Predicting European Bank Distress: Evidence from the recent financial crisis

Based on a sample of active and non-active banks operating in four areas of specialization: commercial banks, co-operative banks, savings banks and real estate and mortgage banks, belonging to 12 European countries over the period 2001-2011, this paper examines whether the Z-score is indeed a valuable measure to predict bank distress. Additionally, in order to verify whether the predictive power of the Z-score varies before and during the recent crisis, the sample period is further split into two sub-periods: the pre-crisis period (2001\u20132007) and the crisis years (2008\u20132011). The results of the empirical analysis indicate that the Z-score is a key determinant of the probability of bank distress in all the sample periods considered. In addition, the paper finds that complementing the Z-score with indicators for bank size and bank risk improves the model performance, only during the whole period and the crisis years. The contribution of macro-variables results basically insignificant

Lymphoepithelial Cyst of the Pancreas: A Rare Case Report and Review of Literature

Lymphoepithelial cysts are rare pancreatic lesions of undetermined pathogenesis. The literature on this entity is limited to case reports or small series. We describe a case of 66 year male, incidentally diagnosed as lymphoepithelial cyst of pancreas that was managed by enucleation. This is the first case report of lymphoepithelial cyst from India. An extensive Medline search was carried out for lymphoepithelial cyst of pancreas. Till date less than 100 cases were identified in available literature. All these cases (including our case) were analyzed. This entity has uniform and distinctive clinicopathological features. About half of the reported cases were asymptomatic with most of the lesions diagnosed incidentally. Majority of patients presents with non-specific symptoms making preoperative diagnosis difficult. Lymphoepithelial cyst of the pancreas is a rare benign lesion, which is difficult to diagnose preoperatively. High index of suspicion and preoperative fine needle aspiration cytology may help in making diagnosis and avoiding surgery in asymptomatic patients