Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Development of financial service'

Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1995.<br>Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2928. Abstract precedes thesis as [2] preliminary leaves. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-108).

This thesis investigates the nature and extent of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It sequentially investigates this in three related studies. The first study examines the impact of access to finance on poverty, while the second investigates the extent to which cross-country structural and macroeconomic variations contribute to the observed variations in the levels of financial inclusion. Finally, because both financial inclusion and financial stability have been embraced as key policy initiatives over the past decade, the third study examines the nature of relationship between these two policy goals. The first paper uses household-level data from FinScope Surveys conducted in eight SSA countries between 2014 and 2015 to examine the impact of access to finance on household wealth. The few studies which have looked at this relationship in the past apply a linear estimation and thus inadvertently assume a uniform distribution across all levels of poverty. This study examines the heterogeneous impact of access to finance along the entire wealth distribution line using a Re-centered Influence Function (RIF) regression model. Further, to eliminate potential endogeneity, an instrumental variable quantile approach is implemented. Results from both estimations indicate that the unconditional effect of access to finance on poverty is non-monotonic. For most of the countries, the effect is highest at the median level, and very low at the bottom of the wealth index. This suggests that the extension of formal financial services disproportionately benefits the middle-class more than the very-poor and rich categories. The second paper uses macroeconomic data obtained from various World Bank databases over the period 2004-2014 to examine the extent to which the observed cross-country variations in financial inclusion are mirrored by country-specific structural and macroeconomic characteristics. To conceptualize, the study uses a benchmark model to establish the optimal level of financial inclusion given the country's fundamentals, and thus provide a meaningful cross-country comparison. The key structural and policy factors that determine the extent of the gap between the actual and predicted levels of access to finance are analysed via a fixed-effects model based on selected SSA countries. The results suggest the existence of a gap in access to finance within the region, compared to their potential. The gap is wider in banking systems with high concentration, low proportion of foreign banks and poor economic conditions. The final paper empirically examines the theoretical ambiguity between financial inclusion and stability. Theory provides conflicting views on whether the two are complimentary, or mutually exclusive. This paper examines this dynamic relationship via a system-GMM panel estimation model using a panel of 40 countries from the SSA region over the period 2004-2014, while controlling for both bank-specific and macroeconomic-wide factors. The results indicate that financial inclusion has a positive impact on bank stability, however, high market power within the banking systems and poor institutional framework tends to undermine the impact of financial inclusion on stability. Overall, the results provide evidence that the existing portfolio of formal financial services does not provide sustainable solutions to poverty eradication in terms of meeting the unique needs of the poorer members of the societies. This ultimately widens the gap between the poorest and the middle-class which further complicates the poverty structure. Therefore, there is a need for more investment on improving both the range of existing product offering and the financial capabilities of the poor, in order to improve their participation in financial markets. Demand-side policies should focus on increasing the bankable population by improving both awareness and usage of financial services and products. Supply-side policies should seek to eliminate market frictions by reducing concentration levels, improve competiveness through relaxation of entry restrictions, and opening the market to foreign institutes and non-banking players, and thus improve innovation in both new products offering and service delivery. This work further argues that financial inclusion is not only a developmental or welfare issue, but has positive ramifications on the banking system. Therefore, to be effective financial inclusion policies should adopt a market systems approach to development, which recognizes the importance of support structures and seek to benefit the poor by incentivizing service providers to improve product quality, variety and returns, and thus create value throughout the value chain. An effective approach should also embrace the role of macro-prudential regulatory and supervisory framework, as an indispensable tool, not only in governing the behavior of financial services providers, but because of its efficacy in building consumer confidence- a key element for increased access and usage of financial services.

Magister Commercii - MCom<br>South Africa's unique colonial history, apartheid legacy, and ongoing transition to democratic governance drive the country's determination to attain its development objectives. Embedded in that determination is a broad social and .environmental public benefits agenda-that is, a sustainable economic development agenda. Public benefits include, inter alia, banking access, black economic empowerment and financial sector stability and efficiency. "

Mestrado Finanças<br>Nos últimos anos, a conta oficial de WeChat tem sido amplamente aceite pela maioria dos Chineses, tanto no pais como no estrangeiro, como uma nova plataforma que facilite o acesso a notícias e informações. Muitas startups também aproveitam esta plataforma para prestar serviços diversos aos seus usuários e alcançam grande sucesso. Uma vez que existem mais de dois milhões de residentes chineses na Europa, e a sua presença no mercado financeiro europeu ainda é fraca, é uma grande oportunidade para lançar uma plataforma financeira com base na conta oficial de WeChat e outra mídia social para fornecer notícias, informações e serviços financeiros à comunidade chinesa em toda a Europa. A fim de avaliar se vale a pena investir neste projecto, a técnica financeira geralmente aceite, NPV do projeto com os fluxos de caixa descontado, será aplicado. Se o NPV do projeto for positivo, o projeto pode ser aceite. Caso contrário, o projeto deverá ser rejeitado. A avaliação empresarial com base no método DCF é, portanto, realizada para avaliar o valor teórico do projeto.<br>In the past few years, WeChat official account has been widely accepted as a new means of receiving news and information by Chinese both at home and abroad. Many startups also use this platform to provide various services to their users and achieve great success. Since there are more than two million Chinese citizens in Europe, and their presence in the European financial market is limited, it is a great opportunity to develop a financial platform based on WeChat and other social media to provide financial news, information and services to the Chinese community across Europe. In order to know whether it is worth investing in this project, the most widely accepted financial technique, NPV of the project with discounted free cash flows, will be used. If NPV of the project is positive, the project can be accepted. Otherwise, the project should be rejected. A business valuation based on the DCF method is, therefore, performed to assess the theoretical value of the project.<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Service industries have traditionally been viewed as secondary to, and at best supportive of, manufacturing industries. This thesis is designed to challenge this view with regard to a particular group of services, advanced producer services. It contends that this group makes both direct and indirect contributions to economic growth at urban region level by operating in two ways: firstly, by providing intermediate inputs into the production of finished products and secondly, in its own right, selling its services to clients outside of the region. This contradicts the expectations of theoretical models of urban growth such as export base theory which cast services in an entirely dependent role. Analysis of the spatial distribution of advanced producer services reveals a significant degree of regional inequality in their provision which given the contribution they make to growth has potentially serious implications for the economic regeneration of many of Britain's depressed areas.

International financial centre (IFC) development is a hot topic in today’s global arena at the political state level and within academic circles as they can have a significant impact on national, regional and local economies. A critical review of the literature on this topic reveals that not much scholarly attention has been directed towards how IFCs develop from within, more specifically how local entrepreneurial activity contributes to the advancement and evolution of an IFC. In addition, a number of different theories such as path dependence and the concept of social networks have been used as alternative frameworks to explain the phenomena of spatial agglomeration in international financial centres (IFCs); however, these theories haven’t either been properly constructed in a geographical context, empirically applied in a convincing manner or been further investigated using different methodological frameworks. Through the lens of the entrepreneurial hedge fund (EHF) firm and by incorporating a multiple methodological approach (quantitative, descriptive and spatial analysis); this research investigates four separate empirical lines of inquiry in regard to either the firm, its proprietor or the IFC that focuses on micro characteristics, spatial characteristics, the general business arena and development mechanisms. The major empirical findings are that the EHF firm can be classified as small and large based on a number of different factors; while the proprietor is a well educated individual who was previously employed as a high level manager of a large multinational corporation and has previous career ties to the investment banking and traditional fund management sectors. EHF firms agglomerate in IFCs with the most intense clustering occurring within close proximity to the nucleus of the main financial district and other agglomeration patterns are evident. Categorically, government and regulatory factors and people factors are considered as the most important competiveness factors of an IFC. When compared as a whole with previously conducted studies, the findings were found to be statistically indifferent; however, at the individual factor level there are distinct differences. The factors that trigger entrepreneurial behavior are endogenous in nature and the top barriers encountered were customer related followed by employee recruitment and regulatory issues. Finally, human agency and social networks are an integral part of the entrepreneurial process and can be categorized into five separate groups with professional and associate considered to be the most important. This study makes three theoretical contributions on developmental aspects of IFCs. First, a spatial agglomeration model is proposed based on areal differentiation that is derived from the established and changing patterns in the human landscape and its institutions. Second, the theory of path creation is introduced along with social network interaction to account for the genesis of new financial firms at a micro level and a ‘path as processes’ model that incorporates ‘place dependence—path creation—path dependence’ as an economic process is proposed to illustrate the development of the alternative asset management sector which ultimately contributes to the advancement and evolution of an IFC in the defined study area.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Geography<br>Doctoral<br>Doctor of Philosophy

