Historically, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has provided development assistance to Latin American countries even though PRC has not achieved developed country status itself. In explaining this puzzle, the literature emphasises the prevalence of material and economic interests in the region. The present study seeks, by key informant interviews, to provide a deeper understanding of this dynamic, specifically by paying attention to how this practice has taken shape in the case of Venezuela. Beijing opens extensive lines of credit based on a holistic trial-and-error approach and case-by-case adaptation. Loans have shifted from being seen as a solution to local problems to becoming another source of national economic stagnation. The criticism directed towards Chinese lenders is that they lack clear standards and this holistic adaptation tends to perpetuate the bad practices of unstable governments.

This paper investigates, in a single equation framework, the effect of bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants on micro-, smalland medium-sized loans by commercial banks in Indonesia. This study uses a sample of 790 observations from 79 commercial banks in Indonesia over the years 2006-2015. This study uses two estimation methods for our panel regressions: static and dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) panel estimator. In static relationships, the literature usually uses the least square methods on fixed effects (FE) or random effects (RE). I found evidence that all banks, bank profitability and size are positively and significantly related to micro-, smalland medium-sized loans, while the coefficients of liquidity are significantly positive in all specifications, except government banks which is significantly negative. The relationship between risk and credit growth is negative for non-government banks. All estimated equations show that the effect of the capital variable on lending banks to MSMEs is not important in government banks and non-government banks. Finally, macroeconomic variables, such as inflation and gross domestic product, clearly affect the lending of the banking sector particularly non-state banks. The findings have several policy implications to Indonesia government, regulatory authority and bank managers in order to improve bank profitability through bank lending.

In recent decades, financial crises in various countries have often been preceded by the rise in non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banks’ asset portfolios. The increase in NPLs is proven to have adverse impact on the banking sector so that understanding the determinant of NPLs is immensely crucial to ensure the efficiency and soundness of the overall economy. This study aims to shed light on bank-specific factors that affect loan default problems in developing countries whose banking sectors play a major role in the overall economy. This study analyzes panel data sets of 36 commercial banks listed in the Indonesian Stock Exchange during the period 2008–2015. Applying fixedeffects panel regression model reveals that Indonesian banks’ profitability and credit growth negatively influence the number of NPLs. Moreover, banks with higher profitability are proven to have lower NPLs because they can afford adequate credit management practices. Likewise, banks with higher credit growth evidently have lower NPLs in the sense that they demonstrate more specialized lending activity and thus have better credit management systems. These findings imply that, in order to lower loan defaults that can deteriorate banks’ asset quality, banks should maintain their level of profitability and increase, rather than decrease, their credit supply to debtors.

This study contributes to addressing the problem of an aging population by providing important information that determines feasible monthly payments for the clients of Chinese reverse mortgage products and by promoting the implementation of reverse mortgages in China. The variables used in this study include mean values obtained from time series data, of the rate of increase of housing prices, and the probability value, interest rate, and mortality rate obtained through the geometric Brownian motion (GBM). For mortality rates, China Life Insurance female mortality rates (2000-2003) were used. This study aims to apply the main variables that affect reverse mortgage products in a monthly payment model based on Chinese financial market conditions, and determine loan values. In this study, Shanghai’s reverse mortgage monthly payments, by age levels, were calculated through the loan-to-value (LTV) and payment (PMT) methods to evaluate the value of the reverse mortgages. Based on the optimal combination of the three factors of payment amount, loan interest rates, and the level of acceptance of prices, efforts must be made to extract the best value for the elderly. Only in this way can the interests of both lenders and borrowers be protected, by increasing the market share and economies of scale of the reverse mortgage industry and effectively improving the living standards of the elderly.