Banking and the Economy II

Dear Colleagues

In the financial system, the banking sector plays an important role in channeling the funds from one party with extra money to one with investment opportunities, through which economic efficiency has been improved and economic growth has been achieved. The government and banking regulatory authorities pay great attention to the performance and sustainable development in the banking sector. In academia, researchers have comprehensively investigated the issues around the banking industry in order to generate policies implications to further enhance healthy development in the banking industry.

The first area in the evaluation of issues in the banking sector will be around bank performance, without which banks would not be able to function well as a financial intermediary; this will further have a negative influence on economic activity. Therefore, this Special Issue would be interested in studies investigating various aspects of bank performance, including bank efficiency, bank productivity, as well as bank profitability.

Because of the global financial crisis which happened over the period 2007–2009, in an international context, all the countries around the world have been aware of the importance of bank stability. If we say that performance is related to the good function of commercial banks, stability is more related to the banks functioning well long term. Therefore, the current Special Issue would particularly welcome contributions in the area of investigations into stability in the banking sector. In other words, we shall try to answer the following research questions through potential contributions: 1) What is the situation of stability in a specific banking sector? 2) How can we further improve banking sector stability (what are the factors influencing stability in the banking sector)?

It is well known that the banking sector is a very profitable industry compared to other economic sectors and, as argued previously, the government or the regulatory authorities have been aware of the importance of sustainable development in the banking sector. The stability discussed above is one component of sustainability, while other aspects of sustainability focus more on the banks’ return to the society or the economy. In other words, banks should undertake responsible behavior when engaging in different types of businesses. This Special Issue would like to see empirical studies addressing the issues of corporate social responsibility in the banking sector and what the benefits/costs of undertaking this are.

Finally, due to the importance and the special funds channeling character of the banking sector, empirical research should look into not only the microlevel issues within banks or the banking industry, but more attempts should be made to examine the interactions between the banking industry and other sectors of the economy and the interrelationships between the banking industry and the economy. Therefore, this Special Issue would welcome contributions from empirical studies concerning the issues regarding the relationship between banking with small businesses, the relationship between banking and the real estate sector, and the relationships with other industries. Further, at a macroeconomic level, the Special Issue would like to see investigations in terms of the relationships between banking sector and economic growth, the relationship between banking sector and innovation, and the relationship between banking sector with corruption, among others.

In summary, the Special Issue will be focusing on, but not limited to the following topics:

1. Investigation of bank performance;
2. Examination of bank stability;
3. Evaluation of corporate social responsibility/sustainability in banking;
4. Assessment of the relationship between the banking industry and other sectors of the economy;
5. Investigation regarding the relationship between the banking industry and the economy.

The Special Issue welcomes empirical banking studies addressing the above issues, and we will also be very interested in looking at studies using advanced operational research methods to investigate the issues above, in particular in the area of bank efficiency and productivity.

If you have any questions, please do contact me at: [email protected].

Dr. Yong (Aaron) Tan
Collection Editor

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