This study assesses the role of gold, crude oil and cryptocurrency as a safe haven for traditional, sustainable, and Islamic investors during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Using Wavelet coherence analysis and spillover index methodologies in bivariate and multivariate settings, this study examines the correlation of these assets for different investment horizons. The findings suggest that gold, oil and bitcoin exhibited low coherency with each stock index across almost all considered investment horizons until the onset of the COVID-19. Conversely, with the outbreak of the pandemic, the return spillover is more intense across financial assets, and a significant pairwise return connectedness between each equity index and hedging asset is observed. Hence, gold, oil, and bitcoin do not exhibit safe-haven characteristics. However, by decomposing the time-varying co-movements into different investment horizons, we find that total and pairwise connectedness among the assets are primarily driven by a higher-frequency band (up to 4 days). It indicates that investors have diversification opportunities with gold, oil, and bitcoin at longer horizons. The results are robust over different types of equity investors (traditional, sustainable, and Islamic) and various investment horizons.

While SMEs constitute the backbone of many economies, many SMEs have limited access to finance. Yet, banks in some countries are actively financing SMEs. This paper examines whether this is true in the case of Turkey, a G20 economy that has a significant SME sector. We study the determinants of banks' willingness to finance SMEs and banks' processing ability of SME financing portfolio in Turkey based on a unique quarterly small business panel data set of 40 commercial banks from 2006 to 2014. Employing pooled OLS and fixed-effects estimators, we find that Islamic banks (known as Participation banks in Turkey) are more inclined toward financing SMEs than conventional banks. We also find that the quality of Islamic banks' SME loan portfolio is comparable to that of conventional banks. The results are fairly robust to different bank ownership forms (state owned, private, and Islamic banks) and alternative model specifications. Our findings provide further support to the notion of 'small is the new big' in that banking for SMEs can be a viable venture.

Events such as the 'credit crunch', 'bank run', 'financial contagion', 'flight to quality' and 'systemic risks' have widely transpired in recent times. One important dimension permeating these events is the dynamic link between macroeconomic shocks and banks' behaviour. Economic crises experienced by five East Asian countries in the late 1990s were accompanied by financial sector problems. The Great Recession of the late 2000s also corresponded to heightened solvency risks affecting over-leveraged banks and financial institutions in many developed countries. In a world of imperfect information, adverse macroeconomic shocks could weaken firms' balance sheets, diminish bank capital and trigger financial disintermediation. Available in physical copy only (Call Number: BP 173.75 H236)

The emergence of COVID-19 in late 2019 rapidly shattered the Asia-Pacific region (APR), a bastion of economic dynamism, and it became the epicenter of the global health crisis. This unprecedented pandemic not only triggered a public health catastrophe but also unleashed a financial storm, exposing vulnerability within the region's interconnected economies. This study identifies the factors driving volatility spillovers within Asian-Pacific financial markets during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020-February 2021). We analyze the interplay of pandemic transmission dynamics, government interventions, central bank policies, and socioeconomic variables. Our findings reveal a robust and persistent association between the rising number of COVID-19 cases per million and volatility spillovers. We introduce three novel determinants - the number of intensive care unit beds, population density, and the proportion of the elderly population - which significantly impact volatility transmission in response to new cases. Stringent government measures, such as travel bans and lockdowns, mitigate volatility spillovers. Conversely, central bank policies increase volatility spillovers. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of financial market dynamics in the context of global health emergencies. This knowledge equips policy makers in the APR with valuable tools for navigating future crises.