Practices of corporate social responsibility in the UAE banking sector: An assessment

There is a conspicuous lack of research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices undertaken in the United Arab Emirates, more so in the banking sector. This paper attempts to fill the gap by examining the government policies drawn up to support enterprises in their CSR efforts. The paper aims to examine the nature and practices of CSR undertaken by the banking sectors in the UAE. UAE's desire to go beyond being a tourist destination to an international business hub and financial market has resulted in their desire to set up CSR activities. In the UAE the banking sectors are the first to have adopted social responsibility and worked to advance it. Banks like Mashreq, ADCB, and Emirates NBD have actively involved themselves in CSR projects. For this study, ten UAE banks (Islamic and Non-Islamic banks) have been chosen based on purposive sampling to ensure the selected banks are currently or in the recent past involved themselves in CSR projects

Tax treaties between Slovakia and the Middle East countries

The objective of this article is to provide a basic systematic review of tax treaties between Slovakia and the Middle East States and their similarities and differences as compared to the standard OECD/UN Model Tax Conventions. The methods used include abstraction, comparison, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and summarization. Findings include diverging practice concerning the scope and objective of double tax treaties such as criteria for residency, zakat provisions, transfer pricing rules, and anti-abuse rules. Taking into account the context of Slovak administrative practice and lack of experience with double tax treaties this diverging practice may lead to occasions of tax treaty override

Entrepreneurial motivational factors and operational performance of small-scale industries in Yanya

To address the growing labour unemployment rate in Nigeria, several hard and soft intervention policies have been put in place by the Nigerian government and supporting partners. Based on the assumption that unemployment, government interventions, and personal ambition can motivate individuals into entrepreneurship, this study examined the effect of entrepreneurial motivational factors on the operational performance of Small Scale Industries (SSIs) located in Yanya, Abuja. Relying on a cross-sectional survey research design, 337 practicing entrepreneurs, random sampling technique and multiple regression analysis, the study found that facilitating and compelling motivational factors are the significant predictors of SSIs’ performance, while ambitious motivational factor is negatively but significantly impactful on SSIs’ performance. It, therefore, suffices to recommend that the Nigerian government and organized private sector should collaborate to increase the stock of hard and soft infrastructure, especially in the industrial estates and business clusters, to enhance entrepreneurship participation and inclusivenes

Do behavioral, educational, and legal factors determine the applicability of forensic accounting in the public sector?

This study examined the impact of educational, legal, and behavioral factors on the applicability of forensic accounting in the public sector in Nigeria. The study utilized primary data through the administration of questionnaires to accountants the internal and external auditors drawn from seven states of the North-Western geo-political zone of Nigeria. Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling using smart PLS3 Statistical Software was employed for the analysis. The findings indicated that behavioral, educational, and legal factors are positively related to the applicability of forensic accounting in the states. The results revealed the importance of giving special consideration to educational, legal, and behavioral factors to ensure the successful application of forensic accounting to deter and detect corruption and other fraudulent activities in Nigeria. The study shows how educational and professional institutions would assist in the promotion of the awareness, knowledge, and skills of forensic accounting

Portfolio investment and U.S. monetary policy announcements: An event study analysis using high-frequency data from Mexico

We study how unconventional monetary policy announcements affected the entry of foreign investment in debt and equity in Mexico, placing special focus on announcements related to the third QE program and the taper tantrum episode. A novel dataset on daily debt and equity flows, that maps Balance of Payments data quite well, allows this paper to provide a better insight into movements of capital. The results suggest that both equity and debt flows reacted immediately to unexpected U.S. monetary policy announcements, particularly if these are considered as bad news by investors. In turn, results using weekly data support the idea that investors interested in fixed income instruments move more prudently than those interested in equity which react quickly

Financial development and CO2 discharge in Nigeria

This study examined the effect of financial development, fossil energy use, economic progress, and FDI on environmental pollution in Nigeria from 1981 – 2014 using the ARDL technique. The outcome of the bond test reveals the presence of a long-run association on the variables of the model. The short-run estimate shows that all the variables positively influence CO2. The result of the long-run analysis further indicates that financial progress, fossil fuel, and GDP accelerates the level of CO2 discharge. However, FDI does not explain environmental pollution in Nigeria. Hence, the study suggests that government and policymakers should formulate policies to improve financial development designed to mitigate CO2 discharge by giving directives to financial institutions that all credits allocation should be toward the purchase of low emission technologies and domestic appliances. In addition, environmentalists should enlighten citizens on the danger of environmental pollution and ways to reduce it through public lectures and seminars

Corporate real estate management and bank profitability

Acquiring property for any business is capital intensive and for that matter, strategically managing such assets is considered equally important. This paper provides an analysis of the value-adding attributes of corporate real estate management (CREM) and bank performance in Ghana. The multiple regression method was applied to a cross-section of both primary and secondary data sourced from 25 commercial banks in Ghana. The study shows that the banks identify with the value-adding attributes of corporate real estate asset management even though there are variations in the level of importance to individual banks. These variations are attributable to the unique mandates of the banks. Further analysis shows that CREM has significantly positive impacts on bank profitability by strategies that help to increase innovations, increase productivity, and promote marketing and sales. The finding suggests that optimizing these CREM strategies could help increase bank profits

African financial markets in a storm: Cryptocurrency safe havens during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic provides the first widespread bear market conditions since the inception of cryptocurrencies. We test the haven properties of cryptocurrencies for African stocks and commodity markets in a pandemic implementing the frequency domain spillover index. Data spans 11th August 2015 to 28th August 2020 at a daily frequency. Findings show weak interconnectedness across markets suggesting non-contagion risk and that cryptocurrency are safe havens for African stocks and commodity indices from the medium-term. We find the major transmitters of spillover effects across markets to be time-varying and heterogeneous. This study provides significant risk diversification benefits for policymakers and investors in the African financial markets

Corporate governance disclosure and corporate performance of Nigerian banks

Corporate disclosure is a key mechanism of corporate governance. This study examined the effect of corporate governance disclosure (CGD) on the financial performance of commercial banks listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Based on the provisions of the Code of Corporate Governance for Public Companies in Nigeria, 2011 and the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks and Discount Houses 2014, the study developed a disclosure checklist and employed content analysis technique to extract corporate governance (CG) from 78 annual reports of 13 Nigerian commercial banks from 2011 to 2016. The study trichotomized CGD into those relating to the board of directors, risk framework, and whistleblowing policy. The results of the hypothesized relationships showed a positive and significant association between CGD and the banks' financial performance, with a positive effect of CGD on the board of directors and whistleblowing policy. However, the study did not find a significant association between CGD of risk management framework and the banks' financial performance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a broader understanding of the effect of CGD on banks' financial performance. The development of a disclosure checklist based on the regulators’ codes of corporate governance is a useful addition to the literature

The co-movement of Bitcoin and some African currencies – A wavelet analysis

This paper investigated the co-movement between the bitcoin (BTC) and the exchange rates of some African currencies to the USD (United States Dollars) using the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and wavelet coherence (WTC). This was done for the noisy as well as the denoised series. The CWT for the noisy series suggests high volatility for those who hold the currencies for the short term and low volatility for those who hold the currencies for a long-term period. The CWT of the denoised series suggests that volatility at low frequency is driven by noise, while volatility at a higher frequency is driven by market forces. The wavelet coherence suggests that in the presence of noise, bitcoin will be a hedge for the currencies. However, in the absence of noise, bitcoin is a haven for the Egyptian EGP, followed by the Algerian DZD, then the Nigerian NGN, and may not be a haven for the South African ZAR