Commercial banks also posted 3.7% rise in assets to QR 1.96 trillion, says Central Bank Qatar’s banking sector posted an increase in lending activity in April 2024, according to new official data. Total domestic credit during the month reached QR 1.25 trillion ($343.4 billion), up by 4.7% compared to April 2023, the Qatar Central Bank […]
The Credit Suisse crisis illustrates how poor governance can lead a large bank into a crisis despite compliance with capital requirements. Recent research on supervisory board competence in banks has provided interesting new insights. This column updates an index of supervisory board competence for a sample of German banks and compares their performance in 2023 […]
In the ongoing debate on pandemic management, the role of age composition in shaping optimal policies has received little attention. This column develops an economic framework that specifically addresses the heterogeneity in age responses to pandemic risks, encompassing both individual voluntary behavioural changes and policy interventions, to show that targeted interventions based on demographic and […]
Farmers in Europe have recently protested against increased grain exports from Ukraine. This column shows how Russian grain is more of a threat to EU farmers than grain from Ukraine. Between January 2023 to March 2024, Russia exported more grain than any EU country or Ukraine, and European countries imported a substantial share of their […]
Institutional outcomes often hinge on legal provisions and uncodified cultural norms. This insight also applies to national independent fiscal institutions in the EU. Using a simple, home-made index of independence, this column highlights an interesting trade-off: countries characterised by a higher quality of governance and general trust are less inclined to codify the operations of […]
Capital controls re-emerged as a tool for policymakers grappling with volatile capital flows after the 2008 financial crisis. This column explores the heterogeneous effects that capital controls have on firms, focusing particularly on capital intensity and export status during the Chilean ‘encaje’, which was implemented between 1991 and 1998 to restrict capital outflows from the […]
The 2023 banking turmoil was the first major challenge faced by the Basel III framework. This column introduces the sixth report in The Future of Banking series, which examines the causes of the turmoil as well as its implications for financial regulation. The report centres around three major themes: the causes of boom and bust […]
In May 2004, 75 million people across ten accession countries became citizens of the EU. Between 2004 and 2019, the GDP per capita of these countries almost doubled. This column examines the contribution of accession to the EU to this economic ‘miracle’ and finds that it accounts for almost a third of the current level […]
ExtendMax, the leading compliance consulting service provider in Vietnam, has been honored with the title “Best Regulatory Compliance Agency” at the Global Business and Finance Magazine Awards 2024. This is another international recognition of ExtendMax’s continuous efforts to enhance service quality and customer experience on a global scale. The Global Business and Finance Magazine Awards […]
Most less-developed regions remain at or below the technological frontier, and investments in science and technology do not always effectively drive innovation in these areas. This column shows how artificial intelligence and robotics present a potential solution to the innovation gap problem for cities in China. Investment in AI and the density of industrial robots […]
