This book deals with the debated relationship between the characteristics of national supervision and manipulative practices in banks’ annual reports, with a specific focus on income smoothing. The issue is quite challenging as, since the 2008 financial crisis, governmental bodies and regulators have stressed the crucial role of supervision for bank transparency purposes, but the effect of supervision on accounting manipulation is still discussed. Focusing on European banks, the book investigates whether the characteristics of national supervision affect bank propensity to smooth income, also considering the potential role of bank business models. By exploring a broad range of national supervision’s characteristics, the book presents a comprehensive view on the influence of country-level institutional settings on a form of earnings management widely used across the banking industry.

This book deals with the debated relationship between the characteristics of national supervision and manipulative practices in banks' annual reports, with a specific focus on income smoothing. The issue is quite challenging as, since the 2008 financial crisis, governmental bodies and regulators have stressed the crucial role of supervision for bank transparency purposes, but the effect of supervision on accounting manipulation is still discussed. Focusing on European banks, the book investigates whether the characteristics of national supervision affect bank propensity to smooth income, also considering the potential role of bank business models. By exploring a broad range of national supervision's characteristics, the book presents a comprehensive view on the influence of country-level institutional settings on a form of earnings management widely used across the banking industry.

Jonathan Edwards was a preacher, pastor, revivalist, and theologian. This volume unpacks his magnificent theological vision, which starts with God’s glory and ends with all creation returning to that glory. Sean Michael Lucas has converted his years of teaching on Edwards into this valuable work, which places Edwards’s vision in an accessible, two-part framework. Part one focuses on Edwards’s understanding of redemption history-God’s cosmic, grand work from eternity past to eternity future, where all things are united in Christ. Part two examines Edwards’s perspective on “redemption applied”-how that gracious, divine work unfolds in space and time to personally transform individuals, stirring their affections, illuminating their minds, and moving their wills to form new habits and practices. This overview of Edwards’s theology will prove to be a thought-provoking, encouraging guide to contemporary believers at every stage of their spiritual journey.

In the wake of the financial crises of the late 1990s, there was a surge of interest in the systematic assessment of financial sectors, with a view to identifying vulnerabilities and evaluating the sector's developmental needs. Consequently, there has been an increased demand from financial sector authorities in many countries for information on key issues and sound practices in the assessment of financial systems and the appropriate design of policy responses. In response, Financial Sector Assessmsnet presents a general analytical framework and broad guidance on approaches, methodologies and key techniques for assessing the stability and development needs of financial systems. It synthesizes current global sound practices in financial sector assessment.

This paper shows that banks use accounting discretion to overstate the value of distressed assets. Banks' balance sheets overvalue real estate-related assets compared to the market value of these assets, especially during the U.S. mortgage crisis. Share prices of banks with large exposure to mortgage-backed securities also react favorably to recent changes in accounting rules that relax fair-value accounting, and these banks provision less for bad loans. Furthermore, distressed banks use discretion in the classification of mortgage-backed securities to inflate their books. Our results indicate that banks' balance sheets offer a distorted view of the financial health of the banks.

This book presents research from leading researchers in the European banking field to explore three key areas of banking. In Bank Risk, Governance and Regulation, the authors conduct micro- and macro- level analysis of banking risks and their determinants. They explore areas such as credit quality, bank provisioning, deposit guarantee schemes, corporate governance and cost of capital. The book then goes on to analyse different aspects of the relationship between bank risk management, governance and performance. Lastly the book explores the regulation of systemic risks posed by banks, and examines the effects of novel regulatory sets on bank conduct and profitability. The research in this book focuses on aspects of the European banking system; however it also offers wider insight into the global banking space and offers comparisons to international banking systems. The study provides in-depth insight into many areas of bank risk, governance and regulation, before finally addressing the question: which banking strategies are actually feasible?

This paper aims at developing a better understanding of Islamic banking (IB) and providing policy recommendations to enhance the supervision of Islamic banks (IBs). It points out and discusses similarities and differences of IBs with conventional banks (CBs) and reviews whether the IBs are more stable than CBs. Given the risks faced by IBs, the paper concludes that they need a legal, corporate and regulatory framework as much as CB does. The paper also argues that it is important to ensure operational independence of the supervisory agency, which has to be supported by adequate resources, a sound legal framework, a well designed governance structure, and robust accountability practices.