Belgium Country Financial Analysis

GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH PAPER OF SELECTED COUNTRY

Provided that no other class-member had selected the same country before your request posting, you may begin the research and the writing of the analysis report of the selected country and its financial system and banking system, provided these guidelines are followed:

Research Paper Guidelines Prior to Writing Report

1. One of the course requirements is to select a country that no other member of this class has previously requested during this term.

2. You should have an interest in learning about the financial and banking laws, regulations, structure, operations, competition, etc. of the country selected.

3. The scope of the research paper is to present the country and certain background information described below and analyze its current financial system and the commercial banks operating in that country. This report comprises 20% of the course’s final grade.

4. The selected country must be posted in the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) under the specific Assignments tab shown for Research Paper Requests-Country Study-Request and Approvals for this class. The reason it must be posted in Assignments is to give all the class members access to all posted requests.

5. Request messages sent by e-mail which cannot be seen by other class members and have no validity, whether sent by regular FIU E-mail or through Canvas E-mail feature. Likewise, requests posted in another tab are also invalid.

6. It is important that you do preliminary research to determine that the country selected has current data available. The more information is available the easier it will be to research and write the report. Old data by itself has no current value; therefore, it is critical that recent information be included in order to establish the current trends. Look for the following information during your search:

a) The Central Bank and/or the Superintendence of Banks, (banks & financial institutions regulator) as well as the Country's Banking Association(s).

b) Correspondent banks, branches or subsidiaries of international located in Miami, New York, or other principal international banking cities are an excellent source since they may have current information on the country selected or may direct you where to find it.

c) Review periodicals published in Miami, New York, or other US cities as well as local newspapers and magazines in the particular country that you have selected for published relevant information on the country and its financial system during at least the last three years to the closest date of when you are writing the research report.

d) Please understand that the financial information requested may be several months old. Current figures may not be as readily available as they are available in the United States from financial institutions and regulatory agencies. Data for the last quarter or six-month period may not have been published yet, but those of previous quarters will probably be available. Most government agencies regulating banks, and financial institutions which are active in international business and use the internet actively, will probably have published figures for the most current December year end or June quarterly period.

7) It is your responsibility to read all prior research paper request postings and determine that you are the first and only class member selecting the particular country. If these guidelines are not followed, and I receive two research papers on the same country, the first posting has the exclusive right. The person submitting the second report will get a zero grade for the assignment.

8) In submitting requests, please certify on the message that you have reviewed the prior postings and no other class member has requested the same country in this class during this term.

9) Always insert your full name and phone number in all messages sent to me by regular mail to: [email protected] showing a phone number below your signature. The message should also include the latest evening time I may contact you. Many times, I can respond faster by phone rather than by e-mail. In many cases, you may prefer to give me a cell phone number. Please make sure that the phone is on and charged. I may choose not to respond to e-mail messages that do not show full name and your phone number until the next class. If you do not get a reply from me within 24 hours, please call me at (305) 632-7997. You may contact me directly by phone without having to email me first. Please be brief on voice messages, if I do not answer at the time of your phone call. Keep in mind to always leave your phone number; repeat it twice and say it slowly so that I could understand and write it down.

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING RESEARCH REPORT

1. The Report should be concise and cover the text material in no more than 20 pages. You may add relevant and meaningful information as appendices; material is plentiful; therefore, you have to decide what is important and what is not.

2. Assume that this report is to be given to members of a Board of Directors of a financial institution which has to make a decision on lending to the private or public sector of the selected country. If you were the Bank Director, what kind of meaningful information would you need to cast your vote? The Director has limited time to read, understand and process the information on which to make a decision. Many Board of Directors meetings do not last more than 2 hours and many agenda items are covered during that time. Assume that you, the Director, do not have much time to read and comprehend the report prior to the meeting, but a decision has to be made at that meeting, the decision cannot be postponed.

3, The cover page should be presented as followed, centered on the top page:

The Financial and Banking System of:

Name of Country

Presented

In Partial Fulfillments of the

Course Requirements

for

FIN 4634

International (Global) Banking

Prepared for:

Marcos A. Kerbel

Participating Adjunct Professor

Department of Finance

Florida International University

Miami, Florida

Prepared by:

Your Name

Your: Panther ID Number

Phone Number

E-mail address

Date of Report

Month, Day, 2018

The Body of the Report Shall Contain:

Maximum 20 typewritten pages double spaced

plus appendices.

Please note that if this Table of Contents does not show the applicable page numbers and your report does not follow this exact outline, your assignment grade will be reduced by at least a full letter grade.

The Financial and Banking System of:

Name of Country

I. Table of Contents Insert Applicable Page Nos.

II. Geography and (You may insert map showing

surrounding area and location.)

III. History of the Country

IV. The Country's Financial System

a. Historical Overview

b. Present Monetary Laws and Regulations

c. Types of Financial Institutions operating in the country

d. The Central Bank

e. Bank Regulation

f. Commercial Banks Operating in the country

1. Commercial - Principal domestic and foreign banks operating in the country. Appendix with chart showing list of banks: asset, deposits, total liabilities, capital, retained earnings, loan charge offs, net income. They are ranked from the largest ones to the smallest ones. A list of bank names and addresses but without current financial data is meaningless.

2. Savings & Mortgage Banks

3. Development Banks

4 Other Financial firms

V. Country’s Balance of Payment and Balance of Trade- Principal Sources of Exports, Imports, investments, and funds transfers, etc.

VI. Foreign Reserves

VII. Current Situation of the country's currency

VIII. Risk those banks in the selected country face- such Currency, Political, Regulatory, Crime, etc.

IX. What is the Country doing about Preventing, Detecting and Eradicating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing?

X. Important Bank Failures and Scandals in the Country.

XI Summary and Conclusion:

XII What is the Future Outlook for this Country and its Financial System?

XIII Would you Approve Lines of Credit for Banks in this Country?

Explain Your Yes or No Decision.

XIV Appendices

Footnotes and Bibliography Requirements:

It is a serious academic ethical violation to fail to give credit to the authors and the sources from where you obtained the information. Please present both the footnotes and bibliography in accordance with an acceptable manual of style. Internet addresses by themselves are not acceptable . You must write the name of the source and then insert the web URL locator. It is very important to show the dates on all information presented and the date of the particular publication. Do not insert the date that you retrieved the information from the web, as it is not important. What is very important is the date that the material was published on the web and by whom. Please refer to a Manual of Style tab for guidance in properly inserting foot/end notes and bibliography.

Ascertain that the page number appear at the bottom center or right side of each report double spaced page. Rev. 2018-06