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The purpose of this paper is to incorporate risk in technical efficiency of ASEAN banks in a panel data framework for the period 2000 to 2015.

The directional distance function and semi-parametric framework are employed to estimate efficiency scores for two scenarios, one with only good outputs and the other with a combination of good and bad outputs.

The findings show there is no evidence of technological progress for banks in ASEAN and concerns about the outperformance of Vietnam’s banks. In addition, performance of Vietnam’s banks tends to be distorted by low level of loan loss reserves.

To reflect the true performance and shorten the period of removing bad assets, the State Bank of Vietnam can request banks in Vietnam to book more loan loss reserves.

By examining such a new approach, this study makes an early attempt to incorporate credit risk into the banking efficiency in ASEAN region.

The financial system has witnessed the substantial growth of financial technology (fintech) firms. One of the strategies that banks have adopted to cope with this emergence is to cooperate with fintech firms. This study empirically investigated whether cooperation between banks and fintech companies would improve banks’ risk-adjusted returns.

We developed a novel index of bank–fintech cooperation across various fintech sectors. A system generalized method of moments (GMM) was used to examine this relationship using a sample of Vietnamese banks from 2007 to 2019.

The findings show that the diversity of bank–fintech cooperation across seven sectors tends to enhance banks’ risk-adjusted returns. The results also highlight that this relationship may depend on the types of fintech sectors and bank ownership. More specifically, the positive association between this cooperation and banks’ risk-adjusted returns only holds in the comparison sector of fintech, whereas there is a negative relationship between them in the payments and mobile wallets sector. Furthermore, state-owned commercial banks that engage in more bank–fintech cooperation tend to generate greater earnings. If we look at listed banks, the positive effect of bank–fintech partnerships on risk-adjusted returns still holds. A similar result was also found in the case of large banks.

Our empirical evidence provides motivations for incumbent banks to implement appropriate strategies toward diversity in bank–fintech partnerships when fintech firms have engaged in various financial segments.

This study adds more evidence to the existing literature on the relationship between bank–fintech cooperation and bank performance.

Environmental sustainability and social contexts are becoming increasingly important concepts. The infusion of sustainability and humanitarian engineering (HE) into the academic core curriculum is often challenging. This study aims to provide an understanding of students’ perceptions and attitudes toward the incorporation of active learning of sustainability and humanitarian concepts into engineering education.

A project-based sustainability course was developed and offered to engineering undergraduates. A HE international field experience was also provided to students as an extracurricular activity. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted to assess students’ perceptions and attitudes toward sustainability and HE project learning experience. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the statistical significance of the results and demographic influences on students’ experiences.

Both project-based and international field learning experiences positively influenced the students’ perceptions of sustainable practices, social change and appreciation of the engineering profession. Multidisciplinary learning also helped students become more motivated, engage in sustainability-promoted activities and community work and improve their social interactions. Students gained practical engineering skills that they did not typically receive in traditional classroom settings and recognized the global and social responsibilities that are core to sustainable development education.

The study demonstrates a mixed undergraduate educational model in which students acquired sustainability concepts through a project-based engineering course and practiced social responsibility through international HE projects. The findings help engineering educators understand students’ perceptions toward sustainability and HE, providing insight into effective curriculum design and strategic inclusion of social responsibility in traditional engineering education.

This paper aims to investigate the efficiency and performance of the Islamic banking industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors used a two-stage data envelopment analysis to first estimate the efficiency of 78 Islamic banks (IBs) across 15 countries for the 2005–2020 period (a total of 782 bank-year observations) and then to examine their determinants, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors found that the Islamic banking industry performed at a moderate level during the 2005–2020 period, providing evidence that IBs are resilient to the financial shocks created by COVID-19. The authors also found that bank-level characteristics (such as bank size) and country-level characteristics (such as inflation) can contribute to the bank’s operational efficiency.

The results of this study suggested that banking management and government macroeconomic policy, especially in terms of precautions and continuous support, are important for IBs to improve their performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the efficiency and performance of IBs amid COVID-19.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of green finance (i.e. green investment, green security and green credit) along with capital formation and government educational expenditures on the economic development of (ASEAN) countries.

The data were gathered from the central banks of all ASEAN countries and the World Bank Indicators between 2008 and 2019. The fixed-effect model and generalized method of moments were used to check the nexus between the constructs.

The results revealed that green finance along with capital formation and government educational expenditures have a positive association with the economic development of ASEAN countries.

The study carries some limitations, even though it addresses the underlying variables comprehensively. These limitations provide opportunities to future researchers and authors to expand the scope and accuracy of their study. This research investigation has been supported by the data collected from a single source. Though data collection is maintained correctly, it is still recommended to the upcoming scholars to acquire data to reconfirm the same findings using multiple data sources. The data collected from using some specific data source may be limited in scope and may hinder the comprehensive elaboration of the underlying variables and their mutual relationship. Therefore, the utilization of multiple sources of data collection gives data sufficient to meet the requirement of an okay quality research study. The study is about the economies of ASEAN countries. It checks the influences of green finance development on economic activities and the country's economic growth in ASEAN countries' economies. Thus, its results are valid only in the economies of these countries, and this research investigation lacks generalizability. For generalizability, the authors must consider the underlying variables in the world's vast economies. They must adopt a standard scale to judge the impacts of green financial development on economic development. Besides, the study analyzes the economic factors, economic conditions and their effects on the country's position in the world economy in the face of a severe epidemic like COVID-19. Thus, the results may be different in the case of the normal situation. So, a general standardized study is recommended to be conducted in the upcoming days.

