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    Essays on land banking praxis in Ghana : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, School of Economics and Finance, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024-12-09) Sasu, Alexander
    This thesis uses relational complexity conceptualisation to explore how private and semi-public land banking practices shape the functioning of Ghana’s informal land markets. To achieve this, the study subjects the land banking and the functioning of Ghana’s informal land market question from three independent but related perspectives: (a) optimal locations, (b) price of land, and (c) the advancement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These perspectives were presented as three independent essays that revolve around the study’s common theme of land banking and the functioning of land markets. The first essay proposes a conceptual framework for assessing optimal locations for land banking practices in informal land markets accustomed with legal pluralism. Analysed data from the study’s four case study regions show land title security as the primary factor determining optimal locations for land banks. This essay emphasises how the market complexities of Ghana’s informal land market render issues of uncertainties of spatial planning requirements and the risk associated with future hope value dynamics of land bank sites less influential on developers’ optimal local choices. This essay further shows how locational choices for land banking are intrinsically related to the distinct development climates, regulations, and land market transaction complexities within a region. In the second essay, the study uses relational complexity to unpack how associations among land bank actors (i.e. landowners, developers, and states) shape land prices in four Ghanaian informal land market communities, purposely selected from the study’s four regions. Reflective of the general trend in the existing literature on land banking and the price of land, this essay reveals that land banking praxes are associated with rising land prices. However, these resultant land prices are shaped by the ongoing land banking practices that are distinctive in terms of their market actor relationships. The relational complexity captures how customary land managers and developers have shaped land price outcomes through the displacement of state-mediated market forces’ directing roles (controlling land hoarding). It further explains how oligopolistic traits of developers (that is, who gets access to land and at what price) are largely becoming the preserve of developers. The final essay investigates how developers’ optimal locations for land banks and prevailing land price dynamics advance or inhibit the SDGs. The essay conceptualises a relational complexity framework and analyses primary and secondary datasets from the same communities as Essay Two. The analysis shows how rising land values emanating from the presence of developers’ land banks, regulatory measures guiding large-scale land transactions and, diverse motives and power of land bank market actors influence SDGs. This essay further highlights the risk that private sector efforts to achieve SDGs may prioritise profit for a few, over the well-being of many, if regulatory and policy frameworks fail to account for country, regional, or local contexts. The relational complexity underscores how diverse motives and complex nonlinear multiple relationships are breeding varying responses from land bank actors in the face of laws enacted to enhance the attainment of SDGs in the selected communities. The foregoing results of the entire study demonstrate that, if we are to successfully mediate the functioning of informal land markets within the circles of land banking practices, attention must be paid to the multiple nonlinear relationships between land bank actors. Using only state hegemonic powers (regulations) often fails to establish the interconnected nonlinear issues needed to enhance policy response success. Conceptually, the study illuminates the concept of relational complexity as an alternative for exploring land markets from its socially constructed tenets within the spheres of land banking practices. Further research is recommended to understand how similar land bank projects of civic and faith-based organisations like churches and universities influence the functioning of similar land markets.
