Bank financial structure in pre-crisis East and Southeast Asia

Seeking evidence on the role of bank governance in the 1997 crisis, we study financial structure and bank performance from 1987 to 1997. Financial performance ratios (capital adequacy, liquidity, profitability, and loan preference) are regressed on structural variables (bank assets, net income, administrative expenses, and time), focusing on banks’ management efficiency and financial performance. During financial liberalization, loan-preference ratios were higher, perhaps signaling more risk; so were capital-adequacy ratios. Capital adequacy falls, then rises as management size increases; profitability behaves oppositely, indicating diminishing returns. Thailand’s, Korea’s and Indonesia’s banks show stronger lending preference but weaker profitability; possible harbingers of crisis.     

CEO Power,Internal Control Quality,and Audit Committee Effectiveness in Substance Versus in Form

During the past decade, new regulations have been adopted to improve audit committee effectiveness. Prior research has generally provided evidence in support of these regulations and suggests that a more independent and expert audit committee is more effective. We posit that CEO power reduces or even eliminates the improvements in audit committee effectiveness resulting from independent and financially expert committee members. Thus, CEO power may result in an audit committee that appears effective in form but is not in substance. We construct a composite index for CEO power by combining ten CEO characteristics and employ the incidence of internal control weaknesses as a proxy for audit committee monitoring quality. Since all the firms in our sample have completely independent audit committees, we use financial expertise to examine the impact of CEO power on audit committee effectiveness. We find that, when CEO power is low, audit committee financial expertise is negatively associated with the incidence of internal control weaknesses. However, as CEO power increases, this association monotonically weakens. When CEO power reaches a sufficiently high level, this association is no longer negative. The moderating effect of CEO power on audit committee effectiveness is more prominent when the CEO extracts more rents from the firm through insider trading. Our results are not driven by the CEO's involvement in director selection. Our paper suggests that more expert audit committees in form do not automatically translate into more effective monitoring. Rather, the substantive monitoring effectiveness of audit committees is contingent on CEO power.     

Corporate Governance and CEO Innovation

A fundamental concern emerging from the corporate literature is the agency problem of innovation. While innovation is considered as a major driver of corporate growth and profitability, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has an intrinsic reluctance to pursue innovation projects. The thrust of this paper is to identify the mechanisms of corporate governance which help attenuate this problem, thereby encouraging the CEO to have the propensity to innovate. The empirical results suggest that firms with a widespread dispersion of shares among shareholders are less likely to encourage the CEO to innovate. The likelihood of innovation appears to increase, however, in the presence of a large shareholder. Contrary to prevailing beliefs, there appears to be no association between innovation and board independence. The same result holds for board size. Also, a diverse board appears to negate CEO predisposition to innovate. On the other hand, innovation increases when the CEO is not the Board Chair but has equity ownership, although the incentive effect is economically small. The paper uses a sample of domestically-owned, publicly-listed Australian firms over the period 1994–2003.     

The Role of Pension Business Benefits in Institutional Block Ownership and Corporate Governance*

We investigate whether potential pension contracting benefits lead institutions that provide pension services to acquire ownership blocks in firms and the implications of such blockholdings on the firms' corporate governance. We use the 2006 Pension Protection Act, which expanded pension participation in certain states, as a quasi-exogenous shock and find an increase in block ownership by pension-providing institutions in firms with substantial operations in affected states. Further, we find that the acquisition of a large block increases the likelihood that the institution will provide future pension services to the firm. With regard to corporate governance, we find that the acquisition of large pension blockholdings is associated with higher CEO pay and lower CEO turnover following poor financial performance. However, contrary to the prediction of the private benefits hypothesis, we do not find consistent evidence that large pension blockholdings are associated with declining firm profitability, suggesting that pension institutions are incentivized to exert monitoring to preserve the investment value of their blockholdings. Overall, our evidence is consistent with pension service institutions acquiring ownership blocks to obtain pension contracts, but our evidence does not support the prediction that they use their influence to compromise shareholder value.     

Financial performance and corporate governance in microfinance: Evidence from Asia

Good corporate governance is considered a building block of success for microfinance institutions (MFIs) as it is presumed to help them in achieving their social and financial goals. This paper analyzes the corporate governance and financial performance relationship for MFIs in Asia. We make use of a panel dataset involving 173 MFIs in 18 Asian countries for the period 2007–2011. We construct a corporate governance index based on seven measures pertaining to board size and composition, CEO characteristics, and ownership type. We then estimate the two-way relationship between this index and each of five different financial performance indicators. To address the likely simultaneity between corporate governance and financial performance, we adopt a two-stage least squares estimation approach with instrumental variables. Our results confirm the endogenous nature of corporate governance and financial performance. We conclude that profitability and sustainability of MFIs improve with good governance practices and conversely that more profitable and sustainable MFIs have better governance systems.     

