19 research outputs found

    Bank-FinTech M&As and Banking Innovation: A Performance Assessment of the Global Banking System

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    This book examines the banking innovation and performance improvements arising from Bank-FinTech M&As. It explores the trends and characteristics of M&A operations in the banking industry, with a focus on the threats and opportunities that arise from a bank’s equity investments in FinTech firms and the impact on their performance. It offers a holistic assessment of bank performance metrics, such as profitability, operational efficiency, riskiness, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score. Furthermore, the book presents novel and valuable analytical perspectives by analysing the role played by business models on these performance metrics following the M&A operations. The book supports strategic decision-making processes for banking practitioners while providing new policy implications for regulators and banking supervisory authorities. Finally, the book will be of interest to researchers and students in finance and digital innovation in bankin

    Innovating the bank-firm relationship: a spherical fuzzy approach to SME funding

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    Purpose Innovation in financing processes, enabled by the advent of new technologies, has supported the development of alternative finance funding tools. In this context, the study analyses the growing importance of alternative finance instruments (such as equity crowdfunding, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, venture capital, and others) in addressing the small and medioum enterprises' (SMEs) financing needs beyond traditional bank and market-based funding channels. By providing more flexible terms and faster approval times, these instruments are gradually reshaping the traditional bank-firm relationship. Design/methodology/approach To comprehensively understand this innovation shift in funding processes, the study employs a novel approach that merges three MCDA methods: Spherical Fuzzy Entropy, ARAS and TOPSIS. These methodologies allow for handling ambiguity and subjectivity in financial decision-making processes, examining the effects of multiple criteria, including interest rate, flexibility, accessibility, support, riskiness, and approval time, on the appeal of various financial alternatives. Findings The study’s results have significant theoretical and practical implications, supporting SMEs in carefully evaluate financing alternatives and enables banks to better identify the main “competitors” according to the “financial need” of the firm. Moreover, the rise of alternative finance, notably P2P lending, indicates a shift towards more efficient capital access, suggesting banks must innovate their funding channels to remain competitive, especially in offering flexible solutions for restructuring and high-risk scenarios. Practical implications The study advises top management that SMEs prefer traditional loans for their reliability and accessibility, necessitating banks to enhance transparency, innovate, and adopt digital solutions to meet evolving financing needs and improve customer satisfaction. Originality/value The study introduces a novel integration of Spherical Fuzzy TOPSIS, Entropy, and ARAS methodologies to face the complexities of financial decision-making for SME financing, addressing ambiguity and multiple criteria like interest rates, flexibility, and riskiness. It emphasizes the importance of traditional loans, the rising significance of alternative financing such as P2P lending, and the necessity for banks to innovate, thereby enriching the literature on bank-firm relationships and SME funding strategies

    The dual impact of digital lending on European banks. How do Fintech platforms affect bank stability and loan portfolio quality?

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    This chapter, focusing on digital lending, examines this impact on bank stability and loan portfolio quality. Digital lending poses a challenge to the stability of traditional banks but does improve the quality of loan portfolios by reducing non-performing loans. The chapter emphasizes the necessity for collaborative models and balanced regulations that can enable the provision of the benefits and risks of digital lending to harmonize

    Does Board Gender Diversity Make Firms Less Greenwashed?

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    This study contributes to the literature on corporate environmental responsibility by investigating the impact of female board directorship on the environmental performance of listed financial and non-financial firms in Europe from 2013 to 2022. We propose a novel proxy for greenwashing that has not yet been implemented at the firm level in financial studies. We applied panel regression estimation with fixed effects to 1300 firm-year observations. The misleading baseline results show a negative relationship between female board directorship and environmental performance. Conversely, the second layer of analysis indicates a negative relationship between our greenwashing measure and female board directorship, supporting the positive role of women on boards of directors; spurious environmental performance measures obscure this significant association. A set of robustness checks and alternative specifications (generalized least squares and two-stage least squares) confirmed the consistency of our empirical results. This study has theoretical and managerial implications by reinforcing the crucial role of women in top management positions as supporters of environmental initiatives

    Investigating the role of Fintech in the banking industry: what do we know?

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    Abstract Purpose In recent years, the penetration of digital technologies in the financial industry determined the arising of Fintech, which generated a dynamic and rapid change that business operators and supervisory authorities in the banking industry are struggling to follow it. This is especially due to issues affecting financial intermediaries and customers, and potential risks of stability of the financial system. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of Fintech in the banking industry thus to update the knowledge about technology innovation in the banking sector, identify the major trends in the domain and delineate future research directions. Design/methodology/approach The study reviews 377 articles indexed on Scopus from 2014 to 2021 that focus on Fintech and the banking industry. The methodology adopted is structured in two steps: the keywords selection and the analysis of the documents extracted. The first step identified “Fintech” and “bank” as keywords to be searched within the title, abstract or keywords of documents indexed on Scopus; whereas the second step combined R and VOSviewer to provide a descriptive analysis of the dataset and the analysis of keywords and occurrences, respectively. Findings Results achieved in the study allow providing a systemic view of the Fintech in the banking industry, including the emergent phenomenon of digital banking. In particular, it is provided with a general overview and descriptive information on the entire sample of documents analyzed, their authors, the keywords used and the most cited works. Besides, a deepening on the model of digital banking is provided, by delineating the six dimensions of the key effects generated by the digital bank model. Originality/value Two main elements of originality characterize this study. The first one is related to the fact that few review studies have been published on Fintech in the banking industry, and the second one concerns the multiple dimensions of the impact of Fintech in the banking sector, which includes customer, company, bank, regulation authority and society

    Acceptance of IoT-based E-coin Track-and-trace: A Case of the Digital Euro Project in Italy

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    As the world becomes increasingly digitalised, there are growing concerns about the use of big data and machine learning techniques to monitor and control citizens’ spending habits. This is particularly the case regarding Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), which are being trialled by an increasing number of countries. There is a perception that such currencies could violate privacy due to the centralisation of money liability. The aim of this research is to assess whether a universal e-coin level tracking service of money and public expenditures, available to everyone and inspired by Internet of Things (IoT) architectures and standards, could instil trust in institutions while increasing the acceptance of CDBCs. The research methodology comprises three key elements: (i) the conceptualisation and implementation of an IoT-based CBDC, (ii) a qualitative, technical and compliance assessment with regard to the specific reference to the Digital Euro (D€) project, and (iii) a survey we conducted among 351 respondents to ascertain the potential for CBDC acceptance within Italy. The results demonstrate that the prototype is a viable concept despite storage limitations. Furthermore, 73.83 percent of respondents who initially expressed scepticism indicated that they would be more inclined to adopt the CDBC instrument if a universal track-and-trace tool of money were made availabl
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