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    Essays on dynamics of the housing market : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Nguyen, Thi Thu Ha
    As the largest proportion of a household’s wealth is invested in houses, a household’s saving and consumption is highly likely to be affected by the movement of housing markets. Economists are also very interested in housing price movements, due to its significant impact on general economic wellbeing and business cycles. The US housing collapse is commonly referred to as the trigger of the global financial crisis (GFC), leading to stronger demand from both the public and policymakers for in-depth analysis of housing markets. This thesis provides three empirical studies that aim to explore the dynamics of housing markets. The first essay analyses the relationship between immigration and housing markets with a focus on the regional differences within a country. Among the three housing market indicators studied (prices, rents, and price-to-rent ratios), the impact of immigration is found to be most strongly associated with rents and most weakly associated with prices. A negative relationship is reported between immigration and price-to-rent ratios, implying that in an overvalued housing market, the extent of deviation from equilibrium would have been even greater without immigration. Increased global financial integration as a result of improvements in the specification of trade, innovations in finance, and advances in information technology has led to increased connectedness between financial markets. Against this backdrop, the second essay measures the equicorrelation and connectedness between housing and oil markets. The results provide robust evidence of the existence of strong connectedness between these markets. The results also indicate that the connectedness is time variant, reaching its peak during the financial crisis. Among the studied markets, the US housing market is found to be the dominant shock transmitter, spreading shocks to the other markets. During the GFC period, the oil market operated as an information transmission mediator, conveying shocks from the US housing market to other OECD housing markets, particularly in the net oil importing OECD countries. The third essay focuses on whether capital gain in housing markets smooths consumption. The results indicate that the appreciation of house prices is an effective channel of risk sharing. Furthermore, the analysis of the consumption response to long-run output shocks in three developed countries (Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) provides evidence that Canadian residents are the most sensitive to permanent domestic output shocks and that the consumption patterns of Australian residents remain unchanged.
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    Essays on determinants of integration of Islamic and conventional financial markets : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Billah, Syed Mabruk
    This dissertation contains a series of essays, three in total, which examine the determinants of integration of Islamic and conventional financial markets. Academic and commercial interest in Islamic finance has increased in recent years, meaning that it is commonly seen as a reasonable alternative to mainstream finance. However, it is notable that growing awareness of Islamic finance has emerged alongside several relevant concerns surrounding the poor performance of Shariah-compliant indices. The limitations include minimal access to risk management tools, low regulatory standards in Islamic finance, and a suboptimal governance framework. With the large expansion of Islamic finance in recent years, Sukuk (Islamic bonds), which are the Shariah-compliant substitute to conventional bonds, are becoming more prominent. Although numerous studies have examined the impact of global shocks on conventional bond spreads, little attention has been paid to explore the effect of global shocks on the Sukuk spreads. Therefore, the first study's objective was to examine the impact of factors affecting the conventional bond and Sukuk markets, including financial factors, economic policy uncertainty, US and EU macroeconomic news. Using an ordinary least squares approach, the results indicated that for regions and countries such as the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, and Singapore, global shocks play a vital role in explaining Sukuk spreads. Furthermore, employing a matched sample featuring firms from these regions and countries revealed that European and US macroeconomic announcements and economic policy uncertainty have a significantly greater impact on Sukuk spreads than on conventional bond spreads. The second study builds on the directional spillovers from Sukuk markets to Shariah-compliant equity markets and vice versa. The directions and magnitudes of spillovers are quite disperse among different countries and Islamic equity markets. Novel to the literature, we find that the Islamic equity markets' profitability and liquidity positions are highly influential on the magnitude of spillovers. We create a matched sample for 38 firms that issued both Sukuk and Islamic equities. Implementing similar spillover models, we indicate that firms' firm-level profitability and liquidity positions are essential in modeling the spillovers' magnitude between Sukuk and equities. Finally, the third study explores spillovers from regional and global equity markets to sectoral equity indices for several different regions/countries. First, we investigate sectoral equity return spillovers' connectedness and explore the different patterns and magnitudes of spillovers. Next, we look for the determinants of sectoral equity return spillovers. We find the regional and global markets spillovers on sector equity indices are highly dispersed across different markets. Novel to the literature, we examine the sectors' liquidity and financial positions and find that sector positions are highly influential in explaining the extent of the spillovers. Particularly, our exploration evidence that regional and global spillovers to specific sector equity markets jump significantly when a sector has higher debt and lower interest expense coverage. Similarly, higher profit margins of the sector make it less vulnerable to global and regional shocks. We also find market capitalization of the sectors inversely affects the spillovers' extent originating from global and regional markets.
