Around the Bloc: Russia Adds Yuan to Forex Basket
Russia is diversifying its foreign currency reserves away from traditional Western assets.
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Russia is diversifying its foreign currency reserves away from traditional Western assets.
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The influence of the moon on human behavior has been featured in many, not only scientificpublications. This paper tests the hypothesis that the one-session rates of return of index WIG20(Warsaw Stock Exchange) in the period of 14.04.1994–30.06.2015, mWIG40 in the period31.12.1997–30.06.2015 and sWIG80 in the period of 29.12.1994–30.06.2015, calculated for eachof the following phases: full moon, new moon, first and third quarter, are statistically higher thanzero (at the significance level of 95%) for WIG20 and sWIG20 when the moon was in the newphase and also for sWIG80 when the moon was in the full phase. In the second, third and the fourthpart were tested null hypothesis regarding equality of one session average rates of return in twopopulations, for analyzed moon phases and when the moon phases falls on a specified day of theweek or in the specified months.In case of testing equality of average rates of return in two populations, the outcomes provedthat the moon phases are irrelevant for one session average rates of return in two analyzed populations,but in case regarding equality of one-session average rates of return, computed for eachday of the week, the result permit to reject the null hypothesis for full moon falling on Fridays(sWIG80) and for 1st quarter falling on Tuesdays (WIG20 and mWIG40). The average rates ofreturn of the Fridays session for sWIG80 (full moon) resulted to be statistically higher than zero,while for Tuesday sessions calculated for WIG20 and mWIG40 (1st quarter) – negative.Calculations of one-session average rates of return, regarding moon phases falling in a specifiedmonth, displayed that they are statistically higher than zero for: mWIG40 in March (full moon),WIG20 in June and mWIG40 in July (for indices both – moon in the first quarter phase) and lowerthan zero for: WIG20 and mWIG40 for full moon sessions in June, mWIG40 in July (new moon),WIG20 for November and sWIG80 for October sessions (for both indices – moon in the firstquarter phase). Thus, the influence of moon phases on investors operating on the Warsaw StockExchange has been proved.
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The paper discusses the problem of relations between a capital market and real economy measuredby the cross-country correlation between long-term stock rate of return and real GDP growth.According to some research results, the correlation is negative for most developed countries inthe long run. Other studies indicate rather the lack of correlation, both for highly developed andemerging market countries. The aim of the paper is to present these somewhat controversial resultsand review plausible reasons for the observed tendencies. The second aim is to present theresults of our research obtained with a sample of Central and Eastern European countries, in whichcapital market began to develop only after the fall of communism, so quite recently. They allowthe conclusion that in the CEE economies the correlation between economic growth and equityreturns is either positive or unclear. It is difficult to find all reasons why it is so, however, generallythese results show that it is difficult to find clear relationship between stock market and economicgrowth in the world economies.
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Celem artykułu jest określenie możliwości rozwoju finansowania opartego na mechanizmach rynkowych w sektorze ekonomii społecznej. Realizacji postawionego celu posłużyło zaprezentowanie czynników determinujących dostęp podmiotów społecznych do potencjalnych źródeł kapitału oraz struktury finansowania przedsiębiorczości społecznej w Polsce. Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na działalność społecznych instytucji finansowych, funduszy pożyczkowych i poręczeniowych, a także nowe programy wsparcia na bazie instrumentów inżynierii finansowej. Możliwości wykorzystania instrumentów rynkowych w finansowaniu sektora ekonomii społecznej zostały zidentyfikowane i przedstawione w ujęciu analizy SWOT.
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Prezentowany artykuł ma na celu przypomnienie wniosków zawartych w sporządzonej cztery lata temu ekspertyzie oceniającej możliwości finansowania podmiotów ekonomii społecznej oraz formułującej propozycje niezbędnych rozwiązań systemowych wspierających dostęp tych podmiotów do kapitału. Przypomniana w niniejszym artykule koncepcja stworzenia systemu rozwiązań instytucjonalno-prawnych ułatwiających podmiotom sektora ekonomii społecznej pozyskiwanie środków na finansowanie swojej działalności, jest próbą odpowiedzi na następujące pytania: jak zapewnić stały, względnie stabilny dopływ środków finansowych do sektora ekonomii społecznej i jak zorganizować infrastrukturę finansową obsługującą ten sektor, by przy danej wielkości środków, można było podejmować jak największą liczbę przedsięwzięć.
