Eleftherios Thalassinos

Customer satisfaction, loyalty and financial performance: A holistic approach of the Greek banking sector

Purpose – The present paper is an attempt to provide a holistic approach of the Greek banking sector and how it operates. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was carried out in the banking sector of Greece in order to gather information regarding customer satisfaction and loyalty, while the financial data of the banks were attained from their annual financial statements. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings – It has been found that neither customer satisfaction nor loyalty has a significant impact on the financial performance of banks, while the remaining factors have indicated unprecedented results. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the study is the economic environment of Greece and the general crisis of the banking sector. Practical implications – The study provides an insight into the Greek banking sector and the interrelationships among the investigated factors, and how customer satisfaction and loyalty could be enhanced through the remaining factors. Originality/value – A new factor, the economics factor, was created and included in the study. Moreover, the tangibles factor was tested as an individual and not as part of service quality. Additionally, the present study is among the few that have incorporated customer satisfaction, loyalty and the financial performance of banks. To take it one step further, some more factors were included to present a more holistic approach of how customer satisfaction and loyalty are enhanced.

Observing evidence of insider trading in the Athens Stock Exchange

This study proposes a process for observing evidence of insider trading in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). This is performed by building an environment which, based upon previous research, common sense and information technology, may be used for observing such evidence. It is designed to be parametrically used for each stock in the sample, perform event study analysis and indicate abnormal performance that might be attributed to insider trading. To some extent, it applies knowledge discovery to retrieve meaningful information from the existing data. In this case, to identify transaction dates that might be associated with certain events. The validity of this process is assessed by relating the identified events to published announcements.JEL Classification:G02, G12, G14, G15.

The Role of the Rating Companies in the Recent Financial Crisis in the Balkan and Black Sea Area

The main aim of this article is to demonstrate a holistic framework for measuring a bank’s financial health by classifying its main responsibilities between conformance and performance. Responsibilities are classified into five categories as follows: First, Corporate Financial Reporting (CFR) that integrates General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Services Authority (FSA), and International Accounting Standards (IAS). Second, Risk Management Procedures (RMP), that incorporates methods and directives which arise from Basel I, Basel II, Capital Adequacy frameworks or solvency ratio benchmarks. Third, Corporate Governance (CG), that integrates Sarbanes – Oxley Act, Audit Committees, and Internal Audit Mechanisms. Fourth, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), that consists of instructions and standards such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) – social and environmental, Social accountability (SA 8000) – working conditions, International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9000). Fifth, Stockholders Value Creation (SVC), that is a set of methodologies and ratios used in order to measure value creation for shareholders such as Strategic and Balanced scorecard, Economic Value Added EVA®, and other business performance management tools. On the other, the Rating Agencies (RA) applies various rating systems in different fields.

Chaos theory: forecasting the freight rate of an oil tanker

The main aim of this paper is to predict the Aframax tanker charter rate index by using methods from non-linear analysis especially from chaos theory as is the method of false nearest neighbours (FNN). This is the result of the new emerging field of econo-physics which mainly consists of autonomous physico-mathematical models that have been already applied to the financial markets and now in particular aspects of the complex non-linear dynamics of several maritime indices such as the time charter rate of an Aframax tanker.

Corporate governance in shipping: an overview

Globalization that matches the nature of shipping companies has to be a key factor for their organizational structure and operation. A growing number of them, to exploit the benefits of international integration of capital markets, have adopted a more specific organizational structure trying to implement corporate governance mechanisms. Meanwhile, the majority of maritime firms, particularly with headquarters in Greece, continue to operate in a traditional basis, since the family capitalism still holds the scepters. This article aims to assess the role of corporate governance as a determinant of the operational and financial performance of maritime business, raising questions for further investigation. It reviews the literature on corporate governance practices, focusing on maritime firms trying to analyze the effects of corporate governance in their financial performance. Research on corporate governance in the shipping sector, despite the growing stream of related studies, remains still understudied. This is the reason why empirical findings of the reviewed studies should be treated with caution, since the theoretical framework in corporate governance is still under investigation in shipping. Further research needs addressing all major subsystems of a maritime firm, so as their impact on governance structures of maritime business to be evaluated and measured.

EMU and the Process of European Integration: Southern Europe’s Economic Challenges and the Need for Revisiting EMU’s Institutional Framework

The EU has been experiencing over the last few years an unprecedented crisis that really touches on its core characteristics and values. The EMU project was structured on political foundations and expectations, bearing, however, immense socio-economic impact. The main aims of this paper is to identify the main driving forces that influence the future development of the Economic and Monetary Union and to examine the present situation that the EU faces, the priorities of the ECB and the challenges that EU’s Southern member-states face.

Trends and challenges in the energy sector of Romania in the post-accession to the European Union

This paper is aimed at presenting some trends and developments with respect to renewable energy sources in the EU and how these sources can be used in the Romanian economy. It outlines the need of considerable reduction of emissions of greenhouse gasses, transforming the Romanian economy into a region with low emissions of CO2 and at the same time into an efficient country in terms of energy consumption.

Shipping Companies Profitability Measurement: A Panel Data Analysis

This research examines the efficiency of shipping companies to create profit from the equity used in the investment. Financial statement analysis is a judgmental procedure, which tries to identify the underlying reasons that affect the company performance. Financial ratios provide further insight in the core ingredients of wealth production. The contribution of this research is to disaggregate equity return to fit in the shipping industry. The altered financial ratio is tested on financial data, from forty two shipping companies of different sectors (dry, wet, container and diverse), provide understanding for the investment returns. A suitable method for panel data is the seemingly unrelated regressions.