Green finance has significant capability to improve the global economy, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is beneficial for policymakers to develop policies related to economic development with reference to green finance and also helps future research on a similar topic.

This study investigated the impacts of the environment, social and governance (ESG) and its components on global bank profitability considering the COVID-19 outbreak.

This study used a system generalized method of moments (GMM) proposed by Arellano and Bover (1995) to investigate the relationship between ESG and bank profitability using an unbalanced sample of 487 banks from 51 countries from 2006 to 2021.

The findings generally found that ESG activities may reduce bank profitability, thus supporting the trade-off hypothesis that adopting ESG standards could increase bank costs while lowering profitability. In addition, there is a U-shaped relationship between ESG and bank profitability, suggesting that ESG activities can help improve bank performance in the long term. Such an effect is the first time observed in the global banking sector. This study’s results are robust across different models and settings (e.g., developed vs. developing countries, different levels of profitability, and samples with vs without US banks).

This study provides empirical evidence to support many countries' sustainable development policies. It also provides empirical incentives for bank managers to be more ESG-oriented.

This study provides a better understanding of the roles of ESG activity and its components in the global banking system, considering the recent crises.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the causal relationship between banking efficiency and capital market development in 86 countries between 2006 and 2011.

The authors follow the two-stage framework: data envelopment analysis (DEA) with the use of financial ratios is used to arrive at efficiency scores of the banks in the first stage. Thereafter, those efficiency scores will be linked with the development level of the capital markets of the corresponding country in the second stage using the generalised method of moments in a simultaneous equations model.

The authors found that banking systems around the world were still inefficient, suggesting that it would take time for the global banking system to recover after the global financial crisis 2007/2008. More importantly, the findings demonstrated that the larger the capital market is, the less efficient its banking system would be. In contrast, banking efficiency can positively influence the development of the capital market.

The data are unbalanced and limited to 86 countries; the study did not analyse the productivity change over time of those banking systems; and it would be useful to test the first-stage DEA with different sets of variables as well as different assumptions.

The paper suggests that for any economy around the world, an improvement in banking performance and efficiency rather than capital market development should be a priority, alongside with monitoring inflation.

The paper provides an unbiased analysis of the causal relationship between the banking sector and the capital market.

This paper aims to examine alternative methods for treating nonperforming loans (NPLs) in bank cost-efficiency studies using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA).

The authors consider three methods of treating NPLs in SFA: as an additional control variable, as an environmental factor or as a deduction from total loans. Using data from the Vietnamese banking system (2003-2010), the authors then compare these results with those of the base model (where total loans is used regardless of the NPLs) to see which one is more appropriate for this study.

The authors observed that the first two methods are inappropriate for the analysis: one cannot find the significant relationship between NPLs and the banks’ total cost, and the other cannot account for any inefficiency at all. The authors suggested that the third method of separating NPLs from total loans can provide better insights. Using the proposed method, the authors showed that the cost-efficiency of Vietnamese banks over the period examined was moderate with a slight decreasing trend. When NPLs are separated, the cost-efficiency decreases in state-owned banks and big banks, whereas it increases in small and private banks.

Research is limited to Vietnamese banks during a certain period, and it would be useful to apply the same technique to other data sets.

The paper suggests a new approach to account for NPLs in cost SFA studies in banking.

The paper provides a much more searching analysis of NPLs in banking than has generally been seen in previous research.

This paper examines the effect of managerial insider trading on analyst forecast accuracy, dispersion and bias. Specifically, the authors test whether insider-trading information is positively associated with the precision of earnings forecasts. In addition, this relationship between Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) and the Galleon insider trading case is examined.

Pooled ordinary least squares (Pooled OLS) rregressions with year-fixed effects, firm-fixed effects, and firm-level clustered standard errors are used. Our proxies for forecast precision are regressed on alternative measures of insider trading activities and a vector of control variables.

Insider-trading information is positively associated with the precision of earnings forecasts. Analysts provide better forecast accuracy, less forecast dispersion and lower forecast bias among firms with insider trading in the six months leading to the forecast issues. In addition, bullish (bearish) insider trades are associated with increased (decreased) forecast bias. Insider trading information complements analysts' independent opinion and increases the precision of their forecast.

Regulators may pursue rules that promote the rapid disclosure of managerial insider trades, particularly given the increasing availability of Internet tools. Securities regulators may attempt to increase transparency and enhance the reporting procedures of corporate insiders, for example, using Internet sources with direct release to the public to ensure more timely information dissemination.

The authors document a positive association between earnings forecast precision and managerial insider trading up to six months prior to the forecast issue. This relationship is stronger after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prohibited the selective disclosure of material nonpublic information through Regulation FD. In addition, the association between insider trading and forecast accuracy has weakened after the Galleon insider trading case.

This paper aims to examine alternative methods for recording and treating costs in studies of bank efficiency.

This study used stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) models with core costs and total costs to estimate the cost efficiency of banks in two different economies, Vietnam where the banking system is under-developed (and thus is dominated by traditional banking activities) and New Zealand where the banking system is well-developed (and thus non-traditional banking activities play an important role).

The authors found that models using total cost tend to underestimate the banks’ cost efficiency. This underestimation relates to the extent of modern activities in a banking system: it is larger in an advanced banking system (i.e. New Zealand) and smaller in a less-developed banking system (i.e. Vietnam).

Research is limited to two countries, and it would be useful to apply the same technique to other data sets.

The paper suggests a new approach to cost SFA studies in banking.

The paper provides a much more searching analysis of costs in banking than has generally been seen in previous research.