Searching BANKSCOPE:

An Expert Search

Open your browser and type in the Learning Resources web address into the location bar ……..

• www.lr.mdx.ac.uk

• Select Electronic Resources

Make sure that you have set your institutional cookie

• Scroll down to the bottom of the Electronic Resources page and click on to the link

• Once you’ve clicked on to the link, a pop-up window will appear and then close automatically – you only need to do this once

Log into Athens

• Athens is an authenticating system that allows students to access Middlesex University databases outside of the university

• Click on to the Athens link

• Log in using your IT user ID and your network password and once you have accepted the terms and conditions, you will be presented with a list of databases

Searching BANKSCOPE

• Scroll down and choose BANKSCOPE from the list of databases

About BANKSCOPE• Bankscope is a financial analysis tool, combining

information on 11,000 world banks with details such as balance sheet and income statements, ownership information, shareholders and subsidiaries.

• The data is updated 18 times a year

BANKSCOPE – Expert Search• Begin by clicking on Expert Search• While Expert Search sounds complicated, it

actually provides more search criteria with which to search or exclude irrelevant banks

Finish with banks that exactly meet your criteriaRefine further choosing carefully so as not to exclude too many banksIf you have too many results, add another criteria Refine by introducing broad but important criteriaStart you search with one or two basic criteria

Scenario• Imagine that you want to search for Islamic

Banks in the UK

• Select Specialization from the left hand menu

• Choose Islamic banks

 

Refine the search

• Reduce your results by selecting a geographic location, select Geographic, Country and then select United Kingdom

• Review your results in the Search Summary

Look at the results• Click on list to view your results• Select Bank Report for extensive financial

information for each chosen bank• For additional, graphic information, click on

the Overview Report icon at the bottom of the screen

Exporting Reports

• Similar procedures apply whether you are exporting a Bank Report, an Overview Report or just a graph

• Click on the Export Icon • Choose a name for your export, e.g. Islamic Banks• Select Word 2000 as your format• Select the All Banks option• Click on the Export button

Starting a New Search: Searching for a Specific Bank

• Click on the Search Button and then on New Search at the bottom of the screen in order to clear your previous searches

• Click on the Bank Name search option• Type in Northern Rock PLC• Click on the first result• Notice the brief banking information at the

top right of the screen

Looking at the Graphs Menu• Click on the chevron to select the first bank• Click on OK• Click on list and then on the name/link• A Standard Bank Report will appear• Click on the Graphs icon at the bottom of the page

• Click on Export, the graph will automatically download into Word

Performing Statistical Analysis using Bankscope

• Click on Search and then New Search to clear your previous search

• Lets assume you are looking for the total assets of large banks in the Cayman Islands

• Click on Geographic, Country and then select Cayman Islands from the list

• Select the Large Banks option and then click OK

• Select the list tab and select the first five banks from your list

The Distribution Analysis

• Click on the Other Analyses tab and select Distribution

• The Distribution analysis will show the distribution of a single variable from the group of banks that you have selected

Choosing the Variable• From the selection, choose Financial Profile and then

Total Assets for 2008

• Click on Export

• Choose a name for your report

• Click on Excel

• OK

Search by Credit Rating• Searching by credit rating, allows you to choose either a

very strong performing bank or a very poorly performing one. You can search either on a Fitch Rating or a Capital Intelligence Rating

• The Fitch Rating, can be searched on either in the long or short term. Fitch Ratings' long-term credit ratings are assigned on an alphabetic scale from 'AAA' to 'D‘

• It was first introduced in 1924 and uses intermediate +/- modifiers for each category between AA and CCC (e.g., AA+, AA, AA-, A+, A, A-, BBB+, BBB, BBB-, etc.)

Using the Fitch Rating

• Fitch’s Investment Grade catagories are:• AAA : the best quality companies, reliable and

stable• AA : quality companies, a bit higher risk than

AAA• A : economic situation can affect finance• BBB : medium class companies, which are

satisfactory at the moment• Any thing else is considered to be a junk bond

Fitch’s Long Term Ratings

• Lets assume that you only want to look at French

banks with an AAA credit rating

• Select Ratings from the left hand panel

• Select the Fitch Ratings and then the Long-term

ratings

•  Select AAA rated banks, click on the chevron so

that it appears in the selected options and then click

OK to produce a list of 42 banks

French AAA Banks• Click on Geographic, country and choose France using the

chevron so that it appears in the selected box, click OK

• Of the 42 AAA rated banks, 8 are French

 • Click on list to view them

 • Select Bank Report and then the Overview Report icon at the

bottom of the page

 • Click on Export, choose a name for your report

 • Select Word and make sure that the All Banks option is clicked

 • Click Export

 

The End