The development of new products in the personal finacial services (PFS) sector is an area that is being increasingly relied upon by organisations to provide competitive differentiation in the highly competitive environment that they now operate within. Despite this reliance, relatively little is known about how new product development (NPD) activity is undertaken within the PFS sector. The literature in this area is inundated with different models and techniques to aid development programmes, but how closely they are followed and implemented in the reality facing personal financial service companies is questionable. The first stage of the research therefore examines the implementation of planned new product development in the sector, in order to highlight the gap between theory and practice, and provide for a more contingent approach to development activities. The second and third stages of this study are concerned with providing a detailed investigation of the development, launch and distribution of a particular new PFS product. Specific attention is paid to the organisational and behavioural factors that influenced its development and eventual market outcome. Such factors are given very little consideration in the existing literature supporting NPD activity, yet it is shown that the consequences that they can have for the success of new PFS products in the marketplace can be critical. The overall value of the research is found in its questioning of the universal nature of the existing provision of theoretical approaches to, and support techniques for NPD, in addition to determining the need for companies, both within and outside of the PFS sector, to take into account highlighted behavioural and organisational factors when involved in development programmes.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate , 2009.<br>This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.<br>Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-151).<br>The thesis aims to address the long lasting phenomena of evolution of financial services industry both in US and Europe. The topic has never been more emphasized since the Great Depression. The dramatic fact of cost cutting and diminishing the headcount in financial services industry creates question if the geographic location has substantial effect in their business activities. This study is conducted to analyze whether there is substantial change in the geographic preference of financial services industry which can result immigration away from the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) like Chicago, New York in US and London, Paris in Europe to smaller MSAs. This thesis presents a quantitative model to find out about the historical trends, correlation with other significant variables and significance of the causalities between the variables. Furthermore, the qualitative part of the thesis will try to explain the motivations behind the change and the accelerations and decelerations of the trend at a certain point of time. The thesis examines and tests the hypothesis in two parts, US and Europe with a comparative approach. In the first section of the thesis, the specialization and concentration variables of US will be computed and ranked by taking 1974 as base year in order to observe the evolution since then for each category and subcategory of sectors. The trends of those variables along the time horizon as well as the correlation to other variables are explained for the top 4 and top 10 MSAs. Moreover, the significance of those variables is tested in order to verify the reliability of the results.<br>(cont.) In the second section, previously selected nine major cities in Europe are selected according to the criteria of availability of continuous data along the time period, level of the finance employment and total employment levels. Although the detailed data related to subcategories of the finance industry were not available, the value added measures of financial industry shed light on productivity measures at each city level. The outcomes of the two studies is compared and contrasted and the reasons of the deviations are investigated. Therefore, the study is also a gateway to project what trends may be expected in the future.<br>by Pinar Boyar and Onur Celen.<br>S.M.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is accepted that financial sector development contributes to economic growth, equality and poverty alleviation. Economic development in many developing economies is constrained by the failure of financial markets to provide appropriate financial services products to enable these economies to address structural transformation and enable sustainable economic growth. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have emerged as an effective institutional vehicle to provide financial services to support the development and financing needs of market segments, particularly in developing economies, which the commercial financial sector is unable or unwilling to serve. DFIs provide financing to markets with a perceived high investment risk by developing appropriately structured innovative financing solutions and risk mitigation instruments needed to address the infrastructure and development financing gaps within these economies. DFIs are able to address commercial financial market failure by providing financing to support long-term private sector investment in infrastructure, financing products that service high-risk market sectors that lack collateral and financing to support public sector efforts to provide adequate social and economic infrastructure in countries with a high-risk investment rating. Specialist advisory skills are a critical resource that DFIs deploy to identify, package and finance sustainable and bankable solutions to support transformative growth. For DFIs to operate optimally they need to implement an integrated loan approval process that enables effective investment decision-making. By deploying specialist advisory services at each stage of the investment value chain, DFIs comply with international best practice standards, package development finance solutions to meet potential clients’ needs and ensure financial sustainability. An extensive literature review on DFI practice revealed that the predominant literature on DFIs focuses on the mandate and governance relationships within these institutions. This research assignment addressed the gap in available DFI literature. The research assignment aimed to build on the available literature on DFI investment decision-making and to contribute to the body of knowledge of the DFI investment value chain. The research assignment focused on DFI operations and investment decision-making procedures and considered how DFIs deploy specialist advisory services to enhance the application of an integrated loan approval process, mitigate investment risk and enable the optimal allocation of scarce resources to enhance sustainable development. The assignment identified the various institutional approaches and methodologies DFIs adopt to utilise specialist advisory services and identified the challenges, opportunities and limitations within the process. Chapter 1 introduces the key themes addressed in the research assignment. Chapter 2 provides a literature review of DFI practice and application of best practice considerations in investment decision-making. Chapter 3 details the research methodology deployed to conclude the research assignment. Chapter 4 addresses the research findings emanating from a case study analysis of the specialist advisory services deployed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Land Bank of South Africa. The assignment concludes with findings and recommendations. The research assignment found that limited investigation has been conducted on the operational execution of specialist advisory services within the investment value chain. Specialist advisory services provide DFIs with a key resource to assist in assessing potential loan applications in ensuring that clients meet mandate criteria to qualify for DFI loan applications, assist in assessing whether clients meet investment standards, and ensure that financially sustainable transactions are supported. To enhance DFI practice, further research is required to unpack the various investment modules applied within the investment value chain.

Within the flourishing area of new economic geography, increased attention is currently being paid to a variety of 'alternative' sources of credit and finance. As one of these forms, British credit unions are currently particularly 'sexy'. One reason for this status relates to increasing interest (both within the academy and outside) in the role(s) credit unions can play in relieving the effects of financial exclusion and poverty throughout Britain. In the context of the growing concerns of 'New Labour' about these issues, credit unions are progressively being posited as one route to a more inclusive society, both in social and economic terms. However, through an analysis that positions credit unions as 'civil', embodied, institutions in the specific context of their development in Kingston upon Hull, this thesis proposes that the achievement of such a goal is not a straightforward issue. This work questions the extent to which British credit unions have historically contributed towards financial inclusion, finding that such evidence remains partial and somewhat underlain by a 'faith' in the merits of the credit union model. As a consequence, it emphasises that in taking the route to a more financially included society through increased usage of credit unions, a number of barriers to their development and growth will have to be surmounted. These barriers are highlighted within this work through an exploration of a prevailing credit union discourse, which draws attention to the linkages between the structural features of the British credit union environment, and the manifestations of these features within localities such as Hull. In so doing, it concludes by outlining a number of challenges and changes facing the British movement that are reflective of a growing awareness of these barriers and their effects. It is argued that these features will broadly affect (and effect) the contribution made by credit unions within a more (financially) inclusive society in the years to come.

