We investigate the effect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2015 disclosure of complaint narratives on reducing racial disparities in financial services. Employing a triple-differences approach that compares the performance of affected and unaffected financial institutions across communities with varying racial compositions, we find that post-disclosure, minority communities experience welfare enhancements. These include higher savings interest rates (amounting to over $50 million annually), reduced maintenance fees, and lower interest rates on auto loans and credit cards. The research emphasizes the broad impact of service quality disclosure in mitigating racial disparities in savings and lending markets.

Interest rate liberalization in China intensifies the exposure of commercial banks' interest rate risks and further increases the difficulty for commercial banks to effectively control interest rate risks, thus putting forward higher requirements for the normal operation and management of commercial banks. With the development of China's financial derivatives market, banking institutions begin to use basic interest rate derivatives to hedge interest rate risks. It is very important to give full play to the maturity transformation Function of commercial banks to enhance the ability of financial services to the real economy. Based on the semi annual unbalanced panel data of 37 listed banks in A-share stock markets from 2006 to 2020, this paper empirically tests the impact of the use of off balance sheet interest rate derivatives on the Maturity Transformation Function of banks in the case of interest rate fluctuations. The empirical results show that: (1) the use of interest rate derivatives helps to weaken the negative impact of interest rate fluctuations on the Maturity Transformation Function of banks. (2) The analysis of the mechanism shows that the use of interest rate derivatives improves the stability of the bank's asset side term structure and liability side term structure, so as to support the effective play of the bank's financial intermediary role. (3) Further analysis shows that the of interest rate derivatives significantly reduces the volatility of bank earnings. This study makes it clear that the use of interest rate derivatives has a positive impact on the commercial banks, which provides evidence for the further development of interest rate derivatives market in China.

Capital misallocation is a crucial factor that hinders the high-quality development of the capital market. Taking mergers and acquisitions (M&A) cases of Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2019 as samples, this study finds that there is a mismatch between the target firm’s profit quality and the M&A premium. Moreover, based on the dual perspective of acquirer and target motivations, this study demonstrates that the target firm’s insufficient motivation to improve its information quality is the primary cause of a capital mismatch. Factors that can enhance the motivation of the target, such as improving financial services and facilitating labour flow, are the cure for capital misallocation. It is a crucial study to understand China’s capital misallocation and of great theoretical and practical significance to understand the combination of efficient markets and effective governments in emerging markets.

Digital financial inclusion narrows the gap in regional financial services, reshapes the pattern of regional division of labor, and improves regional economic efficiency. Based on China's provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020, this paper studies the theoretical logic and effect of digital financial inclusion on regional economic efficiency. We find that digital financial inclusion significantly improves regional economic efficiency, but with the development of digital financial inclusion, regional economic efficiency will first decline and then increase under the influence of digital financial inclusion. Moreover, digital financial inclusion mainly alleviates the phenomenon of financial exclusion with the support of provincial transportation infrastructure and traditional financial development, improves the availability of factors in vulnerable areas and groups, and thus improves the overall regional economic efficiency. Then, this promotion effect is based on a certain level of economic development and traditional financial development. Finally, digital financial inclusion can improve regional economic efficiency by increasing entrepreneurial activity and narrowing the gap in educational level between regions.

This chapter introduces alternative financial institutions (AFIs) in China that do not fall within traditional financial institution (FI) models. We describe their business models and development dynamics in the context of economic and financial reforms and technological advancement. We find that various AFIs are formed based on social, business, and virtual networks to overcome capital allocation barriers, reduce costs, or improve efficiency, providing financial services for the underserved. However, without proper regulations, these AFIs could pose alarming levels of risk on financial stability. They repeat a boom-and-bust pattern, in parallel with the government's initial laissez faire approach but later harsh interferences: being taken over by formal FIs or shut down as illegal practices until the exceptional Ant-Financial case. Improving investors' financial knowledge and regulators’ competency is critical for China to advance its financial system and develop mature FIs and AFIs. We recommend key features required in such a regulatory framework.