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Insurance companies which are active on Polish insurance market, use varied sales channels to deliver their products to the customers. It assures them reaching to new customers and sale increase. Insurances distribution is an exceptional process in view of specific product which is an insurance. Along with the development of the insurance sector, many forms of insurance sales of products developed. The traditional face-to-face way of sales still dominates. In spite of the appearance of many alternative forms of the contact, it is still the most popular delivery channel of insurances in Poland. The paper presents organisation of insurance logistics process in Poland. In the study indicated also useful criteria of choice about the distribution policy. The essence of the paper is to present the selected delivery channels of insurance services and showing the most common sales channel in Poland.
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Forex restrictions hit importers, sparking a rush on shops. Can TAPI save the day?
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Contracts for difference (CFDs) are complex financial derivatives that are traded on international financial markets. They offer new, better opportunities for speculative profits, risk hedging and execution of arbitrage trades. Traders use them more for diversification of investment portfolios. In this context are considered some new aspects and possibilities of contracts for differences on listed shares, stock indexes, commodity goods, government bonds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). To justify their positions, the author uses real examples and diagrams.
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The purpose of this paper is to identify the fiscal consolidation methods implemented in Hungary in 2010–13 and to gauge whether adjustments on the expenditure side or on the revenue side had the greater influence on improvements in the budget balance and reduction in the public debt. The chief aim of Viktor Orbán’s government is to restrict the public debt. The instrument that was to achieve this was the Széll Kálmán plan for structural reform, which at its current stage of implementation has contributed little to improving the state of the public finances. The paper concludes from the presented evidence that the reduction in the budget deficit brought about by the consolidation measures is primarily the result of adjustments on the revenue side (increased rates of taxation, the introduction of new public levies). The paper takes the provisional position that consolidation has not proved an effective means of securing changes in the ratio of public debt to GDP.
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The introduction of mortgage financing in developing economies such as Ghana has been a marginal success. The framework and the macroeconomic environment necessary for a vibrant and effective mortgage finance system is almost non-existent and may demand a considerable period and a lot of effort to correct such anomalies. This study seeks to explore the prospects of equity financing and further suggests its viability in housing financing for developing economies. The survey confirms the most preferred housing finance option to be equity; this situation results in numerous piecemeal developments, many of which never see completion. The study finds out that due to worsening and unstable economic conditions, equity users often encounter a shortage of equity along the line of construction. We therefore conclude that rental housing is a better option for satisfying the housing needs of the majority of Ghanaians.
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Changes as consequences of financial crisis reflect in the institutional structure of financial system. On the financial markets and particularly in the sector of banking services one can observe the appearance of new types of institutions/market players, whose activity is poorly recognized, not investigated and not identified in terms of strengths and threats in their operation on the financial markets. One of observed post crisis changes and consequences of a new situation on the financial market is the dynamic development of shadow banking sector. One can conclude that the development of shadow banking sector is a response of the financial crisis on the market. In this article the author presents requirements, conditions, and determinants influencing current shape of organizational structure of financial system from the point of possible development of shadow banking sector. The important thing is to point the scale of demand on services and products typical of players in this sector and certain advantages/utilities and threats. The key point of this article is to discuss the necessity, functions and importance of shadow banking sector as a constant element of financial sector, which is shaping in frames of organizational and legislation post crisis changes in the financial services market in the world and in Poland. The phenomena of shadow banking development could be defined as a result of reshaping a modified financial system based on principles of sustainable development, which reflects new needs, challenges and market realities. Taking the changes into consideration, a question appears: Will players of shadow banking sector be a stable part of financial system or using various regulations and new forms of functioning one can decrease the operation scale of that type of financial market players? It is important to discuss the up-to-date experience in the area of shadow banking functioning and perspectives of its development.
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Sustainable development idea is commonly used not only in the activity of corporation, ecological and social organizations, but it is becoming more and more disseminated in development strategies and operational policies of the most important financial institutions, including multilateral. International financial institutions have collaborated very closely and focused their strategy of loan policies on providing sustainable development conditions. In the European Union there are two multilateral financial institutions: European Investment Bank and European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. The aim of an article is to conduct a comparative study of financial activities of both banks in the period of 2010-2014. Despite differences of the activity scale a share of each bank in pro-ecological loans financing is on similar levels nearly 30 per cent of their loan portfolios. The article draws attention to role of both banks in financing climate projects in Poland in the same period.
