Financial sector development

About: Financial sector development is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1674 publications have been published within this topic receiving 90787 citations.

Structural issues in the Kenyan financial system: improving competition and access

Abstract: Although by regional standards, Kenya's financial system is relatively well developed and diversified, major structural impediments prevent it from reaching its full potential. Crosscountry comparisons, however, show the importance of a well-developed financial sector for long-term economic growth and poverty alleviation. Experience from other developing economies has shown the detrimental effect of government ownership and the positive impact that foreign bank ownership can have on the development of a market-based financial system. Analyzing and decomposing the high interest rate spreads and margins in Kenya helps identify structural impediments that drive the high cost of and low access to financial services. The limited information sharing on debtors, deficiencies in the legal and judicial system, the limited number of strong and reputable banks and non-transparency and uncertainty in the banking market are major impediments to the development of Kenya's financial system, to reducing spreads and to widening access.

The impact of the financial system on economic growth in the context of the global crisis: empirical evidence for the EU and OECD countries

Abstract: This study aims to analyze the impact of the development and stability of the financial sector on economic growth on the basis of the quantitative methods that produce robust results. The following research hypotheses are tested: /H1/ The relationship between financial sector development (stability) and economic growth is nonlinear; /H2/ An excessively large size of the financial system does not lead to more rapid economic growth: it may even negatively affect GDP dynamics; /H3/ The inclusion of the post-crisis period gives new insights of the nature of the relationship between financial system and economic growth. The analysis covers the 28 EU and 34 OECD economies and the 1993–2013 period. The following variables are used to measure the financial sector: domestic credit provided by financial sector, bank nonperforming loans, bank capital to assets ratio, market capitalization of listed companies, turnover ratio of stocks traded, and the monetization ratio. A new element of the empirical analysis is the application of the extended econometric and economic modelling, including testing nonlinear relationships, analyzing both levels and changes of the financial variables, as well as estimating the models on the basis of a moving panel with overlapping observations. The regression equations are estimated by Blundell and Bond’s GMM system estimator. Our results indicate that all the research hypotheses have been positively verified.

Beyond legal origin and checks and balances : political credibility, citizen information, and financial sector development

Abstract: The existing literature emphasizes and contrasts the role of political checks and balances and legal origin in determining the pace of financial sector development. This paper expands substantially on one aspect of this debate: the fact that government actions that promote financial sector development, whether prudent financial regulation or secure property and contract rights, are public goods and sensitive to political incentives to provide public goods. Tests of hypotheses emanating from this argument yield four new conclusions. First, two key determinants of those incentives-the credibility of pre-electoral political promises and citizen information about politician decisions-systematically promote financial sector development. Second, these political factors, along with political checks and balances, operate in part through their influence on the security of property rights, an argument asserted but not previously tested. Third, contrary to findings elsewhere in the literature, the political determinants of financial sector development are significant even in the presence of controls for legal origin. Finally, and again in contrast to the literature, the evidence here suggests that legal origin primarily proxies for political phenomena. Legal origin is a largely insignificant determinant of financial sector development when those phenomena are fully taken into account.