Thesis (MDF (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die langtermynversekeringsindustrie het voorheen slegs finansiële produkte en dienste ontwerp, wat gefokus was op die middel tot hoër inkomstegroepe. Die armes was dus uitgesluit, primêr as gevolg van die laer inkomstegroepe wat nie lewensversekeringsprodukte kon bekostig nie. Inteendeel, arm huishoudings is, en was, meer kwesbaar vanweë die feit dat hulle geredelik blootgestel word aan meer diverse risiko’s – mensgemaakte, sowel as natuurlike risiko’s - terwyl hulle juis diegene is wat minder middele het om dit bestuur. Hierdie toedrag van sake het egter drasties verander gedurende die afgelope paar jaar. Die onderskeie partye, insluitend verteenwoordigers van die langtermynversekeringsindustrie, het konsensus bereik ten opsigte van die ontwikkeling van die Finansiële Sektor Handves wat in ooreenstemming is met die nasionale swart ekonomiese bemagtigingstrategie. Die oogmerk van die Finansiële Sektor Handves was nie net om mense in die laer inkomstegroepe te bemagtig nie. Dit het ook ten doel om finansiële insluiting te verseker, en mettertyd, die aktiewe deelname van die armes in die hoofstroom van die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie. ’n Stel toegangstandaarde was gevolglik ontwikkel en geïmplementeer, wat die langtermynversekerings-produkaanbiedinge aan LSM 1-5 reguleer (met ander woorde vir die doeleindes van hierdie verslag, huishoudings wat minder as R3 000 per maand verdien). Die doel van die standaarde wat ontleed word in hierdie verslag, is om te verseker dat die langtermynversekeringsindustrie geskikte produkte ontwerp wat die minimum standaarde soos beskryf in die Finansiële Sektor Handves, nakom. In beginsel word die toepaslikheid en geskiktheid van die toegangstandaarde in hierdie verslag geëvalueer, met die oogmerk om te bepaal wat die standaarde inhou vir beide die verbruiker asook die lewensversekeraar van ’n verslaggewingsperspektief. Die eerste deel van die toegangstandaarde wat goedgekeur is deur die Finansiële Sektor Handves in 2007, het slegs begrafnisdekking ingesluit, terwyl die tweede deel gefokus het op nie-begafnisprodukte en sedert 2008 geïmplementeer is. Laasgenoemde het die volgende dekking ingesluit: lewensversekering, dekking vir fisiese ongeskiktheid, kredietlewensversekering en gewone lewensversekering. Die toegangstandaarde wat van toepassing is op verbandlenings is egter nog nie gefinaliseer nie en is gevolglik nie ingesluit in hierdie verslag nie. ’n Fundamentele vraag ten opsigte van die daarstelling van toegangsprodukte vir die laer inkomstegroepe, is wat die rol is van die publiek vergeleke met die privaatsektor en dié van die regering. Terwyl die regering optree as die wetgewer, moet dit ook daarteen waak om nie te veel van ’n rigiede proses vir die privaatsektor daar te stel nie. Die wetgewer moet die relevante reëls en regulasies stipuleer en sekerheid verskaf ten opsigte van die inhoud daarvan. Terselfdetyd moet die wetgewer ook die privaatsektor asook `n klimaat van innovasie ondersteun, sowel as die daarstelling van ’n stabiele regulerende atmosfeer. Behalwe die ontwikkeling van geskikte, bekostigbare en minder komplekse produkte, berus die verantwoordelikheid op die privaatsektor om vertroue te skep in die langtermynversekerings-industrie asook om die noodsaaklikheid van risiko-dekking te propageer. Versekeraars het verder nodig om die laer inkomstegroepe as ’n winsgewende segment te beskou, terwyl die armes versekering as ’n noodsaaklike vereiste moet beskou. Hoe meer vertroue geskep word deur die versekeringsindustrie, hoe minder sal mense in die laer inkomstegroepe hul geld belê in die informele sektor wat gekenmerk word deur die afwesigheid van regulering, minder sekuriteit en hoër risikos. Dit is verder noodsaaklik vir die sukses van die verskaffing van toegang tot finansiële produkte, om in gedagte te hou watter impak dit op die verbuiker sal hê. Met betrekking tot die produkte wat ontwikkel en bemark word deur die lewensversekeringsindustrie: spreek dit werklik die behoeftes van die laer inkomstegroepe aan en dra dit positief by tot transformasie? Die privaatsektor is as gevolg daarvan grotendeels afhanklik van marknavorsing en analises oor verbuikerstendense gemeet oor tyd. Die impak wat finansiële produkaanbiedinge het op die laer inkomstegroepe, kan gevolglik nie onafhanklik beskou word nie want die behoeftes, verwagtinge en profiel van die onderste deel van die piramide sal met verloop van tyd verander. Mededinging dra as sulks ook positief by tot die daarstelling van toegang tot finansiële produkte en dienste. Dit dwing die privaatsektor (die lewensversekeringsmaatskappye) om vorendag te kom met innoverende wyses om effektiewe toegangsprodukte en dienste te kan lewer aan die armes. Die bring mee dat die verbruiker waarde vir geld kry wanneer finansiële produkte en dienste aangekoop word van lewensversekeraars. Met verwysing na die toepaslikheid van die langtermynversekeringsindustrie se toegangstandaarde en of dit die behoeftes van die armes bevredig: die lewensversekeringsindustrie het inderdaad baie bereik gedurende die afgelope paar jaar, deurdat konstruktiewe geleenthede geskep is vir die laer inkomstemark. Gegewe die minimum-vereistes soos uiteengesit in die Finansiële Sektor Handves, kan die armes nou ook langtermynversekeringsprodukte bekom wat uitdagings soos fisiese beskikbaarheid, toegang tot transaksies, bekostigbaarheid, diskriminasie en kompleksitiet aanspreek. Dit is daarom noodsaaklik vir die doeleindes van effektiewe finansiële insluiting, om vir verbruikersopleiding ook voorsiening te kan maak. Finansiële geletterdheid sal in beginsel die laer inkomstegroepe in staat stel om hulself te kan bemagtig en terselfdertyd die teikengroep in staat stel om meer ingeligte besluite te kan neem ten opsigte van hul finansies. Laasgenoemde kan egter nie in isolasie geskied nie. Finansiële geletterheid en dus verbruikersopleiding, is minstens net so belangrik. Dit is juis daarom dat, bo en behalwe die regering wat die rol as wetgewer vertolk deur die toepassing van die reg, al die betrokke partye veronderstel is om ’n gemeenskaplike oogmerk te hê. Met ander woorde, dit verwys direk na transformasie en die doelwit om mense in die laer inkomstegroepe te bemagtig – nie net om finansiële insluiting te bewerkstelling nie, maar van meer belang, om te verseker dat die armes oor die vermoë beskik om meer ingeligte besluite te kan neem oor hul finansies. Hierdie aspek sal veral bydra tot effektiewe toegang tot finansële dienste in die ware sin van die woord - as die armes ’toegelaat’ word om meer aktief deel te kan vorm van die hoofstroom van die land se ekonomie.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Previously, the long-term insurance industry only developed financial products and services that were mainly targeted at the middle to high income groups. The poor have thus been excluded, primarily due to them not being able to afford financial products and services offered by life insurers. However, poor households are, and have been, more vulnerable because they are often exposed to more diverse risks, both ‘man- made’ and natural, whilst having fewer instruments to manage them. This state of affairs has drastically changed during the past couple of years. The respective stakeholders, including representatives from the long-term insurance industry, reached consensus with regards to the development of the Financial Sector Charter which is aligned to the national black economic empowerment strategy. The objective of the Financial Sector Charter is not only to empower people in the lower income groups. It also aims to ensure financial inclusion and, eventually, the active participation of the poor in the mainstream of the South African economy. A set of access standards that governs life insurance products and services offered to LSM 1-5 (i.e. for the purposes of this report, households earning less than R3 000 per month), were developed and implemented accordingly. The objective of the access standards, analysed in this report, is to ensure that the long term insurance industry develops appropriate products that meet the minimum standards defined in the Charter. In principle, this report evaluates the feasibility of the access standards with the aim of ascertaining what the standards imply for both the consumer as well as the life insurer from a reporting perspective. The first set of access standards, approved by the Financial Sector Charter in 2007, included funeral products only, whereas the second phase, which focused on nonfuneral products, came into effect in 2008. The latter is applicable to the following financial products: life cover, physical impairment cover and credit life cover. The access products standards relevant to mortgage protection are not yet finalised and have therefore been excluded from this report. A fundamental question in terms of providing access to the low income groups is the role of the public versus private sector delivery as well as that of government. Whilst government acts as the lawmaker, it also needs to be sensitive towards not creating too much ‘red tape’ for the private sector to comply with. The regulator should therefore stipulate and clarify the relevant rules and regulations, but at the same time support the private sector and encourage a climate of innovation as well as creating a stable regulatory environment. Apart from developing appropriate, affordable and less complex insurance products, the private sector’s responsibility is to create trust in the insurance industry as well as to promote the need for risk insurance. Insurers thus need to see low income earners as a profitable segment, whereas poor people need to see insurance as a necessity. The more trust is created by the insurance sector, fewer people in the low income groups will invest their money in the informal sector which entails no regulation, less security and higher risks. It is furthermore pivotal for the success of access to financial services to take into account how this will impact on the consumer. With respect to the products developed and marketed by the life insurance industry: does it really meet the needs of the poor and does it contribute positively to transformation? The private sector is therefore heavily dependent on research and analyses of consumer trends measured over time. As a result, the impact that financial product offerings have on the low income earners cannot be dealt with on its own, because as time passes so will the needs, expectations and profile of the bottom of the pyramid change. On its own, competition tends to also contribute positively towards access to financial services. It forces the private sector (i.e. life insurance companies) to come up with innovative ways of providing effective access, products and services to the poor. This ensures that the end user gets value for money, when procuring financial products and /or services from life insurers. In respect of the viability of the long-term insurance industry’s access standards and whether or not it speaks to the needs of the poor: the life industry has indeed achieved a lot over the past couple of years, by creating constructive opportunities for the lower end of the market. Given the minimum requirements as per the Financial Sector Charter, poor people can now also obtain long-term insurance products that address challenges with regards to physical accessibility, transactional access, affordability, non-discrimination and the level of complexity. However, more important for the low income group to participate effectively in the mainstream of the South African economy, is the fact that the need for financial literacy is even bigger. It is one thing to have the right of entry (i.e. access) to the financial services sector in terms of life insurance product offerings, but it is different if that same target audience does not have the ‘know-how’ to use and implement the products developed. It is hence an imperative for the purposes of effective financial inclusion to also make provision for consumer education. In principle, financial literacy will enable the lower income groups to become more empowered and at the same time, ensure that the target audience is equipped to make more informed decisions about the finances. Given the latter, it can however not happen in isolation. Financial literacy and thus consumer education, is equally important - if not more. It is therefore critical that, apart from government fulfilling its role as regulator by upholding the rule of law, all the stakeholders should have a universal goal. In other words, this directly addresses transformation and the objective of empowering people in the lower income groups – i.e. not only to ensure financial inclusion, but more importantly to enable poor people to make more informed decisions about their finances. And only this will contribute to effective transformation in the true sense of the word - if poor people are ‘allowed’ to become more actively involved in the mainstream of the South African economy.

