We analyze a large merger in the Dutch banking market during the financial crisis using disaggregated data. Based on a merger simulation model, we evaluate merger-induced changes in the interest rates for savings accounts. We find that the merging banks decreased interest rates by 3 to 5 percent...

Lending and borrowing interest rates are often slow to adjust to changing capital market conditions. This paper argues that national differences of the pass-through speed in the EU can be regarded as a retail-oriented indicator of financial integration. Based on an ECB database the speed of...

The Integrated Government Information System (IGIS) is a private government network comprising several components such as records and data management services, government email, civil registration, the IGIS portal, IGIS data center & disaster recovery center, IGIS network, and a project...

Over the past decade, digital connectivity has emerged as a critical new form of infrastructure, akin to roads, energy or ports-underpinning economic growth and social development. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the advent of digital connectivity has opened up new avenues for communication,...

The recent banking crisis has revealed the existence of strong resiliency factors in the retail banking business model. On average, retail banks suffered less than other financial institutions from unexpected market changes. This paper proposes a new methodology to measure retail banks’...

We study a conflict of interest faced by universal banks that conduct proprietary trading alongside their retail banking services. Our dataset contains the stock holdings of each and every German bank and of their corresponding retail clients. We investigate (i) whether banks deliberately push...

The paper in hand compares retail banking and the electric energy sector to investigate how digitalisation influences (de)centralisation. Structural similarities of both industries like the direct competition of large international companies (Deutsche Bank and RWE) with locale providers such as...