This paper investigates the association between social inclusion and financial inclusion. Social inclusion and financial inclusion are two major development policy agenda in many countries, and the association between them has received little attention in the policy and academic literature....

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the recent evidence on financial inclusion from all regions of the World. It identifies the emerging themes in the financial inclusion literature as well as some controversy in policy circles regarding financial inclusion. In particular, I draw...

The finance literature has not documented the feeling, the shock and the pain that ordinary people had to go through during the 2008 global financial crisis especially in the U.S. where it all began. It is important to present a view of the financial crisis from the lens of those that were...

I examine bank loan loss provisioning behaviour during election years - focusing on the effect of elections on banking sector loan loss provisioning. The findings reveal that the banking sectors in developed countries have higher loan loss provisions in election years. Also, income smoothing is...

This study investigates bank income smoothing, focusing on the effect of corruption on the extent of income smoothing by African banks. I find that banks use loan loss provisions to smooth positive (non-negative) earnings particularly in the post-2008 crisis period and this behaviour is reduced...

This study investigates whether the competence of central bank governors affect the stability of the financial system they are responsible for. Using publicly available information about central bank governors from 2000 to 2016 together with data on financial stability and the macro-economy, the...

This article offers a number of policy solutions to improve financial inclusion during the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19 is a global health crisis to which some of the usual global solutions like greater financial inclusion can help. Financial inclusion remains a powerful development tool to improve...

How did a health crisis translate to an economic crisis? Why did the spread of the coronavirus bring the global economy to its knees? The answer lies in two methods by which coronavirus stifled economic activities. First, the spread of the virus encouraged social distancing which led to the...

Climate change is emerging as an important issue, and has been a cause for increasing uncertainty in the business sector. It is important to understand the effects of climate change events on financial institutions and the financial system. This study analyzes the effect of climate change on...

This study investigates the non-discretionary determinants of bank loan loss provisions in Africa after controlling for macroeconomic fluctuation, financial development and investor protection. We find that non-performing loans, loan-to-asset ratio and loan growth are significant...