Diversification, Industry Concentration, and Bank Margins: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging South Asian Economy

SARWAR, Bilal,MUHAMMAD, Noor,ZAMAN, Nadeem Uz Korea Distribution Science Association 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.7

The study aims to empirically examine the determinants of bank margins from Pakistan, an emerging South Asian economy. To elucidate the importance of the Pakistani banking sector, secondary data has been used, which was extracted from the annual accounts of twenty-four Pakistani scheduled commercial banks (20 conventional, four full-fledged Islamic) over a sample period of 2006 to 2017. The factors identified in the dealership model and the subsequent empirical developments in the dealership model categorized as bank-specific, diversification, regulatory, and industry concentration are analyzed by applying the most-common linear dynamic panel-data estimator, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator, developed by Arellano and Bond (1991). The findings reveal that, among the bank-specific variables, funding cost, credit risk, managerial efficiency, market share, and operating cost are significant predictors of bank margins. For diversification variables employed in the study, both variables including net non-interest income and asset diversity are as well significant predictors of bank margins. It is also found that the market concentration variable proxied by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is significantly predicting bank margins. Subsequently, one of the regulatory variables, the opportunity cost of holding reserves, and one bank-specific variable, the degree of risk aversion, are insignificant in the model.

Relationship of the Big Five Personality Traits and Risk Aversion with Investment Intention of Individual Investors

SARWAR, Danish,SARWAR, Bilal,RAZ, Muhammad Asif,KHAN, Hadi Hassan,MUHAMMAD, Noor,AZHAR, Usman,ZAMAN, Nadeem uz,KASI, Mumraiz Khan Korea Distribution Science Association 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.12

This empirical research is aimed at testing the relationship of the big five personality traits namely openness to experience, extraversion, consciousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and risk aversion with the investment intention of individual investors belonging to Balochistan, Pakistan. The primary data is collected through a self-administered questionnaire (a structured form that consists of a series of closed-ended and open-ended questions) from a sample of 397 active individual investors belonging to different districts of the province. The data is empirically analyzed by applying the Partial Least Square (PLS) path modeling technique by using the estimation package available in Smart-PLS. The findings of this study suggest that all the variables are statistically significant with investors' investment intention with risk aversion as the strongest predictor. Moreover, openness to experience, extraversion, consciousness, agreeableness, and risk are significantly and positively related to an investor's investment intention, whereas neuroticism is negatively related to an investor's investment intention. The results extended by this study can be used by financial planners and investment bankers to channelize the available financial resources in diversified portfolios. The results will help financial planners to make available diverse investment alternatives for investors in Balochistan, thus catering to their unique needs. Academia must offer courses on contemporary finance paradigm based on behavioral finance to enable future business graduates to make wise financial decisions.

A Multi-Group Analysis of Risk Management Practices of Public and Private Commercial Banks

Khurram REHMAN,Hadi Hassan KHAN,Bilal SARWAR,Noor MUHAMMAD,Wahab AHMED,Zia Ur REHMAN 한국유통과학회 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.11

The study examines the relationship between credit risk and operational risk (understanding of risk management, risk identification, risk assessment and control, and risk monitoring) on risk management practices followed by private and public sector commercial banks. The cross-sectional data method was used to check the impact of risk management practices. Data was collected from the bank employees and a total of 284 respondents were finally selected for further analysis. Measurement Invariance of Composite Models analysis is used to test the quality of the measurement model for sub-samples, and multi-group analysis is used for path analysis in sub-sample through PLS-SEM. The findings of the study as the total sample show that both types of banks are managing adequate and significant risk management practices. On the other hand, sub-groups’ results show private sector banks are more momentous than public sector banks. Risk identification is significantly different at the sub-group level, which shows public sector banks are more concentrating on this type of risk. Understanding of risk management has no significant effect on both types of banks and risk assessment & control for public sector banks, and there is a difference in the risk management practices among private and public sector commercial banks.

Simultaneous Equation Estimation in Finance and Corporate Financial Decision: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange

AHMED, Wahab,KHAN, Hadi Hassan,RAUF, Abdul,ULHAQ, SM Nabeel,BANO, Safia,SARWAR, Bilal,HUDA, Shams ul,KHAN, Mirwaise,WALI, Ahmed,DURRANI, Maryam Najeeb Korea Distribution Science Association 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.3

In the last few years, there is growing interest in the field of simultaneous equation estimation in finance due to the endogeneity problem caused by measurement errors, simultaneity, or omitted variables. This study aims to discuss the endogeneity problem in corporate financing decisions and investigate the interrelationship of financial decision-making such as investment decision, dividend decision, and external financing decision in Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) using two-stage least squares (2SLS) and generalized method of moment (GMM) estimation. The Bruech-Pagan test shows that the data has no heteroskedasticity issue and 2SLS is a better approach in the context of this study as compared to the GMM approach, and internal instruments are also sufficiently strong and valid. The three financial decision-making attributes are not jointly determined, and the dividend is influenced by one-sided investment. In the emerging stock market context, external financing and investment are not inter-related and did not affect each other. The question of whether the simultaneous equation estimation can be useful in the context of the emerging stock markets and newly-growing firms remains unanswered. The inclusive evidence shows that the theoretical link in the emerging stock market is difficult to prove like in developed stock markets.

The Impact of Knowledge Management Processes on Knowledge Sharing Attitude: The Role of Subjective Norms

Aneela SYED,Nagina GUL,Hadi Hassan KHAN,Muhammad DANISH,S.M. Nabeel Ul HAQ,Bilal SARWAR,Usman AZHAR,Wahab AHMED 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.1

Constructed upon Knowledge Management (KM) processes, the current study aims to investigate the interrelationship between Knowledge Sharing (KS) attitude among the faculty members and KM processes in higher education institutes (HEIs) in Pakistan along with the intervening role of subjective norms between KM processes and KS attitude. This research incorporated the theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to conceptualize the KS behavior by using a sample frame of 302 academic and administrative staff from research-based HEIs in Quetta, Pakistan. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted on permanent faculty members from different universities of Quetta, Pakistan. The finding of the study shows a positive attitude among the researchers. The study empirically examined the interface between KM processes and KS attitude and higher education performance while providing valuable insights into the prevailing literature by investigating the mediating role of subject norms. The impact of subjective norms on KS attitude and KM process indicates the importance and basic determinant in organizational premises and improvement of skills of faculty management in HEIs. The partial mediation also reveals the importance of subjective norms in the development of faculty members’ KM and KS attitude process.