The Asian International Financial Centres (IFC) are growing in importance within the global economy. Increasingly they are becoming the control centres of financial flows and innovation. In...Show moreThe Asian International Financial Centres (IFC) are growing in importance within the global economy. Increasingly they are becoming the control centres of financial flows and innovation. In particular, the aspiring IFCs of Shanghai and Seoul have remarkably increased in status and competitiveness. This research discusses a possible explanation for their increase in competitiveness. Both cities have large systemic differences from the well-established Western IFCs, as government control and policies have been predominant in the East-Asian region. Nevertheless, they are flourishing in the international financial system based on market mechanism. During the Asian Financial Crisis, Asian centres have undergone many changes and multiple government reform policies have been carried out to enhance the financial sectors. Within this research, the influence of the crisis and changes in the determining factors for competitiveness are scrutinized. The four main determinants constituting an IFC set the parameters for the two case studies of Shanghai and Seoul. The results suggest that the government focus on rapid technological and infrastructural developments have contributed the most to the increase in competitiveness. Moreover, these developments are a part of a shift towards high-end technology industries and services and the overarching government-driven transition towards a knowledge economy.Show less
The intention of this thesis is to research the successfulness of microfinance initiatives (MFIs) at alleviating poverty in Ghana. The correlation between poverty alleviation and microfinance has...Show moreThe intention of this thesis is to research the successfulness of microfinance initiatives (MFIs) at alleviating poverty in Ghana. The correlation between poverty alleviation and microfinance has been researched before, but all of these examinations had case-selection bias. Even though they tried to make suggestions for improvement, these suggestions did not seek for development of a fact-based risk scoring framework. Most scholars make a convincing argument that MFIs do help alleviate poverty. They are not able to provide absolute data on the level of improvement, which made it impossible to give a quantitative answer to how successful microfinance is at helping alleviate poverty. Therefore, this thesis objectively analyses the positive and negative aspects of MFIs and the possibilities to improve the functioning of MFIs by creating a framework to further alleviate poverty in Ghana.Show less
In November 2017, the Chinese Vice Finance Minister announced the government's intention to remove the limits on foreign ownship in commercial banks, asset management firms, securities firms, and...Show moreIn November 2017, the Chinese Vice Finance Minister announced the government's intention to remove the limits on foreign ownship in commercial banks, asset management firms, securities firms, and fund management firms. A few months later, the Governor of the People's Bank of China offered what can be considered a timeline for implementation. Although subsequent information has been very scarce and no specific rules have been issued, yet, the author's interest was so much piqued that he has written a thesis that speculates about the government's motivations to decide in this manner. With speculation as the driving force, in order to establish what foreign ownership may mean for a national banking sector in general and the Chinese one in particular, the author presents an overview of seminal research into this field as it has been published in the first decade of the century and has not been published since. Comparative studies on countries that show similarities with China also are presented. The Chinese banking sector, much like the political system, is like a black box. Few studies have appeared that describe the state of the financial sector in a non-partisan way. Nonetheless, the author has identified a number of existing problems that might be assuaged by allowing foreign ownership, by testing them against a number of hypotheses that have been distilled from the general literature. Again, speculation is the defining word, but on the basis of rational arguments, a number of very convincing reasons are presented why the Chinese government may decide to open up its financial sector to outside ownership.Show less
The thesis addresses the growing role of strategic Chinese investments among European economies. More specifically, it focuses on the case of Germany, a country which has been one of the highest...Show moreThe thesis addresses the growing role of strategic Chinese investments among European economies. More specifically, it focuses on the case of Germany, a country which has been one of the highest beneficiaries of Chinese capital over the last decade. Investments from Chinese enterprises span across pivotal German industries (such as automotive, heavy engineering, and financial services). As a result, the research aims to investigate why the German economy and its industrial sector is a strategically important investment channel for Chinese companies on the basis of four identified hypotheses. The parameters for gauging the aforesaid framework would include technological know-how, credit risk, macroeconomic synergies, and ease of conducting business over a selected sample of European case studies in juxtaposition with Germany’s. The objective is to measure Germany’s economic competency in relation to its European counterparts, which can partially explain the behaviour of Chinese firms in regards to their expansive financial footprint in Berlin vis-a-vis other European economiesShow less
