The simulation of human intelligence in machines, called Artificial intelligence, has risen, and plays an important role in the new banking era. The present study aims to discuss the consumer’s perspective on artificial intelligence’s adoption in Asian countries. The questionnaire was developed and distributed to collect data from five Asian countries (Pakistan, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand). The total useable responses were 799. The results showed that the factors (awareness, attitude, subjective norms, perceived usefulness, and knowledge of artificial intelligence technology) had a significant and positive relationship with the intention to adopt AI in the banking sector. However, perceived risk shows a negative but significant relationship with the intentions to adopt AI. Overall, the findings of this study will be a worthy insight for making strategic decision-making in the banking industry. This will enable the banking management to build a strategy to increase the trust of consumers, which will help them to overcome risks and give them confidence in using digital technology while making transactions. The banking sector also focuses on innovative AI technologies to improve customer services as well as overall growth by generating more revenue.

In today’s world, the energy sector is considered the backbone of any economy and plays a key role in carbon trading markets and mitigation actions. This study explores the impact of CSR governance on carbon footprints and the social performances of the energy sector. Using an international sample of 45 countries from 2002 to 2017, we find that the existence of a CSR committee improves the firm’s social responsibility and effectively mitigates the carbon footprint. Further, our results present that a large CSR committee with more experienced board members are effective to implement sustainable business practices. Furthermore, a CSR committee with experienced board members does not mitigate the environmental and social concerns, when energy firms have more powerful CEOs. Collectively, our evidence indicates that the existence of CSR governance is favorable to focus on social issues than environmental ones.

The importance of downside risk cannot be denied. In this study, we have replaced beta in the five-factor model of using downside beta and have added a momentum factor to suggest a new six-factor downside beta capital asset pricing model (CAPM). Two models are tested—a beta- and momentum-based six-factor model and a downside-beta- (proxy of downside risk) and momentum-based six-factor model. Beta and downside beta are highly correlated; therefore, portfolios are double-sorted to disentangle the correlation. Factor loadings, i.e., size, value, momentum, profitability, and investment, are constructed. The standard methodologies are applied. Data for sample stocks from different non-financial sectors listed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) are taken from January 2000 to December 2018. The PSX-100 index and three-month T-bills are taken as proxies for market and risk-free returns. The study uses three subsamples for robustness—period of very high volatility, period of stability, and period of stability and growth with volatility. The results show that the value factor is redundant in both models. The momentum factor is rejected in the beta-based six-factor model only. The beta-based six-factor model shows very low R² in periods of highly volatility. The R² is high for the other periods. In contrast, the downside beta six-factor model captures the downside trend of the market in an effective manner with a relatively high R². The risk–return relationship is stronger for the downside beta model. These reasons lead us to believe that, overall, the downside beta six-factor model is a better option for investors as compared to the beta-based six-factor model in the area of asset pricing models.