The debate about the influence of financial market development on economic growth has been ongoing for more than a century. Since Schumpeter (1912) wrote about the happenings on Lombard Street, right up to the economists of today, there is growing interest into how financial market development affects economic activity and hence economic growth. With economic growth gaining prominence in respect of development discourse, inquiry into the finance-growth nexus has grown rapidly. The latest advances of the finance-growth nexus show a positive relationship between financial market development and economic growth. In this regard, little research has been done globally pertaining to most recent economic developments, especially concerning the BRICS economies. This research investigates the influence of financial market development on emerging economies, BRICS and non-BRICS and to determine whether the openness of financial markets in BRICS economies contributed to higher growth trajectories compared to their non-BRICS counterparts. The research utilises the Generalised Method of Moments and an extended endogenous growth model to estimate the influence of a set of financial market indicators. The study found that higher levels of credit to the private sector and financial depth in the BRICS economies contributed to the higher levels of economic growth experienced in the BRICS compared to non-BRICs emerging economies.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There is general consensus that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) play a formidable role in contributing to employment creation, domestic and export earnings, and poverty reduction (OECD, 2004). They are therefore extremely important to the development of nations (particularly developing countries), as they constitute the bulk of economic contributors outside of agriculture (OECD, 2004). However, SMEs face a number of challenges as they work to realise these important contributions. Aside from the financial constraints that often mar the success rate of SMEs, several non-financial factors hinder their development and their ability to contribute to national development. Non-financial issues include access to markets, technology and training; sectoral support, business networking, and access to information and advice (Thomas, 2003). Based on the important role that SMEs play in developing economies, however, it is crucial that they receive the support needed to help them to succeed, through the provision of business development services. While the financial aspect of SME success is important, their non-financial needs should also be addressed to ensure the holistic survival of SMEs (European Commission, 2009). The role and development of adequate non-financial business development services to either complement financial resources, or to mitigate the lack thereof, is therefore imperative (International Finance Corporation, 2010). This research report explores the gap that currently exists between the financial and non-financial business development services that exist for SMEs in Namibia; and analyses how non-financial services can be enhanced and marketed, to complement financial services that currently exist, and of which SMEs are aware. The report assesses how SMEs can become better aware of, and best utilise business development services to promote their growth objectives. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of SMEs and Business Development Services (BDS) providers in Namibia is conducted, using a survey and questionnaire, and drawing on a literature review. Finally, the report provides a set of recommendations, based on international best practices, of business development instruments needed to transform the SME sector to promote long term sustainability. This research report finds that SMEs need to become better aware and make use of non-financial BDS support to realize the growth objectives of their businesses. The researcher recommends that government and NGOs streamline their support of BDS providers, to being more facilitative and less prescriptive. Additionally, it is recommended that incubation centres adopt best practices in terms of incubator creation, process and performance assessment; that sectoral support and industrial clusters for technical-know-how is promoted; and that BDS suppliers provide context-specific training in order to enhance the effects of training provided. Further recommendations include the promotion of BDS to the general public to increase awareness of the importance of these services; the harnessing of BDS in Namibia’s financial institutions for a more complementary approach; and the formation of a National SME Agency to oversee and facilitate the effective provision of business development services.

Thesis (MDF (Development Finance))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.<br>Financial Services Associations (FSAs) have been established in Sierra Leone as a new form of shareholder-owned village bank since 2007, as part of an ongoing IFAD programme to assist the development of rural finance. This research report is a case study examining the viability of the FSA concept in the Sierra Leonean context, particularly with reference to previous research findings in other countries in Africa, and it includes a field survey within the communities and amongst the staff and board members of the FSAs. The findings of the study reveal a wide acceptance amongst the village communities of both the structure of the institutions and the products and services that they are capable of offering. There was no evidence of the abuse of their positions by the members of the boards with regard to their own loans and repayments, as had been reported in other studies. However, there is a pressing need for further staff training and sensitisation of the communities regarding their rights as shareholders. There is also a need for further injections of capital, and the study recommends the introduction of a wide range of additional products and services and the establishment of links with other financial institutions, such as community banks and commercial banks. It was found that there are considerable demands on IFAD’s management unit that is responsible for the FSAs. These demands are growing as the number of FSAs increases, and it is recommended that this unit be strengthened before continuing its expansion programme, to enable it to consolidate its strengths before its activities are dispersed too widely.

This thesis reports a study examining how the corporate centres of UK financial services companies involve themselves in product development in constituent businesses. Herein lies a key challenge for corporate managers - deciding on the appropriate balance between corporate nvolvement and granting autonomy to business units. Analysis of 16 businesses in large UK banks, building societies and insurers shows that in successful product development businesses the corporate centre becomes more intensely involved than in less successful businesses. In addition to providing expert product development advice, a corporate centre can provide leadership in the agreement of objectives based on a long-term vision of market opportunities. The results show that successful businesses are helped by their corporate centres to capitalize more fully on their entrepreneurial efforts. This is so particularly when businesses are allowed autonomy in performing operational tasks. Less successful product development businesses, on the other hand, are distinguished from winners by a distinctly different type of corporate involvement which at the extreme amount to unnecessary meddling in their affairs.

Magister Legum - LLM<br>The purpose of this research is to examine the legal and institutional framework of financial services supervision and regulation in SADC. In doing so the study will probe the various models of financial services regulation with the purpose of discerning what each model sets out to do and how, in doing so, it effectively exercises its function. This study answers the question: Is there a model of financial services regulation and supervision that is legally sound and best embraces SADC’s circumstances? The legal soundness will be extracted by examining which model achieves the main objectives of independence and accountability to the greatest extent. The first objective of the study is to discuss the structure and operations of each of the identified primary models of financial services regulation with the aim of determining whether certain cardinal administrative law principles are upheld. Secondly, it then takes a practical look at how the primary models are applied and effectively work within some of the SADC Member States. Similarly, the study’s main focus will be to discern whether the financial services regulation models are ‘tangible’ when country dynamics are introduced. Thereafter, the study reconnoitres the possibility of SADC adopting a ‘harmonised’ financial services regulator and supervisor. It is worth noting that ideal as it may be; the author has no intention of prescribing one of the primary models but merely uses them as a springboard to ascertaining the viability of a single financial services regulator and supervisor in SADC. The objective is to assess how best SADC can deepen its integration levels in this area of concern. The ultimate result may very well be that such deeper relations are not feasible or that different components from the primary models be adopted to make SADC’s ‘unique’ model of financial services regulation and supervision.

The combined environmental effects of technological change, increasing competition, new legislation and increasingly demanding consumers have created pressure within the financial services industry for change. One outcome has been a proliferation of new products in the marketplace. This research explores new product development within one subset of this industry -- building societies. By combining the new product development, service marketing and financial services literature, a foundation has been developed for an empirical study into the development practices and the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful new products. The determinants of success and failure for new product development have been examined utilizing a comparative methodology, and subsequently a discriminant model has been developed that successfully classifies successful and unsuccessful new products. By determining how new products are actually developed, the findings support previous claims that intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability do have an effect on the development process. Further, the level of sophistication of the development activities is lower than in previously reported research. Notable variations from the development process for tangible new products are the inclusion of system design, system testing and personnel training stages. The majority of societies have been found to lack strategic integration of the development process, to apply different measures of success and to prefer qualitative market research techniques over quantitative approaches. As well, considerable variation exists in the organizational approaches used to manage the process, although organizational related variables were found to have a strong impact upon the predictability of a successful outcome for a new product.

The combined environmental effects of technological change, increasing competition, new legislation and increasingly demanding consumers have created pressure within the financial services industry for change. One outcome has been a proliferation of new products in the marketplace. This research explores new product development within one subset of this industry -- building societies. By combining the new product development, service marketing and financial services literature, a foundation has been developed for an empirical study into the development practices and the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful new products. The determinants of success and failure for new product development have been examined utilizing a comparative methodology, and subsequently a discriminant model has been developed that successfully classifies successful and unsuccessful new products. By determining how new products are actually developed, the findings support previous claims that intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability do have an effect on the development process. Further, the level of sophistication of the development activities is lower than in previously reported research. Notable variations from the development process for tangible new products are the inclusion of system design, system testing and personnel training stages. The majority of societies have been found to lack strategic integration of the development process, to apply different measures of success and to prefer qualitative market research techniques over quantitative approaches. As well, considerable variation exists in the organizational approaches used to manage the process, although organizational related variables were found to have a strong impact upon the predictability of a successful outcome for a new product.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2008.<br>A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Business, School of Economics and Finance, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references.

Cette thèse s’intéresse aux effets macroéconomiques du développement financier sur la vulnérabilité dans l’emploi dans les pays émergeants et en développement. Dans le premier chapitre, nous montrons que l’accès au crédit et les inégalités de revenu augmentent le travail des enfants surtout dans les pays à forte inégalité ou à faible revenu. Ce résultat indique que les parents tendent à investir leur crédit dans des projets qui accroissent le coût d’opportunité de l’éducation et le bénéfice attendu du travail des enfants. Ainsi, nous démontrons qu’un meilleur contrôle de la corruption permet d’améliorer l’efficacité du développement financier ainsi que des dépenses d’éducation en vue de réduire le travail des enfants. Cela passe notamment par une amélioration de la qualité de l’éducation. Dans le second chapitre, nous démontrons qu’un meilleur accès aux services financiers ainsi qu’une réduction des contraintes en termes d’utilisation de ces produits réduit la proportion de travailleurs pauvres. Cet effet est plus important en cas d’instabilité macroéconomique. De plus, ce meilleur accès bénéficie également aux non pauvres qui étaient précédemment exclus, ces derniers étant plus à même d’investir et de réduire indirectement la proportion de travailleurs pauvres via une croissance plus forte. Les résultats du troisième chapitre suggèrent qu’aussi bien le développement financier et les transferts de fonds des migrants peuvent limiter la prolifération du secteur informel. Cependant, ils tendent à être substituts, avec notamment un faible niveau de développement financier initial qui est compensé par l’utilisation des transferts de fonds. Finalement dans le chapitre 4, nous passons en revue des produits financiers flexibles et innovants qui pourraient permettre aux plus vulnérables de mieux faire face aux chocs. Nos résultats suggèrent que ces produits doivent être conçus de manière à offrir dans un premier temps des produits d’épargne en supprimant notamment les frais d’ouverture de compte. Leur utilisation devrait permettre de produire de l’information sur les emprunteurs notamment sur la base de l’historique des versements et leur fréquence. Ainsi en cas de choc, l’épargne accumulée peut servir de garantie pour le prêt complété si nécessaire par des produits d’assurance. Le « mobile banking » peut également servir pour la diffusion des produits flexibles et dans une plus large mesure de support pour accroître le niveau de bancarisation, vu le nombre croissant de personnes utilisant le téléphone portable<br>This thesis explored the macroeconomic effects of financial development on the most vulnerable workers in developing and emerging countries. Chapter one focuses on child labor. Our results suggest that child labor is positively associated to financial development and inequality particularly in countries with high level of income inequalities and low level of income. In fact, with access to credit, households tend to invest in productive activities which increase the opportunity cost of education and the returns from child labor. Hence, we demonstrate that a better control of corruption makes financial development as well as education spending more effective in reducing child labor by improving education quality. In the second chapter, we show that more bank branches and limiting barriers to use financial services reduce the proportion of working poor. This result is more relevant in countries hit by macroeconomic shocks and a better access to financial services also benefits to the excluded non-poor who can in turn invest and reduce poverty. In the third chapter, we find that both financial development and remittances tend to reduce the spread of the shadow economy by channelling funds to the more productive activities. Moreover, they tend to be substitutes, indicating that households rely on remittances in countries with low level of financial development. Finally, chapter four reviews innovative flexible financial products which can be used to help the more vulnerable to manage shocks. Our results suggest that, first barriers to open saving and checking accounts (like opening fees) need to be suppressed in order to increase the use of these services, generating more information on potential borrowers on the basis of the history and frequency of payments. Then, accumulated savings can be used as collateral for loan supplemented by insurance services. Mobile banking could also serve as support for flexible financial services.Keywords: Financial development, financial services; child labor, decent work, vulnerability, informal sector shadow economy, underground economy, institutions, inequality, working poverty, developing countries, trickle-down effect, remittances, microfinance, flexibility, discipline, risk, shocks, index-based insurance, combined products

