Current Issue : April-June Volume : 2026 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 5 Articles
This study sought to establish the determinants of loan application success, loan amount granted, and the percentage of loan request granted to farmers and traders in the cashew value chain (VC) in Ghana’s Bono and Bono-East Regions. The study employed stratified and random sampling to select 998 loan applicants in the cashew value chain. The logit, Tobit, and fractional logit regression models were employed to establish the determinants of loan application success, loan amount granted, and the disbursed-requested ratio, respectively. Loan application success is positively related with education, revenue, banking period, off-takers, value chain testimonial, and membership of VC associations. Loan amount granted is directly related with banking period, being a trader, off-takers, loan product knowledge, value chain testimonial, and VC association membership. The disbursed-requested ratio varies directly with education, revenue, banking period, being a trader, off-takers, value chain testimonial, and VC association membership. The disbursed-requested ratio varies inversely with bank account turnover. A major implication of the study is the emergence of value chain testimonial as a scalable innovation to replace hard-asset collateral in lending practice. Future research could consider a comparative study of a loose and a tight value chain to offer a holistic perspective of agricultural value chain finance....
An often-overlooked lending alternative to the traditional bank loan process for purchasing investment real estate is seller financing. Many residential real estate investors conform to a traditional loan process when investing in real property. The article employed a mixed-methods approach, examining the economic and banking lending literature and a case study conducted by the researcher to investigate the use of seller financing. Results from a grounded theory comparative analysis of the seller financing and lending processes are presented, along with the benefits and additional considerations to consider when using seller financing. The study finds that seller financing is a creative lending option that can be utilized in all 50 states for buying or selling real estate, regardless of the state of the US economy or variations in interest rates. Seller financing offers the potential to help fill the financing gap created by tightening economic conditions....
The rapid proliferation of fintech has created unprecedented opportunities for enhancing bank credit-risk management and promoting financial sustainability. Using an unbalanced panel dataset of Chinese commercial banks spanning 2013–2023, we construct a bank-specific fintech index through text mining of annual reports combined with an entropy-weighted methodology, and systematically examine the relationship between fintech adoption and credit risk. Our empirical findings reveal that fintech adoption significantly mitigates credit risk, reducing the non-performing loan ratio by an average of 0.9 percentage points. This effect is more pronounced among non-state-owned banks and in regions with less developed service sectors. Mechanism analysis further demonstrates that financial sustainability is a critical transmission mechanism: fintech mitigates credit risk by improving both cost efficiency and asset efficiency, thereby enhancing banks’ economic resilience. Additionally, we find that regional green development is a powerful moderator that significantly amplifies the risk-reducing impact of fintech. These findings offer robust empirical evidence for guiding commercial banks’ digital transformation strategies and informing regulators’ green finance policy formulation. Our results underscore the strategic importance of fintech investment in building more resilient and sustainable banking systems....
Traditional valuation metrics such as the Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio are widely used but often misleading when comparing companies within the same sector. This paper demonstrates the irrelevance of the P/E ratio in such crosscompany analyses by introducing a more comprehensive framework based on the Potential Payback Period (PPP) and its derivative, the Stock Internal Rate of Return Including Price Appreciation (SIRRIPA). Using the cases of Palantir Technologies, NVIDIA, and Micron Technology as of September 26, 2025, this study shows that while their P/E ratios vary by a factor of nearly 30, their SIRRIPA values converge within a narrow range (5.8% - 7.4%), consistent with long-term equilibrium returns observed between stocks and bonds. This convergence reveals a hidden market rationality: once growth, discount rate, and risk are accounted for, companies in the same sector exhibit similar intrinsic, risk-adjusted returns. The analysis is further vindicated by market performance over the past year, during which all three stocks experienced substantial price increases broadly aligned with their previously estimated SIRRIPAbased intrinsic returns. The paper also highlights the plateau effect, where extremely high P/E ratios cease to influence implied returns, as illustrated by Palantir. Furthermore, it emphasizes the sensitivity of both PPP and SIRRIPA to earnings growth projections, underscoring the need for scenario analysis in valuation. Ultimately, SIRRIPA serves as the equity equivalent of a bond’s Yield to Maturity (YTM)—a universal, yield-based metric that restores rational comparability among stocks and bridges the analytical gap between equity and fixed-income valuation....
The banking sector currently operates under conditions of intense regulatory, technological, and social change, which are significantly redefining the role of financial institutions in the economy. Growing stakeholder expectations and regulatory pressure mean that banks' responsibility extends beyond traditionally understood financial goals and also encompasses environmental, social, and corporate governance aspects. In this context, sustainability reporting, particularly ESG reporting, has become a key tool for banks' communication with their stakeholders and an element of their risk management system and strategy. Implementing ESG standards requires financial institutions not only to increase transparency but also to thoroughly analyze the impact of their operations on the environment and integrate nonfinancial factors into their decision-making processes. As financial intermediaries and entities responsible for capital allocation, banks have a significant influence on shaping the direction of economic development consistent with the principles of sustainable development. Consequently, incorporating ESG criteria into decision-making processes is becoming an essential element of risk assessment, credit policy, and long-term strategic planning. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the impact of ESG reporting obligations on decision-making processes at the analyzed commercial bank. Particular attention was paid to changes in the management structure, risk assessment methodology, credit policy, and business strategy of the bank. The analysis focused on assessing how ESG reporting requirements impact the institution's strategic priorities and what management mechanisms are implemented to effectively integrate sustainable development principles into daily operational practices. The study was conducted based on an analysis of the bank's ESG reports for 2022–2024, which enabled the identification of trends in change and the assessment of the maturity of the implemented solutions....
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