Bank failures around the world during the recent financial crisis put taxpayers on the hook for trillions of dollars in government backstopping. In future, requiring banks to issue contingent capital, which would convert from debt to equity when banks run into trouble, is one way to help avoid...

The market for asset-backed securities (ABS) – financial instruments backed by underlying assets such as mortgages – suffered a major setback in 2007, as a cascade of downgrades and defaults brought turmoil to credit markets and the world economy. Authorities in the United States have since...

Can a US-style housing bust happen in Canada? Recent swings in Canadian house prices have raised concerns about the possibility. To evaluate the likelihood of a US style housing market crash in Canada, this paper examines what caused the US housing boom and bust from 2000 to 2009. A decline in...

This article attempts to study the Philippine experience with financial liberalization. In particular, it examines the impact of interest rate reforms on the flow of loanable funds in the organized financial market.

Credit provision for small and poor households has always been the major element of nongovernment organizations in alleviating poverty. Recently, there has been a move to replicate the Bangladesh Grameen Bank in the Philippines known as Landless People’s Development Fund. This paper assesses...

Against the backdrop of rural financial markets, this article documents and describes Philippine rural deposit mobilization in view of the recent government attempts to reduce the urban bias of financial developments. It also examines the factors in rural economy that can contribute to the...

One of the issues contending the rural borrowers, who are composed of small entrepreneurs, fishermen and farmers, is the access to financial services of formal financial institutions. With this fact on hand, this article discusses the issue within the framework of asymmetry of information...

The growth of shadow banking in recent decades has changed the concept of banking. It has meant less deposit-taking and lending and more market-oriented banking activities, including in particular a growing trade in securitized products. However, shadow banking is opaque; a problem that was...

Proponents of a national securities regulator suffered a setback when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Ottawa’s proposed Securities Act to create such a body was unconstitutional. In its ruling, the Supreme Court nevertheless endorsed the possibility of a national regulator based on a model...

Analysis of the performance of rural, private commercial and private development banks indicates that while private commercial banks has done intensive savings mobilization drive outside NCR, the performance of these three financial institutions depend on their operating policy framework and the...