BIZ BUZZ: A world-class banking book

For an economy that is still reliant on banks for financing, it was comforting to see the Philippines’ biggest lenders survive the recession that was triggered by the great Covid-19 lockdown.

But how did they do it? Well, a book authored by economists at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P)—which grabbed the Holy Grail of global academic publishing—tried to answer this question.

UA&P professor Jovi Dacanay and her research associates—Ella Mae Leonida and Michaela Nicole Meriño, both masteral graduates of the university’s school of economics —wrote the book titled “Bank Competition and the Effects on Financial Stability: Insights into the Emerging Banking Markets of the Philippines.”

It was a carefully peer reviewed book that thoroughly explores the stability and efficiency of local universal and commercial banks.

Interestingly, the authors have found that the top 20 Philippine banks have sufficient market power, efficiency and stability that enabled them to withstand economic disruptions like the recent pandemic.

See Also

First in Southeast Asia: Cebu Air taps sustainability-linked loan

Just recently, Palgrave Macmillan—a world-class publisher of books and journals—recently published the book as part of its series on studies in banking and financial institutions. It emerged as one of the few locally authored books that have been well received by the international publishing community.

Congratulations to our UA&P economists!