Performance of Financial Institutions: Efficiency, Innovation, Regulation

Description

The efficient operation of financial intermediaries--banks, insurance and pension fund firms, government agencies and so on--is instrumental for the efficient functioning of the financial system and the fueling of the economies of the twenty-first century. But what drives the performance of these institutions in today's global environment? In this volume, world-renowned scholars bring their expertise to bear on the issues. Primary among them are the definition and measurement of efficiency of a financial institution, benchmarks of efficiency, identification of the drivers of performance and measurement of their effects on efficiency, the impact of financial innovation and information technologies on performance, the effects of process design, human resource management policies, as well as others.

'Harker and Zenios have produced a timely volume to help us understand the keys to superior or inferior performance of banks, insurance companies, pension funds, government agencies and other large financial institutions. The volume is now the standard reference regarding how to define and measure such efficiency and the likely effects of various firms' policy decisions and the industry context and regulations concerning their operations.' William T. Ziemba, University of British Columbia 'An excellent collection of contributions to the study of the performance of financial institutions. In a period in which we observe so many changes in both financial markets and institutions, performance analysis becomes more important than ever. This book helps to find a number of important clues.' Jaap Spronk, Erasmus University, Rotterdam