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    Customer behaviours and online banking in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Banking at Massey University, Manawatū campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Azeem, Saba
    Recent technological developments in the financial sector have led to renewed interest in studying bank-customer relationships. The present study examined the effects of six demographic characteristics (i.e. age, gender, household income, education, employment and marital status) on the use of online banking in New Zealand. Three research questions were addressed: How do different personal characteristics affect customers’ use of online banking? How do these characteristics interact with each other in affecting customers’ use of online banking? and How do different characteristics affect the key factors that form users’ perceptions of online banking usefulness? We used a three-pronged data collection methodology including four focus group discussions an online survey and twenty-six qualitative interviews. The survey was taken by 758 respondents and the completion rate was 76%. A range of descriptive and empirical analytics were used and strong effects of customer demographics on online banking use were found. The explanatory power of the six characteristics was examined using stepwise backward regression modelling while ANOVA tests confirmed interactive effects between combinations of characteristics. Through Principal component analysis, we identified a subset of four key constructs to represent the major areas of themes where customer perceptions differ regarding the use of online banking. Ordinal logit regression determined how perceptions differ on the basis of the differences in demographics. Academically, this research examines the predictive utility of demographic characteristics in explaining New Zealanders’ use of online banking technologies from both banking and marketing perspectives. Expanding on demographic relationships as proxies for deeper drivers of behaviours, this study offers practical lessons for effective segmentation and engagement strategies. It reminds banks that understanding customer personas is the first step to effective targeting or personalization. This is critical in developing customer-centric banking in New Zealand and other regions.
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    Factors influencing bank deposits : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Banking at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Srivastava, Nikhil
    This thesis comprises three essays that investigate the effects of human capital, financial markets, and the banking system development on bank deposits, deposit funding, retail, and time deposits proportions. The first two essays are country level studies, whereas the third is at bank level. The data related to first essay has been obtained from the World Bank and the World Health Organisation (WHO). For the second and third essays, bank level data is from Bankscope and macroeconomic variables data are from the World Bank. The first essay investigates the effects of human capital development on bank deposits, employing 2SLS method in a cross-country setup. Human capital development includes the development of the healthcare system and education level. I use two dependent variables: deposits to GDP ratio and value of total deposits. Results show a positive relationship between human capital development and bank deposits. However, the impact of healthcare system on total deposits is higher than the bank deposits to GDP ratio, suggesting that an improvement in the healthcare system increases households’ income and a proportion of that increased income goes into the banking system. The impact of education is higher in high financially included countries than in less financially included countries. The second essay examines the effects of financial markets development on bank deposits, using instrumental variables methods. Empirical results suggest that investors in developed and developing economies use financial markets differently. In highly financially integrated economies, the financial markets and banking system complement each other, whereas in fragmented markets they compete. The third essay explores the effects of competition on bank deposit funding and composition. Interest cost has been used to measure deposit competition and the Herfindahl- Hirschman Index (HHI3) at deposits and loans levels to measure market structure. The results show that increased deposit competition encourages banks to increase the proportion of less costly funds, causing a reduction in deposit funding. In contrast, high interest rates attract retail depositors, especially for time deposits, thereby increasing the proportion of retail deposits. However, this finding varies according to the financial development level of the countries. Market concentration shows negative effects on bank deposit funding and composition.
