Sylwester Kozak

Foreign Bank Entry and Credit Allocation in Emerging Markets

We employ a unique data set containing bank-specific information to explore how foreign bank entry determines credit allocation in emerging markets. We investigate the impact of the mode of foreign entry (greenfield or takeover) on banks’ portfolio allocation to borrowers with different degrees of informational transparency, as well as by maturities and currencies. The impact of foreign entry on credit allocation may stem from the superior performance of foreign entrants (“performance hypothesis�?), or reflect borrower informational capture (“portfolio composition hypothesis�?). Our results are broadly in line with the portfolio composition hypothesis, showing that borrower informational capture determines bank credit allocation.

Consolidation of the Banking Sector in Poland in 1989-2013 in Comparison with the Structural Changes of the Banking Sector in the USA and the EU

Consolidation of the Polish banking sector was greatly associated with development and expansion of the banking sectors of EU countries and followed some consolidation patterns used by US banks. Deregulation of 1989 contributed to creation of a large group of small private banks and paved the way to privatization of the state-owned banks comprising majority of the market. In the 1990s consolidation resulted mostly from takeovers of insolvent newly created banks and had a limited impact on the banking sector. At the turn of the 1990s and the 2000s, after completion of privatization, large banks controlled by the same foreign investors merged within their capital groups and harmonized operations in one entity, frequently after changing names for parent bank names. This process impacted market concentration the most. Poland`s entrance to EU resulted in cross-border consolidation relied on taking over subsidiaries by branches of their parent banks in Poland. Developments of the EU banking sector significantly contributed to mergers and acquisitions of Polish banks. Takeovers of parent banks resulted in immediate mergers of their subsidiaries, and the post-crisis recovery process resulted in a forced sale-out their subsidiaries, creating opportunities for consolidation and market expansion of some Polish medium-sized banks.

Degree of Convergence of the Efficiency of the Polish Equity Investment Funds Obtained with Measures Based on the Sharpe Ratio

Abstract Long-term persistence of low interest rates and a decline in attractiveness of investing in low-interest bank deposits generate additional demand for investments in investment funds. In such a situation, it is expected to have widespread use of the investment efficiency measures which take into account not only return, but risk level. The study examines eight measures of efficiency based on the Sharpe ratio. The study uses monthly data for 22 active equity funds over the period 2005-2015. It was found that the majority of funds were more efficient than the market in periods of moderate economic growth and less effective in the period of strong growth on the capital market. The most efficient funds retain high efficiency in all phases of the economic cycle. The efficiency values obtained using indicators: Shape, Treynor, Jensen, Sortino, Omega, Sharpe-Israelsen and IR were strongly correlated, while values of the UPR indicator were significantly different from the other results.

Concentration of credit exposure as a significant source of risk in banking activities: the idea and methods of estimation

The simultaneous activation of many sources of risk can slow bank operations and even lead to bankruptcy. Credit risk is the greatest threat to the orderly functioning of a bank. To protect against its materialization banks spend nearly 90% of their total capital requirement. Concentration of credit exposure to single entities, as well as to single economic sectors, can be a source of additional risks. Estimation of the additional portion of the capital requirement in selected banks in Poland in 2008-2013 indicates that banks should assign additional 4% and 2% of the capital requirement to cover the risk of exposure concentrations in: respectively, individual entities and individual economic sectors. For banks with a retail profile more important was the risk of large exposures in individual economic sectors, and for banks with a corporate profile in individual entities. Estimates were carried out according to the procedure used by the Bank of Spain and the Bank of Slovenia, and the data derived from the annual financial reports of selected banks listed on the WSE.