Includes abstract.<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>The concept of leadership is diverse and complex. Organisations that strive to be successful often turn to their leaders to drive efficiency and performance and to create a competitive advantage using human capital. There has been a noticeable shift in the past decade with regards to what constitutes an excellent leader. The most effective leaders are more focused on people than on outcomes, and are committed to the wellbeing and satisfaction of employees. The South African business environment has somewhat influenced the way organisations operate. Changing legislation and an ethnically diverse workplace means that leaders have to be equipped to manage change and transformation. This adds to the skill set that an effective leader should possess. Given the ever-changing nature of the business environment, there is pressure on leaders to remain charismatic and adaptable, and to ensure the same for their teams. The Leadership Development Programme evaluated as part of this research was implemented at a leading asset management organisation in Cape Town, South Africa. The programme was developed internally and has been in existence for six years. Although the programme is viewed in a positive light, these opinions are mostly based on perceptions, rather than research; and therefore the evaluation effectiveness. The programme aims to increase the leadership knowledge, skills and abilities of the participants and in turn create excellent leaders who are capable of driving organisational efficiency and performance.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African financial sector is developed by world standards, surpassing those of other emerging and developed countries. However, despite all this development in the financial sector, the country has low levels of savings. This contradicts some of the available literature which explains the link between financial development and savings. Based on this background, the study empirically examines the relationship between financial development and savings mobilization in South Africa, employing the Johansen cointegration test for the period 1980 to 2012. Based on the lifecycle hypothesis, a model linking savings and its determinants was specified. The empirical results revealed that there is a long-term relationship between savings and the other variables used in the model. The different measures which were employed to measure financial development were found to be positive and significant, implying that financial sector development impacts positively on savings. An interesting observation from the empirical results is the negative relationship between the rate of interest and savings which implies that South Africans are net borrowers as the income effect surpasses the substitution effect. This in part explains the low levels of savings being experienced by the country since an increase in the rate of interest results in people paying more to service their debt and hence a reduction in savings.

Business-IT alignment has been a top research topic for three decades now and consistently ranks high on CIO priorities and concerns. In spite of its seeming advantages, sustainable business-IT alignment remains elusive in practice. This can be attributed to the language and knowledge gaps which impede mutual understanding between business and IT stakeholders. It can also be attributed to the limitations imposed by approaching alignment solely from a strategic perspective. This thesis argues for an ontology-based framework that bridges the language and knowledge gaps through closer interaction between business and IT stakeholders throughout the software development and project management lifecycles, especially at the requirements engineering stage. Attempts at achieving sustainable business-IT alignment predominantly focus on strategic alignment and have not been successful for various reasons. Firstly, driving down alignment initiatives to the operational and tactical levels is challenging. Secondly, it is difficult to operationalize the metrics used for evaluating alignment maturity at strategic levels. These limitations are less pronounced at the functional levels of an organization. It is at these levels that business strategies are executed and interaction between business and IT personnel is most frequent. The interaction between business and IT stakeholders in the execution of IT projects presents an opportunity that can be leveraged to drive alignment maturity. The proposed framework is discussed in terms of its underpinning hypotheses, workflows, tool design and implementation, its use with a third party framework and tool. Antecedents to operational and tactical alignment such as quality, reuse, communication, learning, and shared understanding, are proposed as a practical means of achieving sustainable alignment maturity. The framework is applied to real world, business-critical projects in a top global financial services organization and validated using descriptive statistical analysis and structural equation modelling techniques. Contributions made through the study are highlighted. This includes the Alignment Forces Model which unifies the proposed framework and its support tool within software development and project management lifecycles. The Alignment Forces model and how it can be applied in practice is presented. Results of the quantitative data analyses indicate support for the arguments for the framework towards improving business-IT alignment, however with some limitations. Results also indicate support for the hypotheses for the antecedents to sustainable alignment maturity at lower organizational levels put forward. Finally, suggestions on furthering the study, addressing its limitations, and refining the framework and tool are articulated.

Just as the Internet did before, mobile information technology (IT) is radically changing the way we interact with the world. Already there have been many innovative applications of this technology based on the unique attributes of mobiles. IT companies and IT service providers rely on meaningful and provable information about the influence of technical possibilities and the views of IT experts on consumer needs. The purpose and objectives of this research are to investigate the influence of mobile IT solution design and architecture on consumer behaviour related to a specific business area – the German financial market and services industry. The main research question was: “What shapes the development of mobile IT applications?” In thisresearch, the focus was on the technical context; that means the key drivers of the technological development, as they are named (in alphabetical order): efficiency, engagement, flexibility, security, simplicity, and visibility. The literature review identifiedthe factors influencing technology development and related these to the consumer behaviour theory. The research methodology is based on the phenomenological approach in which the ‘lived' experiences were described from the perspectives of interviewees'. Qualitative data were gathered related to the key drivers to understand what kind of influence factors are taking effect. Based on the assumption that IT experts will provideessential and significant inputs regarding the technical aspects, 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted. From the in-depth expert interviews, the key elements (variables) were determined and a conceptual framework was evolved with respect to literature and with the aim of answering the research question. Based on the findings from field data, the framework forms a foundation for a retrospective analysis to study the influence factors and to emerge remarkably consistent patterns that influence the development of mobile solutions. Furthermore,the proposed framework provides the basis to describe the effect of technological development on an existing information system theory. The thesis closes the gap left by the lack of a technical point of view in recent literature. This research identified consumer opinions and behaviours from the perspective of IT experts with regard to the perceived values and usability of mobile IT. The contribution to practice is that this study will bring together the technical viewpointand the viewpoints of consumers. In addition, this study will provide a set of recommendations to clarify interactions between the architecture and design of mobile IT and the consumer behaviour.

The dissertation examines catching up in labor productivity across countries and across US states. It also studies the role of financial development and inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) on labor productivity and structural change. Chapter one studies unconditional convergence in labor productivity in cross section of countries. Using disaggregated service sector data for 101 countries, we find unconditional convergence in labor productivity for the service sector. The aggregate service sector yields a large unconditional convergence coefficient of -0.028, while for individual sub-sectors we find a similar presence of unconditional convergence. Since the service sector, as part of the "modern" sector now also faces international competition, unconditional convergence in labor productivity in this sector is not totally unwarranted. Given Rodrik's recent findings of unconditional convergence in labor productivity in the manufacturing sector (2013) and the observed failure of unconditional convergence of per capita GDP, our findings of unconditional convergence in the service sector suggest that we need to look carefully at methodological issues such as "aggregation bias" and the huge divergence of other sectors such as the agricultural sector as a potential solution to this anomaly. In chapter two, we investigate secoral unconditional convergence in labor productivity in the US sates using two series of data sets for the period 1987-1997 and 1998-2013. We have found evidence for catching up in labor productivity in the US states for the majority sectors. There is no evidence for unconditional convergence for the mining sector in 1-digit classification for 1980-1997 and manufacturing and utilities sectors in 2-digit classification for the recent data (1998-2013). The aggregate per capita GDP convergence test shows evidence for convergence for the 1980-1997 data but no evidence for convergence in the recent data consistent with the existing literature. The same factors that were considered responsible for regional convergence in the US, such as migration and falling cost of education, could work in the opposite direction to cause divergence in per capita income in recent years. Chapter three considers the relationship between financial development, inflow of foreign direct investment, labor productivity and structural change variables for 41 countries in Groningen Growth and Development 10-sector database for the period 1971-2012 using panel-VAR methodology. The effect of financial development on total labor productivity and employment share in sectors depend on the income level and geographical locations. We find that financial development has a significantly positive effect on total labor productivity of high income European countries, the United States, and for middle income Latin American counties. We do not find evidence for the positive effect of financial development on labor productivity for low income and middle income countries except for Latin American countries. The result does not show a significant effect of financial development on sectoral employment and value added shares. Inflow of FDI has a statistically significant negative effect on employment share of agriculture in middle income countries, and positive effect on the employment share of the manufacturing sector in middle income Asian countries.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.<br>Perhaps the African equivalent to the industrial revolution is the mobile revolution we’ve witnessed over the past decade. Specifically the innovation and extraordinary growth of mobile money, mobile technology platforms and ongoing service offerings to millions of otherwise mostly precluded people. The potential for these technologies coupled with latent untapped user demand across sub-Saharan Africa to catalyse investment, crowd in competition and financial service providers and as a result push financial inclusion through access and use, is vast. Link these reasons with the ever sought after global demand for ‘increase in shareholder value’ and it can easily be seen why mobile operators are continuously expanding, partnering with banks and predominantly expanding in emerging and frontier markets in sub-Saharan Africa. This research report explores MTN MobileMoney in Uganda as the case in point; possibly one of the most exciting and rapidly growing platforms in Africa. The research reveals that whilst profitable, it is a very competitive business with tight margins. Continuous education is critical if people from all walks of life are truly to benefit and scale is to be reached to make it even more profitable when servicing the ‘unbanked’ and bottom of the pyramid. Uganda and other countries too, should think strategically about introducing national identity documents, or equivalent, to ensure they maximise the potential ease and reach of technology that can have real and relevant development benefits to people – especially the under-served and poor. Not doing so merely serves as disadvantageous. Broader benefits of mobile money and mobile transactions go far beyond purely the individual user, and include the country’s economy as a whole, providing convenience to corporate as well as small businesses and individuals – the anywhere, anytime factors. Benefits accrue to businesses, and to government, in terms of cost efficiencies and paying large numbers of staff, increased safety and security in a less cash dependent economy. There is significant local and international demand for innovation and new product offerings, driving mobile operators globally and in emerging and frontier markets in particular. There are a number of key factors that make mobile money a commercial success; it’s not just about churn reduction. These factors are explained and explored in this research report. Specifically when data was gathered from MobileMoney users there were no immediate or unexpected surprises. However, what was striking and reassuring was the positive attitude and experience of users, as well as what appears to be latent demand for more services and users’ trust in MTN to provide these.

