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This study aims to evaluate the degree of competition in the Zambian banking sector in the wake of dynamic market shifts induced by entry of new foreign banks and privatisation of the state‐owned bank.

Competition is measured using the Panzar‐Rosse H‐statistic and the Lerner index from 1998‐2011.

Results from the H‐statistic show that Zambian banks earned their revenue under conditions of monopolistic competition. This finding is consistent with the estimate of the Lerner index which suggests that the degree of competitiveness may not be as low as previously understood. Risk taking, revenue diversity and regulatory intensity are all important determinants of market power. Tight monetary policy is also found to strengthen the banks' exercise of market power by expanding their holdings of Treasury securities. Generally, the findings lend support to previous research suggesting that foreign bank penetration and privatisation can heighten competitive pressures in the banking sector.

Due to data unavailability prior to 1998, the study does not establish whether or not the level of competition has changed since 1992 when financial sector reforms were initiated.

The main policy lesson drawn from the analysis is that competitive conditions could be further enhanced by easing regulatory impediments and, in the long run, allowing more foreign bank participation could spur competitive conduct in the industry.

To the author's knowledge, estimates of the time varying bank‐specific Lerner index provide initial empirical evidence on competitive conduct of Zambian banks and how it has evolved over time.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of monetary policy on the lending behaviour of commercial banks in Zambia using bank-level data.

Dynamic panel data econometric analysis is used to uncover the evidence of monetary transmission mechanism in Zambian banking industry. Other specifications are used as robustness checks.

Contrary to received evidence, the authors find that the bank lending channel in Zambia operates mainly through large banks. The effect of monetary policy on medium-sized banks is moderate while it is virtually non-existent for smaller banks. Furthermore, the data does not show evidence of relationship lending for smaller banks.

Overall, the findings of this investigation suggest that price signals, rather than quantity aggregates, matter the most in the transmission of monetary policy in Zambia. The results therefore lend support to the central bank’s recent shift in monetary policy framework from using monetary aggregates to interest rate targeting as a means to strengthen effectiveness of monetary policy.

This study aims to analyze the potential implications of economic freedom and competition for bank stability.

Using system generalized method of moments and data from 139 banks across 11 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries during the period 2006–2012, this study considers whether the degree of economic freedom affects the relationship between competition and bank stability.

The results show evidence of the competition-fragility hypothesis in SSA banking, but suggests that beyond a setting threshold, increases in market power may also be damaging to bank stability. Financial freedom has a negative effect on bank stability, suggesting that banks operating in environments with greater financial freedom generally tend to be less stable or more risky. The authors also find evidence of a conditional effect of economic freedom on the competition–stability relationship, implying that bank failure is more likely to occur in countries with greater economic freedom, but with low competition in the banking sector.

The results suggests to policy makers that a moderate level of competition and economic freedom may be the appropriate policy to ensure the stability of banks.

The study provides insight on the competition–bank stability relationship, by providing new empirical evidence on the effect of economic freedom, which has not been previously considered.

This study aims to consider the effect of financial (banking) freedom and competition on bank efficiency.

With data from 11 Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2006-2012, the study estimates both competition (market power) and bank cost efficiency using the same stochastic frontier framework. Subsequently, Tobit models, including instrumental variable Tobit regression, are used to assess how financial freedom affects the relationship between competition and bank efficiency.

The results show that increase in market power (less competition) leads to greater bank cost efficiency, but the effect is weaker with higher levels of financial freedom. This is not consistent with the quiet life hypothesis.

Policymakers usually take the view that opening up banking markets to greater competition may lead to higher efficiency. However, the results have shown that allowing banks to maintain some level of market power may be necessary to ensure banking system efficiency.

This study deepens the understanding of the inconsistent relationship between competition and bank efficiency, by using the same framework to measure both competition and efficiency, and by providing new empirical evidence on how the level of financial freedom affects this relationship.

This paper investigates the structural model of vector autoregression (SVAR) of the interdependent relationship of inflation, monetary policy and Islamic banking variables (RDEP, RFIN, DEP, FIN) in Indonesia. By using monthly data for the period 2001M01-2019M12, the impulse response function (IRF), forecasting error decomposition variation (FEDV) is used to track the impact of Sharīʿah variables on inflation (prices).

This research uses quantitative approach with SVAR model to reveal the problem.

The empirical results of SVAR, the IRF show that policy shocks have a negative impact on all variables in Islamic banking except the equivalent deposit interest rate (RDEP). The impact of both conventional (7DRR) and Sharīʿah (SBIS) policies has a similar pattern. While the transmission of Sharīʿah monetary variables as a policy operational target in influencing inflation is positive. In addition, the FEDV clearly revealed that the variation in the Sharīʿah financial sector was relatively large in monetary policy shocks and their role in influencing prices.

The empirical results of SVAR, the IRF show that policy shocks have a negative impact on all variables in Islamic banking except the equivalent deposit interest rate ‘RDEP’. The impact of both conventional “7DRR” and Sharīʿah “SBIS” policies has a similar pattern. While the transmission of Sharīʿah monetary variables as a policy operational target in influencing inflation is positive. In addition, the FEDV clearly revealed that the variation in the Sharīʿah financial sector was relatively large in monetary policy shocks and their role in influencing prices.

This study aims to investigate the direct and indirect linkages between financial development and inclusive human development in African countries.

The study employs a battery of estimation techniques, notably: two-stage least squares, fixed effects, generalized method of moments and Tobit regressions. The dependent variable is the inequality adjusted human development index. All dimensions of the Financial Development and Structure Database of the World Bank are considered.

The main finding is that financial dynamics of depth, activity and size improve inclusive human development, whereas the inability of banks to transform mobilized deposits into credit for financial access negatively affects inclusive human development.

Policies should be tailored to improve mechanisms by which credit facilities can be provided to both households and business operators. Surplus liquidity issues resulting from the inability of banks to transform mobilized deposits into credit can be resolved by enhancing the introduction of information sharing offices (like public credit registries and private credit bureaus) that would reduce information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers.

This study complements the extant literature by assessing the nexus between financial development and inclusive human development in Africa.