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Nowadays, the growing public pressure for implementing social criteria in business is widely noticeable across the world, also in financial service industry. Many leading financial institutions create new standards of doing business respecting social responsibility. Moreover, some financial institutions are specialized exclusively in financing undertakings of significant social value. The aim of the article is to present financial institutions strictly oriented at social issues. A special attention is paid to indicate possibilities and limitations of their social activities focusing on ecological issues. In the elaboration methods of description, comparison and case study are used. Based on research results it is possible to state that alternative banking activities compared with regular banking are very limited. Alternative banking is a marginal part of banking system.
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The aim of the paper is to analyse and evaluate the evolution of the approach of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to its involvement in carbon finance in the light of its carbon funds and financial mechanisms. The author investigated goals and scope of activity of the tools created by the IBRD in the years 1999-2015. The methods used include descriptive and comparative analysis. As a result, the author has grouped and characterized the IBRD’s tools and made a list of observed changes in the IBRD’s approach to its involvement in carbon finance, which includes in particular: a change in the area of interest, a change in the role of providers of capital and a shift from project approach to programme approach.
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The nature of the operations of central banks makes the society assess such banks mainly through the achievement of the target of their monetary policy ignoring their openness and sensitivity to the needs of the environment in which they operate. This article attempts to answer the question whether the central bank can and should be seen also from the perspective of corporate social responsibility as an organization whose activity is oriented not only to achieve the inflation target, but also as an organization which takes into account the needs and requirements of the broad social and environmental interests. The article also characterizes most important problems of targets, independence and accountability of central banks. Moreover, actions of central banks, which can be considered as an expression of their sensitivity and openness to the needs of the environment in which they operate, are indicated.
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The issue addressed in the paper is macroeconomic vs. corporate social responsibility of a bank, which are basic types of public responsibility. Thanks to the application of two comparative – economic and social as well as legal – approaches of a bank’s public responsibility, consecutively, a description of both types of public responsibility was obtained, as well as similarities and differences between them.
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Fixed versus flexible exchange rate dilemma has become a subject of rigor-ous academic discussions for decades. Advantages of exchange rates flexibility contrasted benefits of exchange rate stability though a phenomenon known as the fear of floating favoured exchange rate variability and its positive effects on economies. Relative diversity in the exchange rate regimes in EU-11 countries motivated authors to investigate the sources of their real exchange rate volatility. However, fixed exchange rate perspective associated with Euro Area membership may induce changed patterns in the real exchange rate determination in countries that benefit from nominal exchange rate flexibility prior to Euro adoption. In the paper we analyse sources of real exchange rates fluctuations in EU-11 countries by employing SVAR methodology and computation of impulse-response functions. Our results indicate an increased responsiveness of real exchange rates in Euro Area non-member states to demand and supply shocks, particularly due to the effects of the crisis period. At the same time, real exchange rates in Euro Area member states from EU-11 group became more responsive to nominal shocks.
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In this article we analyze the causes and the specific development of the global financial and economic crises from 2007 – 2008 using concepts from the emerging field of behavior finance. Explanation of the failure of financial markets is sought, on the basis of prospect theory, in cognitive biases and errors studied in behavioral research. Evidence refuting the postulates of the efficient market hypothesis is summarized to substantiate the need of a more realistic theory grounded in predictable patterns of ‘bounded rational’ market behavior.
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The paper presents an attempt to construct the formal procedure of estimation of central exchange rate in case of a country accessing to the monetary union. The proposed algorithm is constructed on the exchange rate theory based on the wage productivity understood as the quotient of GDP and labour costs in the economic system. The study takes into regard particularly Polish accession to the eurozone. For countries belonging to the monetary union the average productivity level has been estimated and compared to the Polish productivity. The study results reveal that the current value of productivity in Poland is relatively too low to access the eurozone without consequences. What is more, the monetary union itself does not meet theoretical criteria of constructing the integrative currency area. In this context Maastricht criteria seem to be unsatisfactory.
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The balance sheet channel used to be perceived as a minor channel of monetary policy transmission but has become important since the interest rates faced the zero lower bound. This paper analyzes monetary policy impact on the relation between liquidity and fixed asset investments of the US non-financial companies in the decade between 2005 and 2014. Two hypotheses were proposed: 1) tight monetary policy limited companies’ access to liquidity, and 2) quantitative easing influenced the level of fixed asset investment. Three random effects and three fixed effects models were constructed for each hypothesis, controlling for size and the level of financial leverage. It was found that, firstly, relative tightening of monetary policy seemed unrelated to liquidity constraints. A company’s size and its debt-to-equity ratio determined its ability to raise external funds. Secondly, the validity of the balance sheet channel could not be dismissed when considering unconventional monetary policy. The results corroborated the existence of a positive correlation between the liquid asset ratio and fi xed asset investments.
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