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Elena Stavrova
The Changes in the Banking Industry under the Influence of the Digitalization Process in the Conditions of Covid-19 Pandemic
Summary:
The market capitalization on the world banking market reached USD 7.2 trillion, and on the digital banking market - more than USD 800 trillion. The average annual growth of 4% has long been a stable source of income for banks. The development of digital consumer lending and payment systems is also attracting non-banking players, who are expanding their influence in institutional business, which makes the corporate banking market dynamic. The profound change brought about by the open and interconnected corporate banking ecosystem is taking place in conditions of extreme change, zero interest rates and a surplus of money supply. Although some areas of the financial markets are less exposed to these significant shocks, it is impossible to protect them from development in an open ecosystem. These changes may even be slower or less pronounced in some services, such as structured lending, large corporate payments, but technological developments are also taking place. Working with 'full vaults', emerging FinTech competitors, the COVID-19 pandemic and the slower-than-expected recovery of global supply chains are all challenges that banks need to address and are the subject of this study.
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Alexander Apostolov
Theoretical Foundations, Functioning, and Role of Financial Intermediation as a Factor for Economic Growth
Summary:
The study examines the theoretical relationship between financial intermediation and economic growth, focusing on the growing role of non-bank financial intermediation (NBFIs). In order to accomplish this, the main theoretical strands, thematically the most significant propositions, and empirical analyses of the interaction between the development of financial intermediation and economic growth, the structuring of the modern financial system, and the risks it faces, are critically reexamined. Efforts are focused on exploring the direction of the sector's implicit influence on economic growth and whether it can be reversed or is bidirectional. Does the combination of financial markets and investment intermediaries operating in an economy affect economic growth, and if so, in what ways? The study seeks to extend the dichotomous theoretical conceptualizations of financial structure as primarily banking while broadening the theoretical schema by incorporating the perspective of modern structuring, impact, and activities in the non-bank financial ecosystem.
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Kuzman Iliev
The School of Free Banking with Fractional Reserves versus The School of Full Reservation of Deposits - an Economic Reflection of Modern Concepts in Banking and Monetary Policy
Summary:
The study presents a comparative analysis of the two modern pro-market schools in the field of monetary theory and banking – the school of free banking with fractional reserves and the school of full deposit reservation. In this way, the paper outlines the guidelines to be followed in developing theories, concepts and proposals for improving or perfecting the money supply management. In concrete terms, the analysis considers the alternatives for the implementation of banking and the positioning of the central bank in the schools of free banking with fractional reserves and the full reservation of deposits, the methodological nature of a market process in their frameworks and an interpretation of the two schools in relation to the functions of deposits, the interest rate, deflation and quantitative easing.