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    Essays on Shari'ah compliant equities : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Karimov, Jamshid
    This dissertation presents three essays on Shari’ah Compliant Equities. The reported work analyses the impact of Shari’ah Compliant Requirements (SCR) on the capital structure of the firms and its effect on the cost of equity capital, payout policy and mitigation of firm-level political risk. The first study examines if the adoption of SCR affects the cost of equity capital for firms. It estimates the cost of equity capital, implied by market prices and analyst forecasts, and account for changes in growth expectations around the adoption of SCR. The results of the study show that the transitional implications of Shari’ah compliance can diverge depending on information spread. The findings reveal that getting a Shari’ah compliance certificate, initially increases the cost of equity for a firm, potentially due to higher financial constraints and other burdens associated with Shari’ah requirements. However, with greater exposure and awareness in Islamic markets, Shari’ah compliance eventually leads to a fall in the cost of equity. The industry-level, SCR adoption effects are stronger in relatively tangible sectors. Robustness analyses confirm that becoming Shari'ah-compliant increases the stock liquidity of SCR adopted firms, which co-varies negatively with the cost of equity. The second study examines if and to what extent the adoption of SCR affects the payout smoothing policy of firms. More importantly, this study aims to identify and assess a possible mechanism behind such linkage and measure the amount of fluctuations of earnings absorbed by investment, borrowings, and payout policies. Variance decomposition strategy that enables to empirically analyse the adjustments of borrowings and investment policies to comply with payout smoothing in order to buffer net income fluctuations in the environment of Shari’ah compliance is employed. Using a new approach in the literature, this chapter measures the extent of intertemporal payout smoothing across business cycles to test the permanent income hypothesis for firms. Accordingly, the impacts of temporary vs. permanent net income shocks on the payout policy of firms are distinguished. The study also, documents that even though their payout ratios are mostly independent from the year by year net income growth (temporary shocks), dividends are impacted deeply by long term net income growth (permanent shocks). Interestingly, being Shari'ah-compliant makes dividends more dependent on permanent income growth. The third study, using a novel Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) firm-level political risk index as a proxy for political risk and uncertainty firms face, examines the impact of firm-level risk on the cost of equity and dividend payouts policy of firms. The paper aims to shed light on the transitional implications of Shari’ah compliance on firms exposed to firm-level political risk. It analyses if the adoption of SCR mitigates the firm-level political risk and their impact on the cost of equity and dividend policy. Benchmark results show that 1% increase in the exposure of political risk contributes to a rise in its cost of equity capital by 0.2% and in dividend payout by 13%. Shari’ah compliance eventually leads to a fall in the cost of equity and a rise in dividend payouts, despite the exposure of the firm to political risk. These findings have important policy implications that are relevant to Shari’ah compliant equities and beyond.
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    Corporate governance of banks in Vietnam and their roles on banks’ risk-taking and efficiency : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Banking Studies at Massey University, Manawatu Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Tran, Thi Minh Trang
    This thesis comprises three essays that investigate the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms associated with recent Vietnamese banking reform on Vietnamese banks’ risk-taking and efficiency. The thesis uses a hand-collected dataset on accounting and corporate governance data from annual statements published by commercial banks during the 2006-2016 period. The first essay examines the role of foreign directors on bank risk-taking, using data from 32 commercial banks in Vietnam in the 2006-2016 period. Our findings suggest foreign directors increased bank risk-taking after 2011. The relationship is robust after taking account of potential endogeneity problems and different measures of bank risk-taking. The explanation is that foreign directors are motivated to encourage management to increase risk-taking to earn short-term returns when there is uncertainty in macroeconomic conditions. Other characteristics such as female directors, family related directors, and board size on risk-taking are also discussed. There is no evidence showing that foreign directors are more or less risk-averse in listed banks vs unlisted banks or in state-owned banks vs private banks. The second essay investigates the impact of female directors on boards on bank efficiency, using data from 32 commercial banks, covering the 2006-2016 period. The relationship is estimated by employing one-stage stochastic frontier analysis, using the Battese and Coelli (1995) (BC95) approach. The two-stage distributional free approach proposed by Cornwell, Schmidt, and Sickles (1990) (CS90) is employed as a robustness check. The result shows a robust relationship between female directors and cost-efficiency. This suggests that female directors are associated with a decrease in cost efficiency. A possible explanation is that female directors are less experienced in management than male directors and have less access to environmental resources that benefit firms. The third essay examines the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on bank efficiency, using a balanced panel dataset from 22 commercial banks over the 2008-2016 period. The study employs a two-stage DEA window analysis. Our findings suggest that there is no significant relationship between M&As and bank efficiency, which is not surprising given the small number of M&A events so far. However, there is evidence that Vietnamese banks experienced less improvement in efficiency after M&As. A possible explanation for this is that the M&As might not be not driven by profit-maximization, but by the government encouragement to rescue weak banks. Also, the combined entities need to spend additional resources on resolving the bad debts transferred from the weak, targeted banks.