Today problems exist with how the leases are recognized in public companies that uses the IFRS. The liability to make lease payments is not recognized as a liability in the balance sheet even though it should according to the current lease accounting standard. There are two different classifications of leases, financial and operational, where the latter means that the liability to make lease payment does not end up in the balance sheet. Today many lease contracts are tailored to be classified as operational to avoid the liability on the balance sheet. The problem described above has for long been known and the international accounting organisations, IASB and FASB, have been working on a solution to the problem for many years. The project’s completion in form of a new standard has been postponed several times and it is currently scheduled for the earliest to entry into service during 2013. This thesis aims at investigating the IASB’s and FASB’s joint project to solve the lease accounting problem and its effects on the Swedish commercial real estate market. The approach adopted in this thesis is to examine the available literature about the problem and the project and to conduct interviews with expert in the field and possible future stakeholder that will be affected. The conclusions of the thesis are that the effects due to the project will mainly be for the lessee and then indirectly for the lessor. The lessees will try to find solutions like shorter leases to avoid the biggest effects of the new standard but to what extent they will avoid these remains uncertain. The lessor will most likely see a higher demand for shorter leases that will increase the risk in the lessors business. This will probably cause higher rental prices for listed companies.

Small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) can promote the sustainable use of forested ecosystems, while also contributing to the livelihoods of forest-dependent people. SMFEs often face several challenges that threaten their ability to develop and grow, therefore, they usually require support in: reforming the Business Environment (BE), accessing Business Development Services (BDSs), and obtaining Financial Services (FSs). According to the literature, in The Gambia, the environment for community forestry has improved and communities have received training for developing sustainable SMFEs. Nevertheless, more information is needed about the challenges facing these enterprises, especially with regard to their access to FSs. This qualitative research had three objectives: 1) identify the opportunities and limiting factors facing SMFEs regarding the BE of The Gambia; 2) determine the opportunities and constraints of SMFEs concerning their business development and their need for BDSs; and 3) evaluate the accessibility to FSs for SMFEs, and determine strategies to improve the delivery of these services. A multiple case study approach was employed. In total, 16 SMFEs and 14 financial institutions were studied in the Western Region of The Gambia. Results indicate that the government has exerted a positive impact on the studied SMFEs by devolving land tenure to local communities, coupled with capacity building and support activities, and the application of simplified regulations. Associations of enterprises have been valuable in supplementing government efforts. Nevertheless, ill-conceived policies tied with weak enforcement, corruption and illegal activities, are major limitations still confronting wood-related SMFEs in the BE of The Gambia. The studied enterprises are at different stages in their business development; nevertheless, all revealed the need for a continual provision of BDSs. Concerning FSs, our data show that SMFEs have easy access to deposit accounts, but face limitations when accessing credit, especially from banks. Cooperative credit unions have been notable in providing loans; however, NGOs, associations, and government projects have taken the lead in delivering credit-only schemes. This study offers an updated view of SMFEs in The Gambia and illustrates some of the major challenges still facing them. Additionally, it is a contribution to the literature on small-scale forest enterprises and microfinance.

Since the concept was popularized by McKinsey &amp; Company in the late 1990s, talent management initiatives have been pushed with urgency to the forefront of organizational priorities, and businesses have exerted considerable effort in locating and developing the upper echelon talent pools. Much emphasis has been put on the need to identify and attract top talent, focus has shifted away from developing ordinary talent into extra-ordinary talent through broad human resource development initiatives. This research examines a global training initiative implemented in a multi-national corporation, and sets out to identify the primary impediments to its effectiveness. After a literature review, and a focus group, six factors were identified as crucial to this situation: accuracy, communication, feedback, motivation, organizational support, and time. A survey was then disseminated to the relevant organizational members to identify which of these six issues was the most pressing. Based on the results, the author concludes by extrapolating the potential organizational implications, as well as providing some accommodating solutions.

Magister Economicae - MEcon<br>The research study investigated the potential impact that organisational capacity assessments can have on the long-term sustainability of non-profit organisations (NPOs). The researcher employed longitudinal research design as the main instrument in the collection of data. Data was collected from four local non-profit organisations in the Cullinan and Bronkhorstspruit areas of South Africa. These organisations were evaluated by means of a questionnaire, which was developed by the researcher. NPOs can only play a pivotal role in community and social services if management, leadership, governance and other elements of organisational capacity are well developed and continuously strengthened. This is critical for attracting local and international donors who provide crucial running costs and relieve national, provincial and local government departments of the financial burden. Currently, the South African government supports NPOs in South Africa. The legislative and registration aspects of NPOs are regulated by the NPO Act (Act 71 of 1997) and the Income Tax Act (Act 58 of 1962). The State of South African Registered NPOs Report 2010/2011 indicated a growth of the number of registrations to have increased by 8.3%. However, in the same financial year a total number of 468 NPOs were deregistered; 98% of these lost their registration due to non-compliance of regulatory requirements. According to the State of South African Registered NPOs Report (2016) the total number of applications received for the financial year was 16 726 (53.7%), however 4 421 (46%) did not meet the requirements of sections 12-13 of the NPO Act, an issue that would definitely affect the existence of non-compliant institutions.

L'objectif de cette étude est de mettre en lumière les effets bénéfiques du développement des systèmes financiers sur la performance des industries d'infrastructure, donc sur la croissance économique, dans les pays en voie de développement à travers une série d'analyses empiriques sur le secteur de l'énergie. Les résultats du premier chapitre mettent en évidence un effet positif et significatif, bien que graduel, des réformes financières sur le niveau de développement du secteur financier. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous confirmons que le niveau de développement du secteur financier d'un pays le rend plus attractif du point de vue des investisseurs privés pour le financement des projets d'énergie. Les résultats montrent également que ces investisseurs prennent en compte le niveau de développement économique, la stabilité macroéconomique, les risques pays et la qualité des institutions dans leur décision de participer à ces projets. Étant donné ces conclusions, nous testons dans le troisième chapitre l'hypothèse de l'existence d'une relation significative entre les réformes des secteurs de l'électricité et financier dont les effets se reflètent dans la performance du secteur électrique. Nos résultats montrent que l'implication du secteur privé et la création d'une autorité de régulation améliorent l'offre d'électricité et la fiabilité du réseau. De plus, les impacts positifs du dégroupage des segments du secteur et de la régulation sont exacerbés par la modernisation des systèmes financiers. Ces résultats suggèrent donc qu'en facilitant l'accès au financement, un secteur financier plus développé permet aux opérateurs de moderniser et améliorer la performance de leurs réseaux<br>The main goal of this dissertation is to highlight the beneficial effects of financial development on the performance of infrastructure industries, hence on economic growth, in developing countries through a set of empirical analyses on the energy sector. In the first chapter, we find a gradual but positive and significant global effect of financial reforms on the overall size and liquidity of the sector. The second chapter assesses the extent to which the level of development of a country's financial sector draws private participation in energy projects financing. We find that a financial sector that offers proper financing solutions and risk-mitigating tools indeed contributes to improving private participation. Our findings also provide evidence that economic development, macroeconomic stability, country risk, and institutional development are significant determinants of a country's appeal to private investors. Putting together these results, the third chapter makes the hypothesis of the existence of a significant empirical link between the power and financial sectors reforms the effects of which are reflected in in the power sector's performance. We find that private participation and independent regulation have significantly improved power supply and operational efficiency. Interestingly, the effects of the unbundling of the sector and the creation of an autonomous regulator have been exacerbated by the development of the financial systems. These findings suggest that deeper and more liquid financial markets have eased access to long-term financing for operators allowing them to upgrade their networks and improve performance

