the impact of borrowers' behavioural and psychological traits on credit default: review and conceptual model

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to identify certain behavioural and psychological traits of the borrowers which have the tendency to predict the credit risk of the borrowers. And the second objective is to draw a conceptual model that reveals the impact of those traits on credit default.Design/methodology/approachThe study has adopted a systematic Literature Review approach to identify those behavioural and psychological traits of borrowers that reflect on the tendency to predict the credit default of borrowers.FindingsThe findings of this study have revealed that there are some non-financial factors, which can be looked into while granting a loan to a borrower. The identified factors can be used to develop a subjective credit scoring model that can quantify and verify the soft information (character and reliability) of debtors. Further, a behavioural credit scoring model will help in easing the assessment of those borrowers, who do not have an appropriate credit history and reliable financial statements.Practical implicationsThe proposed model would help banks and financial institutions to evaluate those borrowers who lack substantial financial information. Further, a subjective credit scoring model would help to evaluate the credit worthiness of such borrowers who do not have any credit history. The model would also reduce the biasness of subjective scoring and would reduce the financial constraints of borrowers.Originality/valueBy reviewing the literature, it has been observed that there are very few studies that have exclusively considered the behavioural and psychological factors in credit scoring. Several studies have linked the psychological constructs with debts, but very few researchers have considered it while constructing a behavioural scoring model. Thus, it can be inferred that this area of behavioural finance is still unexplored and needs attention of researchers worldwide. In addition, most of the studies are carried out in European, African and American regions but are almost non-existent in the Asian markets.

Serving the Underserved: Microcredit As a Pathway to Commercial Banks

A large-scale microcredit expansion program—together with a credit bureau accessible to all lenders—can enable unbanked borrowers to build a credit history, facilitating their transition to commercial banks. Loan-level data from Rwanda show the program improved access to credit and reduced poverty. A sizable share of first-time borrowers switched to commercial banks, which cream-skim less risky borrowers and grant them larger, cheaper, and longer-maturity loans. Switchers have lower default risk than non-switchers and are not riskier than other bank borrowers. Switchers also obtain better loan terms from banks compared with first-time bank borrowers without a credit history.

Customer Loan Approval Prediction Using Logistic Regression

Banking Sector contains loan where it is a process of lending or borrowing a sum of money by one or more individuals, organizations, etc. from Banks. The Person who lends that money from respective financier incurs a debt, and he is responsible to pay back the money with the Interest decided by Bank within a certain period. Generally what Bank’s look into before applying for a loan is Credit History, Credit loss and Income of Applicant. So basically,loans play a major role regarding Income for Bank. Due to rapid urban development people who are applying for loans got increased rapidly. Therefore, finding the applicant to whom loan can be approved become a complexed process. In this paper, we want to predict the loan eligibility based on details of the customer. Fields that required are Matrimonial Status, Income, Education, Loan Amount, Credit History and other income sources of Applicant dependants. To predict the status, we will use Logistic Regression to spot the eligible applicants so bank will engage with them for granting loans to those people who can payback in a given time.

CREDIT INFORMATION SHARING AND PROFITABILITY OF BANKS IN KENYA

Purpose: Credit information sharing cost positively influenced the profitability of banks in Kenya. The general objective of the study was to evaluate credit information sharing and profitability of banks in Kenya. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study stablished that borrower’s credit history information had a positive influence on the profitability in Kenya. The study the respondents agreed that their banks collect information on the number of previous applications that a loan applicant has made, the bank collects information on the number of loans applied and declined, the bank asks for reasons that the loan applied was declined for all applicants, the bank asks loan applicants to indicate the discipline observed when repaying previous loans advanced, the bank asks clients to indicate if they have delayed in remitting their periodic loan repayment in the past, the banks collect more information about the loan applicants credit history from the CRB. Recommendations: The study recommended that while sharing information, the banks should do a cost benefit analysis to ascertain if the sharing of such information is material or not. It should pay its attention to the administrative costs that come with sharing information. This is because the cost of information sharing as seen from the study results have a negative and significant influence on performance Purpose: Credit information sharing cost positively influenced the profitability of banks in Kenya. The general objective of the study was to evaluate credit information sharing and profitability of banks in Kenya. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study stablished that borrower’s credit history information had a positive influence on the profitability in Kenya. The study the respondents agreed that their banks collect information on the number of previous applications that a loan applicant has made, the bank collects information on the number of loans applied and declined, the bank asks for reasons that the loan applied was declined for all applicants, the bank asks loan applicants to indicate the discipline observed when repaying previous loans advanced, the bank asks clients to indicate if they have delayed in remitting their periodic loan repayment in the past, the banks collect more information about the loan applicants credit history from the CRB. Recommendations: The study recommended that while sharing information, the banks should do a cost benefit analysis to ascertain if the sharing of such information is material or not. It should pay its attention to the administrative costs that come with sharing information. This is because the cost of information sharing as seen from the study results have a negative and significant influence on performance

Disruptive financial innovations: the case of Nigerian micro-entrepreneurs

PurposeDespite the noticeable consequences of disruptive financial innovations, access to finance remains a major factor inhibiting the sustainable-growth potentials of young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings. This study examines the determinants of financing options among micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings. Specifically, the study seeks to establish whether credit history, income, asset, gender, awareness and network capability have effects on formal and informal financing options among micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings.Design/methodology/approachThis article uses the survey research design and administers a structured questionnaire among 300 purposively selected micro-entrepreneurs within the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Only 291 completed questionnaires are retrieved. This article also uses the multiple regression analysis to estimate the empirical model and test the research hypotheses respectively.FindingsThis article establishes that: (1) credit history and assets-based financing are significant determinants of formal financing options among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings, (2) gender and network capability are significant determinants of informal financing options among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings and (3) awareness is significant of both formal and informal financing options among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings.Originality/valueThis article examines the determinants of financing option among young micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings. Specifically, the study seeks to establish whether credit history income asset gender awareness and network capability have effects on formal and informal financing options among micro-entrepreneurs in informal settings.

