We develop a four-party model involving banks, merchants, consumers, and platform firms to explain why large shopping malls can offer interest-free installment services to consumers. Using a collaboration between an online shopping platform firm and multiple banks to issue co-branded credit cards as a natural experiment, we find that consumers’ spending on the platform fulfills the requirements for merchants and banks to choose a four-way model. This study highlights the pivotal role of platform firms in the credit card market.

We analyze the annual microdata of China's 100 commercial banks from 2007 to 2018 using the mediating effect analysis method, analyze the negative impact of economic policy uncertainty on the credit scale of commercial banks, and then verify the intermediary effects of the operational risks and short-term capital liquidity of commercial banks in the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the scale of commercial bank credit, separately. Moreover, we find that non-state-owned commercial banks, large-scale commercial banks, low-leverage commercial banks, and commercial banks with low profitability are more susceptible to economic policy uncertainty affecting commercial bank credit growth through short-term capital liquidity, and vice versa.

In the dynamic landscape of exponential growth in the games industry, crowdfunding has emerged as an important funding method for indie games. Previous research has provided inconsistent results on the factors behind its success. This study closes this gap by examining which factors influence success and how success factors vary with different definitions of success and funding goals. The results show that caution is needed when interpreting the results as they depend on model specifications even within the same dataset. Furthermore, the study proposes a framework, supported by an empirical analysis of 1,967 campaigns, to increase the probability of crowdfunding success.

The paper examines how the growth of entrepreneurship affects the generation of employment opportunities in Nasarawa State. Even though entrepreneurship is crucial for generating employment, there are still obstacles in the way of its growth. These include limited support from governmental and non-governmental organizations, difficulty obtaining financing and microcredit, proper training and enlightenment etc. The objective of this paper is to investigate how the growth of entrepreneurship affects the creation of jobs in Lafia, Nasarawa State. The study used a descriptive research design, and the means used for gathering data was a questionnaire given to new entrepreneurs in Lafia, Nasarawa State. A sample size of 375 was determined from a population of 1604 using a Smith (1984) sampling formula; this sample represented the number of questionnaires that were delivered. This findings of the research demonstrated that the creation of jobs in Nasarawa State is significantly impacted by the growth of entrepreneurship. This implies that through entrepreneurship development, self-reliance and employment opportunities have been created in Lafia, Nasarawa State. Through this, youths have been able to develop a way to create value in the society. More so, this study revealed that access to credit (micro credit) has a significant effect on employment creation in the State. Having acquired knowledge on how to manage finance they make sound financial decisions. Lastly, the study showed that the number of new businesses established has a significant effect on employment creation in Nasarawa State. This result implies that youths who apply their entrepreneurship skills and creativity in one nature of business or the other have been able to earn a living out of it in Nasarawa State. This paper thus suggests that the Nasarawa State government should genuinely recognize the relevance of entrepreneurship development and provide an enabling environment. Both the government and institutions should ensure that youths get adequate financial credit (micro-credit).

This paper investigates the impact of monetary policy on the performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria, using monthly data series spanning the period 2008 to 2023. Total private sector credit of deposit money banks was used to proxy the performance of deposit money banks while money supply, monetary policy rate, cash reserve ratio, and maximum interest rate were used as proxies for monetary policy. The Ex-post Facto research design was adopted in this study. Data on total private sector credit of deposit money banks, money supply, monetary policy rate, cash reserve ratio, and maximum interest rate were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical bulletin. The hypotheses of this paper were tested using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag statistics. The findings disclosed that total private sector credit of deposit money banks has a significant relationship with money supply and maximum interest rate while cash reserve ratio and monetary policy rate has an insignificant relationship with total private sector credit of deposit money banks. The researchers recommended among other things that the monetary authorities should consider policies that enhance liquidity within the banking system. This can be achieved through open market operations, reducing the reserve requirements, or other mechanisms that increase the availability of funds in the economy as the money supply was found to be statistically significant. Also, it is crucial for monetary authorities to monitor and adjust the maximum interest rates to ensure they remain conducive to deposit growth. High lending rates may discourage borrowing and subsequently reduce deposits, while more favorable rates could encourage economic activity and deposit inflows.

This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on bank borrowers across 22 Arab economies from 2017 to 2022, employing the two-step system GMM estimator. The findings reveal a significant negative effect of COVID-19 on the number of bank borrowers, highlighting a sharp decline in borrowing activity due to the pandemic’s economic disruptions. Notably, the decline was more pronounced in non-GCC countries, where economic structures and pandemic responses differed. Robustness tests, including subsample analysis and alternative econometric models (pooled OLS, fixed effects, random effects, and 2SLS), consistently confirm these results. The study emphasizes the need for targeted policy interventions to stabilize financial systems, reduce borrowing costs, and control exchange rate fluctuations to maintain credit access during crises. The findings provide crucial insights for policymakers aiming to support economic recovery and strengthen the resilience of the banking sector in the face of future external shocks.

The sensitive nature of interest rate has spurred empirical interests on the factors that determine it. This paper examined the joint impact of exchange rate and foreign direct investment inflows on interest rate in Nigeria over the period from 1981-2022. The study made use of the auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test and results of findings reveal that in both the short-run and the long-run the impact of the interaction between FDI inflows and exchange rate on real interest rate was negative and significant. Also, while credit to the private sector was found to have significant positive impact on real interest rate in both the time horizons, the impact of consumer price index was negative only in the short. Oil revenue was found to impact positively on real interest rate only in the long-run, but the impact of broad money supply was negative and significant in both the short-run and the long-run. The study suggests that policies to regulate domestic interest rate should focus on joint regulation of both exchange rate and FDI inflows and this requires a synergy between monetary and fiscal policies.