This paper investigate whether and how local climate warming affects urban-rural income inequality. Our empirical results reveal that a rise in Climate warming risk leads to an increase in urban-rural income inequality, which is largely unaffected by a battery of robustness checks and endogeneity concerns. The analysis of economic mechanisms shows that climate warming risk impacts urban-rural income inequality mainly by reducing the output of the primary sector. Notably, we uncover evidence that the amplifying effect of climate warming risk is not homogeneous across the cross-section, particularly pronounced in prefectures with lower urban-rural integration and poorer rural financial services, but with high share of rural population. Overall, our research confirms the notion that climate warming risk has an important implication in shaping Chinese urban-rural income inequality.

the Fintech phenomenon is forcing financial institutions around the world to develop superior financial services. Increased consumer and enterprise acceptance of digital banking, payments and financial data services have driven the wave of Fintech transactions in 2018. The Fintech revolution continues, but it does face numerous challenges. (edited by CFRN)

The increasingly competitive environment in the financial services market has resulted in pressure to develop and utilize alternative delivery channels. A growing phenomenon in financial services is the use of the Internet as a channel for financial services in many countries and there is wide agreement that this channel will have a significant impact on the banking system. The vast opportunities brought by the Internet to the banking industry have therefore attracted much attention from researchers. This study aims to analyze the role, adoption and barriers of Internet banking in the banking system in China. Using a quantitative approach, this study surveyed a sample of senior manager in three major cities namely, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu. Using a number of statistical analyses including analysis including T-test, ANOVA, Factor Analysis and Chi Square Test, The study finds that the main role of Internet banking in China is to Increase to Market Share. Another important finding is to Increase profitability. Maintain Competitive Edge and Improve customer service are the main reasons for the adoption of Internet banking by Chinese banks. However, it appears that Security risk constitutes the main barrier to Internet banking.

We present a model in which informational economies of scope that provide a cost advantage to universal banks oering “one-stop” shopping for lending and underwriting services also enable these intermediaries to “lock in” their clients’ subsequent business. This (limited) market power of universal banks reduces their incentive, relative to that of investment banks, to undertake costly eort in underwriting their clients’ securities. The consequent reduction in firms’ likelihood of successful security issues with universal bank underwriters prevents these intermediaries from using their scope economies to completely dominate their markets. Our analysis identifies economy, intermediary, and firm characteristics that motivate either the integration or segmentation of underwriting and bank lending. Our results also have implications for financial innovation and capital market development in markets characterized by the integration of financial services. Some of our empirical implications have not been tested; others can be compared with findings in Kroszner and Rajan (1994).

Abstract Universal corporate banks are defined as financial institutions that may offer the entire range of financial services, and own equity in financial and non-financial firms. The emergence of universal corporate banks is one of the responses of banks to the environmental changes in global financial markets. An idealized model of corporate bank is developed to describe the nature of corporate bank. The corporate banking policies include internationalization of financial services and information net-work, expansion and integration of corporate banking functions, creating close corporate clients relationship, acquiring knowledge and information advantage in corporate and financial markets, performance of corporate control and corporate governance to influence corporate management. Transaction cost and other theories are used to explain the universal corporate bank, especially the rationale for expansion and r-organization, for developing close corporate relationship, for acquiring information and knowledge of corporate clients, and the influence concerning corporate governance. In this study, the evolution of regulation, present situation of banking system, future development of corporate banking in some countries are investigated. It is found that free selection of organizational structure and financial activities of financial institutions is a general tendency in these countries. The problems such as conflicts of interest, culture conflict encountered when implementing corporate banking policies are discussed in this study. Different organization designs, management models, external regulations, and corporate culture are introduced as solutions. The development of corporate bank has great implications for financial reform in China. The pre-requisitions and barriers of developing universal corporate in China are discussed. A case study of China Construction Bank is utilized to illustrate the current situation and further development of banks in China. It is argued that a gradually financial liberalization with correct order should be accomplished. Some recommendations are produced for further reform of financial market in China including diversification of bank’s ownership, permission of foreign banks enter Chinese financial market, liberalizing interest rate, and establishing a fully floated foreign exchange market.