The purpose of the research is to assess the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Municipalities that are not financially viable and sustainable will always struggle to deliver basic services to communities. Without sound financial management systems, municipalities will be forced to discontinue their operations. Municipalities, particularly small and rural ones, are not self-sufficient and often rely on grants and transfers to satisfy their immediate short-term goal of providing basic services to satisfy the needs of their communities. Therefore, finance is regarded as an overriding and decisive factor for determining the viability of municipalities. The study seeks to investigate the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Its key research questions are: Are municipalities able to provide sufficient funds to provide a range of services at an acceptable service level? To what extent do municipalities rely on external funding? Do municipalities have revenue collection capacity and revenue policies? The study asserts that most municipalities lack the required financial resources. They depend mainly on transfers from Provincial Government and equitable share and conditional grants from National Government. Section 152 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 8 of 1996, states, amongst other things, that Local Government should ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. The constitution further states that a municipality must strive, within its financial and administrative capacity, to achieve its objectives. The Municipal Finance Management Act, Act 56 of 2003, creates a framework for municipalities to borrow money and determine the conditions for short- and long-term borrowing. The Act assigns clear roles and responsibilities to the various role players involved in local government financial management. According to the Act, an annual budget for a municipality may only be funded from realistically anticipated revenues to be collected. As revenue projections in the budget must be realistic, the Municipal Property Rates Act, Act 6 of 2004, facilitates the collection of revenue in municipalities and establishes a uniform property rating system across South Africa. Property tax is the biggest element of local government tax revenue and is central to municipal finance. The Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, amongst its objectives, provides for the manner in which municipal powers and functions are exercised as well as establishes a simple framework for the core processes of planning, performance management and resource mobilisation. The Act also provides a framework for public administration and human resource development. Finally, it also empowers the poor and ensures that municipalities put in place service tariffs and credit control policies that take their needs into account. The research contends that, whilst there is legislation and structures to assist and direct municipalities, it has been established that municipalities do not properly collect rates and taxes due to them to augment their revenue. The study has shown nevertheless that metropolitan municipalities have the capacity to collect revenue for municipal services. This is confirmed by their collection rate which ranges between 94 % and 97 %. There is also the culture of non-payment by communities for services rendered by the municipalities. Rural municipalities are exempted from property tax, while other rural municipalities who have an urban component, have to collect. There is also the question of unemployment and poverty. Consequently, municipalities are not self-sufficient and rely on grants and equitable share to survive. As a result of this lack of self-sufficiency, it is difficult to implement service delivery and also difficult to attract skilled personnel. The study has investigated why some municipalities fail to collect revenue and depend on national grants. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings of the quantitative paradigm have been presented in the form of graphs and charts. The major findings include: All municipalities have limited borrowing capacity; have not exceeded their budgets in terms of their spending; small municipalities have households as their main contributor of revenue collected; metropolitan municipalities get the big slice of their revenue from business; small and rural municipalities rely on grants and transfers and are therefore not financially viable; metropolitan municipalities are, to a great extent, financially viable but lack skills and capacity to utilize their resources for effective service delivery; and all municipalities under-spend their budgets. The study, after elaborating on the findings, makes recommendations on how municipalities should become financially viable.

The Chinese economy has experienced reform, rapid growth and a significant slowing down period over the last thirty years. During this time, the Chinese approach to people management has also shifted, with some observers suggesting a shift from personnel management into strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). In many studies of SHRM, economic factors have been recognised to be essential external environmental forces which contribute to HRM strategy formulation (Schuler, 1992; Truss and Gratton, 1994, Boxall and Purcell, 2011). Under this argument, financial markets and the economic development of many countries have changed, the social and political environment has also been forced to adapt, and as a result, work, employment and HRM system of firms have been required to adjust to these changes. This thesis examines the specific effects of Chinese economic development on employers’ HR decisions, something which has been neglected in the SHRM literature to date. Employers in China, as elsewhere, may adopt different approaches to HRM development. For some, HRM systems in recent years have been built up from a low base, whilst others have adjusted well-established existing HRM approaches. Other employers have explored or implement radically different or ‘new’ approaches. These approaches can result in contradictions, tensions and resistance, due to differences between the rhetoric of seamless adjustment to ‘strategic’ HRM and the reality of what happens. All of these elements of HRM adjustment are underexplored in debates to date. The Chinese case is a particularly interesting lens through which to explore these under-researched issues due to its unique management contexts and the richness on social and economic transformation. The development of SHRM in China is ripe for exploration regarding how organisational HRM strategy does or does not supports operations. The key contribution of the thesis is in its examination of ‘fit’ and ‘non-fit’ of SHRM in Chinese firms. The thesis argues that changes in the external environment in China have led to different rather than uniform adjustments in HRM strategy and practices in individual firms. Adjustments that are often presented as necessary, being influenced or required by the state, or seen to be part of a ‘best practice’ approach to SHRM may or may not actually be implemented effectively in practice. However, even where effective implementation does not occur, resultant HR systems may still contribute to the growth and development of organisations. In this thesis, this examination of fit and non-fit is explored from the viewpoint of employers in the context of economic development in a transitional economy. The thesis also provides insights into how and why contradictions in business strategy and development are significant, and in doing so, examines the efficiency of HR systems in China in terms of reacting to change. The empirical strategy for the research in this thesis involves qualitative research methods. A single case study of the Chinese financial service sector with multiple firms is used. Fifty-nine semi-structured interviews are conducted. The interviews were designed to explore employers’ responses to the external economic environment. Interviews were carried out with policy makers of government institutions, executive and general managers and HR directors from financial firms including state-owned and joint-stock banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. The data generated from this research explores the drivers and effects of changes to HRM systems in two ways. First, the research identifies factors and events that cause concerns for firms, or which demand changes. Secondly, the thesis explores how these concerns or imperatives for change have, or have not been addressed and implemented in organisations. The findings reveal that specific economic development policies and changing economic cycles are recognized by employers, causing them concerns or compelling them to alter their skills mix or the number of workers they require. Differences in perceptions and approaches between state-owned firms and joint-stock firms are found to be significant. Some external factors which impact upon HRM strategy, such as political environmental factors lead firms to adjust their organisational governance systems and business strategy. The adjustment of specific HRM practices to external changes can be seen mostly in changes to recruitment and training strategy. The fit between business strategy and other HR practices, notably payroll systems and performance appraisals during different economic cycle stages, is less clear. However, even where ‘non-fit’ occurs, HR systems are still considered as working supportively to the growth of organisations. In conclusion, this thesis contributes to the theory of SHRM by developing a deeper understanding of fit and by illuminating the idea that actively choosing ‘non-fit’ at both strategic and implementation level can enhance the effectiveness of organisational operation under certain circumstances. It also contributes to the theoretical framework of SHRM through introducing the taxonomy of the role of economic factors and the state in China.