Serving the Underserved: Microcredit as a Pathway to Commercial Banks

A large-scale microcredit expansion program—together with a credit bureau accessible to all lenders—can enable unbanked borrowers to build a credit history, facilitating their transition to commercial banks. Loan-level data from Rwanda show the program improved access to credit and reduced poverty. A sizable share of first-time borrowers switched to commercial banks, which cream-skim less risky borrowers and grant them larger, cheaper, and longer-maturity loans. Switchers have lower default risk than non-switchers and are not riskier than other bank borrowers. Switchers also obtain better loan terms from banks compared with first-time bank borrowers without a credit history.

THE VALUE OF PERSONAL CREDIT HISTORY IN RISK SCREENING OF ENTREPRENEURS: EVIDENCE FROM MARKETPLACE LENDING

We explore the quality of risk assessment for entrepreneurs/small business borrowers as compared to consumers, when the same information on previous credit history is used for both segments in marketplace lending. By building several cross-sectional logistic regression and machine-learning models and applying them separately to small business loans (SBL) and consumers we can measure models’ predictive accuracy for different segments, and thus, make observations about the value of the information used for screening. We find the differences in profiles between SBL and consumers, hence they should be assessed by separate models. Yet separate SBL models do not perform well when applied to a future time period. We attribute this to the relatively low predictive value of personal credit history for entrepreneurs as compared to the consumers. We advocate the use of additional information for risk assessment of entrepreneurs, in order to improve the quality of credit screening. This should lead to improved access of small business borrowers to credit in situations when they have to compete with consumers for funding.

DEVELOPMENT OF DATABASES STRUCTURE OF INTERNAL ECONOMIC AGENTS FINANCIAL MONITORING

The article presents the results of developing the structure of databases of internal financial monitoring of economic agents in the form of a data scheme taking into account the entities, their attributes, key fields, and relationships, as well as the structure of units of regulatory information required for basic monitoring procedures based on internal and external sources. The block diagram of the financial monitoring databases, formed in the modern BPMN 2.0 notation using the Bizagi Studio software product on the basis of internal normative and reference documents, consists of tables containing information on: the client's financial monitoring questionnaire; list of risky clients according to the system of economic agent; the list of clients for which there are court rulings and financial transactions which may contain signs of risk; list of PEP clients of the economic agent; list of clients for which there is a share of state ownership (PSP); list of prohibited industries; reference books (type of financial transactions; features of financial transactions of mandatory financial monitoring; features of financial transactions of internal financial monitoring; identity document; type of subject of primary financial monitoring; type of notification; legal status of transaction participant; type of person who related to the financial transaction; the presence of permission to provide information; signs of financial transaction; regions of Ukraine); directory of risk criteria; clients with FATCA status. The scheme of the structure of databases of internal financial monitoring of economic agents using normative and reference information on the basis of external sources is presented by tables containing information on: legal entities, natural persons-entrepreneurs, public formations, public associations, notaries, lawyers of Ukraine; the list of persons related to terrorism and international sanctions, formed by the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine; list of public figures and members of their families; sanctions lists (National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine; Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine; OFAC SDN List — US sanctions list; worldwide sanctions lists; EU sanctions lists); lists of high-risk countries (aggressor state, countries with strategic shortcomings, countries with hostilities, list of the European Commission for countries with weak APC / FT regime, countries with high levels of corruption, self-proclaimed countries, countries with high risk of FT, offshore countries); The First All-Ukrainian Bureau of Credit Histories, which describes the credit history, credit risks of individuals and legal entities in Ukraine (PVBKI); International Bureau of Credit Histories, which describes the credit history of individuals and legal entities of clients of Ukrainian economic agents (MBKI); list of dual-use goods; list of persons with OSH; AntiFraud HUB — information about fraudsters; register of bankruptcies; register of debtors; register of court decisions; database of invalid documents; list of persons hiding from the authorities; register of EP payers; registers of encumbrances on movable and immovable property; data on securities; lustration register; register of arbitration trustees; corruption register; bases of Ukrainian organizations; information on foreign companies. Integrated use of the developed databases based on the proposed schemes will improve the procedures for financial monitoring by economic agents and solve several current problems. Keywords: economic agents, financial monitoring, structural scheme of the database, normative and reference information of internal securement, normative and reference information of external securement. JEL Classification E44, D53, G21, G28, G32 Formulas: 0; fig.: 2; tabl.: 0; bibl.: 12.

FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CREDIT BUREAUS IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION

In recent years, along with an increase in the number of loans issued, there has been an increase in overdue and bad debts to credit institutions. In this regard, the study of the development of credit history bureaus, as the most important tool for reducing credit risk, is relevant. The paper studies the process of formation of BKI in Russia, analyzes their activities, identifies the main problems, such as duplication of information in credit histories, the presence of erroneous information in them, and others. The prospects for further development are identified, in particular, the creation of qualified credit history bureaus, the use of more information sources in the formation of credit histories.