According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (2006) the increased supply of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS), with a range of subordination, has broadened the investor base in real estate debt markets and reduced the commercial property sector’s dependence on bank financing The CMBS market has been one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing sectors in the capital markets, for a market which was virtually nonexistent prior to 1990. The global CMBS market issuance which stood at AU$5.1 billion (US$4 billion) in 1990 had grown to AU$380 billion (US$299 billion) by the end of 2006. In Australia, a total of over 60 CMBSs with nearly 180 tranches totalling over AU$17.4 billion had been issued to December 2006 from when they were first introduced in 1999. To date few studies have been done on Australian CMBSs outside the credit rating agency circles. These studies are predominantly practitioner focused (Jones Lang LaSalle 2001; Richardson 2003; Roche 2000, 2002). O’Sullivan (1998) and Simonovski (2003) are the only academic studies on CMBSs. As such, this thesis examines issues relating to the development of Australian CMBSs and quantitatively and qualitatively analyses the structuring of Australian CMBSs. In assessing the growth of the Australian CMBS market, an interpretive historical approach (Baumgarter & Hensley 2005) is adopted to provide a cogent review and explanation of features of international and Australian CMBSs. This helps to understand the changing nature of the market and provides better understanding of the present and suggests possible future directions. The Australian CMBS market is matured in comparison with the larger US and EU CMBS markets as seen by the diversity of asset classes backing the issues and transaction types, tightening spreads, and record issuance volumes. High property market transparency (Jones Lang LaSalle 2006b) and predominance of Listed Property Trusts (LPT) as CMBS issuers (Standard & Poor’s 2005b), who legally have to report their activities and underlying collateral performance to regulatory regimes such as Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)/Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and their equity partners, have contributed to the success of the Australian CMBS market. Furthermore, the positive commercial real estate market outlook should support future CMBS issuance, with LPTs continuing their dominance as issuers. In investigating property risk assessment in Australian CMBSs, all the CMBSs issued over a six year period of 2000 to 2005 were obtained from Standard and Poor’s presale reports as found in their Ratings Direct database to identify and review how property risk factors were addressed in all issues and within specific property asset classes following the delineation of property risk by Adair and Hutchinson (2005). Adequate assessment of property risk and its reporting is critical to the success of CMBS issues. The proposed framework shows that assessing and reporting property risk in Australian CMBSs, which are primarily backed by direct property assets, under the headings of investment quality risk, covenant strength risk, and depreciation and obsolescence risk can easily be done. The proposed framework should prove useful to rating agencies, bond issuers and institutional investors. Rating agencies can adopt a more systematic and consistent approach towards reporting of assessed property risk in CMBSs. Issuers and institutional investors can examine the perceived consistency and appropriateness of the rating assigned to a CMBS issue by providing inferences concerning property risk assessment. High property market transparency (Jones Lang LaSalle 2006b) and predominance of Listed Property Trusts (LPT) as CMBS issuers (Standard & Poor’s 2005b), who legally have to report their activities and underlying collateral performance to regulatory regimes such as Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)/Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and their equity partners, have contributed to the success of the Australian CMBS market. Furthermore, the positive commercial real estate market outlook should support future CMBS issuance, with LPTs continuing their dominance as issuers. In investigating property risk assessment in Australian CMBSs, all the CMBSs issued over a six year period of 2000 to 2005 were obtained from Standard and Poor’s presale reports as found in their Ratings Direct database to identify and review how property risk factors were addressed in all issues and within specific property asset classes following the delineation of property risk by Adair and Hutchinson (2005). Adequate assessment of property risk and its reporting is critical to the success of CMBS issues. The proposed framework shows that assessing and reporting property risk in Australian CMBSs, which are primarily backed by direct property assets, under the headings of investment quality risk, covenant strength risk, and depreciation and obsolescence risk can easily be done. The proposed framework should prove useful to rating agencies, bond issuers and institutional investors. Rating agencies can adopt a more systematic and consistent approach towards reporting of assessed property risk in CMBSs. Issuers and institutional investors can examine the perceived consistency and appropriateness of the rating assigned to a CMBS issue by providing inferences concerning property risk assessment. The ultimate goal of structuring CMBS transactions is to obtain a high credit rating as this has an impact on the yield obtainable and the success of the issue. The credit rating process involves highly subjective assessment of both qualitative and quantitative factors of a particular company as well as pertinent industry level or market level variables (Huang et al. 2004), with the final rating assigned by a credit committee via voting (Kwon et al. 1997). As such, credit rating agencies state that researchers cannot replicate their ratings quantitatively since their ratings reflect each agency’s opinion about an issue’s potential default risk and relies heavily on a committee’s analysis of the issuer’s ability and willingness to repay its debt. However, researchers have replicated bond ratings on the premise that financial ratios contain a large amount of information about a company’s credit risk. In this study, quantitative analysis of determinants of CMBS credit ratings issued by Standard and Poor’s from 2000 – 2006 using ANNs and OR and qualitative analysis of factors considered necessary to obtain a high credit rating and pricing issues necessary for the success of an issue through mail surveys of arrangers and issuers are undertaken. Of the quantitative variables propagated by credit rating agencies as being important to CMBS rating, only loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is found to be statistically significant, with the other variables being statistically insignificant using OR. This leads to the conclusion that statistical approaches used in corporate bond rating studies have limited replication capabilities in CMBS rating and that the endogeneity arguments raise significant questions about LTV and debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) as convenient, short-cut measures of CMBS default risk. The ultimate goal of structuring CMBS transactions is to obtain a high credit rating as this has an impact on the yield obtainable and the success of the issue. The credit rating process involves highly subjective assessment of both qualitative and quantitative factors of a particular company as well as pertinent industry level or market level variables (Huang et al. 2004), with the final rating assigned by a credit committee via voting (Kwon et al. 1997). As such, credit rating agencies state that researchers cannot replicate their ratings quantitatively since their ratings reflect each agency’s opinion about an issue’s potential default risk and relies heavily on a committee’s analysis of the issuer’s ability and willingness to repay its debt. However, researchers have replicated bond ratings on the premise that financial ratios contain a large amount of information about a company’s credit risk. In this study, quantitative analysis of determinants of CMBS credit ratings issued by Standard and Poor’s from 2000 – 2006 using ANNs and OR and qualitative analysis of factors considered necessary to obtain a high credit rating and pricing issues necessary for the success of an issue through mail surveys of arrangers and issuers are undertaken. Of the quantitative variables propagated by credit rating agencies as being important to CMBS rating, only loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is found to be statistically significant, with the other variables being statistically insignificant using OR. This leads to the conclusion that statistical approaches used in corporate bond rating studies have limited replication capabilities in CMBS rating and that the endogeneity arguments raise significant questions about LTV and debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) as convenient, short-cut measures of CMBS default risk. However, ANNs do offer promising predictive results and can be used to facilitate implementation of survey-based CMBS rating systems. This should contribute to making the CMBS rating methodology become more explicit which is advantageous in that both CMBS investors and issuers are provided with greater information and faith in the investment. ANN results show that 62.0% of CMBS rating is attributable to LTV (38.2%) and DSCR (23.6%); supporting earlier studies which have listed the two as being the most important variables in CMBS rating. The other variables’ contributions are: CMBS issue size (10.1%), CMBS tenure (6.7%), geographical diversity (13.5%) and property diversity (7.9%) respectively. The methodology used to obtain these results is validated when applied to predict LPT bond ratings. Both OR and ANN produce provide robust alternatives to rating LPT bonds, with no significant differences in results between the full models of the two methods. Qualitative analysis of surveys on arrangers and issuers provides insights into structuring issues they consider necessary to obtain a high credit rating and pricing issues necessary for the success of an issue. Rating of issues was found to be the main reason why investors invest in CMBSs and provision of funds at attractive rates as the main motivation behind CMBS issuance. Furthermore, asset quality was found to be the most important factor necessary to obtain a high credit rating supporting the view by Henderson and ING Barings (1997) that assets backing securitisation are its fundamental credit strength. However, ANNs do offer promising predictive results and can be used to facilitate implementation of survey-based CMBS rating systems. This should contribute to making the CMBS rating methodology become more explicit which is advantageous in that both CMBS investors and issuers are provided with greater information and faith in the investment. ANN results show that 62.0% of CMBS rating is attributable to LTV (38.2%) and DSCR (23.6%); supporting earlier studies which have listed the two as being the most important variables in CMBS rating. The other variables’ contributions are: CMBS issue size (10.1%), CMBS tenure (6.7%), geographical diversity (13.5%) and property diversity (7.9%) respectively. The methodology used to obtain these results is validated when applied to predict LPT bond ratings. Both OR and ANN produce provide robust alternatives to rating LPT bonds, with no significant differences in results between the full models of the two methods. Qualitative analysis of surveys on arrangers and issuers provides insights into structuring issues they consider necessary to obtain a high credit rating and pricing issues necessary for the success of an issue. Rating of issues was found to be the main reason why investors invest in CMBSs and provision of funds at attractive rates as the main motivation behind CMBS issuance. Furthermore, asset quality was found to be the most important factor necessary to obtain a high credit rating supporting the view by Henderson and ING Barings (1997) that assets backing securitisation are its fundamental credit strength. In addition, analyses of the surveys reveal the following: • The choice of which debt funding option to use depends on market conditions. • Credit tranching, over-collateralisation and cross-collateralisation are the main forms of credit enhancement in use. • On average, the AAA note tranche needs to be above AU$100 million and have 60 - 85% subordination for the CMBS issue to be economically viable. • Structuring costs range between 0.1% – 1% of issue size and structuring duration ranges from 4 – 9 months. • Preferred refinancing options are further capital market issues and bank debt. • Pricing CMBSs is greatly influenced by factors in the broader capital markets. For instance, the market had literary shut down as a result of the “credit crunch” caused by the meltdown in the US sub-prime mortgage market. These findings can be useful to issuers as a guide on the cost of going to the bond market to raise capital, which can be useful in comparing with other sources of funds. The findings of this thesis address crucial research priorities of the property industry as CMBSs are seen as a major commercial real estate debt instrument. By looking at how property risk can be assessed and reported in a more systematic way, and investigating quantitative and qualitative factors considered in structuring CMBSs, investor confidence can be increased through the increased body of knowledge. Several published refereed journal articles in Appendix C further validate the stature and significance of this thesis. It is evident that the property research in this thesis can lead aid in the revitalisation of the Australian CMBS market after the “shut down” caused by the melt-down in the US sub-prime mortgage market and can also be used to set up property-backed CMBSs in emerging countries where the CMBS market is immature or non-existent. In addition, analyses of the surveys reveal the following: • The choice of which debt funding option to use depends on market conditions. • Credit tranching, over-collateralisation and cross-collateralisation are the main forms of credit enhancement in use. • On average, the AAA note tranche needs to be above AU$100 million and have 60 - 85% subordination for the CMBS issue to be economically viable. • Structuring costs range between 0.1% – 1% of issue size and structuring duration ranges from 4 – 9 months. • Preferred refinancing options are further capital market issues and bank debt. • Pricing CMBSs is greatly influenced by factors in the broader capital markets. For instance, the market had literary shut down as a result of the “credit crunch” caused by the meltdown in the US sub-prime mortgage market. These findings can be useful to issuers as a guide on the cost of going to the bond market to raise capital, which can be useful in comparing with other sources of funds. The findings of this thesis address crucial research priorities of the property industry as CMBSs are seen as a major commercial real estate debt instrument. By looking at how property risk can be assessed and reported in a more systematic way, and investigating quantitative and qualitative factors considered in structuring CMBSs, investor confidence can be increased through the increased body of knowledge. Several published refereed journal articles in Appendix C further validate the stature and significance of this thesis. It is evident that the property research in this thesis can lead aid in the revitalisation of the Australian CMBS market after the “shut down” caused by the melt-down in the US sub-prime mortgage market and can also be used to set up property-backed CMBSs in emerging countries where the CMBS market is immature or non-existent.