第一大股东性质、董事会领导结构与公司绩效

通过对2010年A股上市公司的实证研究,从第一大股东视角研究不同的董事会领导结构安排对公司绩效的影响。研究表明,当第一大股东对公司控制能力较强时,两职合一与公司绩效负相关,而控制能力较弱时,两职合一与公司绩效正相关。本文还根据第一大股东所有权性质的不同进行分类研究,发现当公司第一大股东为非国有股股东时,由董事长分任总经理更有助于改善公司绩效。     

Board leadership structure for Chinese public listed companies

It is widely accepted that board leadership structure and whether the chairperson and CEO roles should be undertaken jointly or separately affects the performance of a firm. Despite this consensus, empirical evidence presents major uncertainties as to the direction and degree of this influence. This study contributes to this debate by examining the relationship between board leadership structure and firm performance and the expense ratio, using propensity-score matching methods for Chinese PLCs from 2003–2010. It is reported that whilst CEO duality is not related to companies' profitability ratios, it is linked to a higher expense ratio compared to matched companies with a separate board leadership structure. This indicates that a separate board leadership structure is an effective corporate governance arrangement to reduce agency costs for Chinese PLCs.     

Bank performance and its determinants in Korea

In this study we develop a measure of bank performance based on the Malmquist index approach. This measure supplements existing financial ratios such as ROA and ROE by addressing some of limitations of these ratios. In our empirical investigation building upon the Malmquist index measure as well as the profitability ratios, we never find convincing evidence of economies of scale present in the Korean banking sector. It also appears that a certain type of ownership such as foreign international banks has the potential to significantly improve bank performance while the management control of government or foreign buyout funds has mainly unfavorable effects on bank performance.     

Bank profitability and the bank lending channel: Evidence from China

This paper uses bank-level data to investigate whether the impact of monetary policy on bank lending depends on the characteristics of Chinese banks during the period 1985–2007. We find that the impact of monetary policy on lending is weaker for larger banks and banks with lower levels of liquidity, and that banks’ responses to monetary policy do not necessarily vary according to their capital. Further, to identify the bank lending channel more clearly, we test whether the impact of monetary policy varies according to profitability. The results show that profitable banks tend to be less sensitive to monetary policy, because when tight monetary policy leads to a fall in deposits, less profitable banks face a higher cost of capital.     

Does a large loss of bank capital cause Evergreening? Evidence from Japan

Using the real estate lending share of the bank’s loan portfolio at the peak of the land-price bubble as an instrument for bank capital, we identify the impact of capital adequacy on the allocation of bank lending under the Basel regulatory framework. We find that, in Japan, a large loss of bank capital caused by the regulator’s excessively tough stance towards banks not only induced the contraction of the bank lending supply but also the banks’ reallocation of their lending portfolios to financially unhealthy industries with a higher concentration of non-performing loans.     

Debt financing structure,ownership concentration and firm performance: a comparison of the listed state-owned and non-state-owned CMNEs

This paper examines the impact of debt financing and ownership concentration on internationalization performance by using a sample of 217 Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) from 2009 to 2016. Through fixed-effect regression and dynamic threshold analysis, this paper finds that increasing short-term debts is positively associated with the internationalization performance of non-state-owned CMNEs, while increasing short-term debts by state-owned CMNEs will harm their performance. Ownership concentration affects CMNEs’ risk preference and thus affecting their internationalization performance in different degrees. This paper finds that the threshold for the impact of CMNEs’ largest shareholder’s ownership concentration on its internationalization performance is 0.18, the thresholds for the impact of CMNEs’ top 10 shareholders’ ownership concentration on its internationalization performance are 0.346 and 0.433. When state-owned CMNEs’ top 10 shareholders’ ownership concentration exceeds 0.337 and 0.347, their internationalization performance will have significant positive changes. Overall, this study is expected to contribute to the literature of internationalization of emerging market companies.     

CEO并购补偿会影响股东财富吗?

目标公司CEO的并购补偿是否会影响股东财富?以2009~2021年被收购的2946个目标公司为样本采用实证研究法探究了目标公司CEO并购补偿对股东财富的影响。研究发现:CEO并购补偿对股东财富的影响在不同预期协同效应下具有显著差异,预期协同效应较高时降低了目标公司股东财富,预期协同效应较低时,提高了目标公司股东财富。当目标公司存在盈余管理时,CEO并购补偿对目标公司股东财富的负面影响更加显著。进一步分析了不同协同效应下目标公司CEO并购补偿对股东财富影响的作用机制,目标公司发放并购补偿的程度及CEO留任可能性是其主要原因。文章丰富了国内以目标公司为视角研究并购中CEO薪酬与股东代理问题的文献,为规范目标公司CEO在并购中的行为、提高股东财富提供了理论支持与经验证据。     

Management innovations in family firms after CEO successions: Evidence from Japanese SMEs

We examine management innovation of family and non-family firms after CEO successions by using data of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan. Consistent with predictions based on the resource-based view and agency theory, we find that family firms managed by non-family professional CEO successors are less innovative than those managed by family CEO successors or non-family firms. Further analyses indicate that limited access to family-based resources is a key determinant of the conservativeness of professional CEO successors. Our findings suggest the importance of the congruence of ownership and management in family firms due to CEOs’ access to family-based resources.     

Bank Lending and Business Cycles: South African Evidence

Abstract: The paper provides empirical analysis on the linkage between the behavior of bank lending and business cycles in South Africa. Consistent with theory, overall evidence suggesting pro‐cyclicality of bank lending is uncovered both at macro and micro levels. At macro level, bank lending and lending rates have moved in tandem with business cycles. Real borrowing by government was counter‐cyclical to business cycles as would be expected if the role of government was to fine‐tune the economy during booms and recessions. At micro level, bank lending to households and firms was generally pro‐cyclical. Even the growth of provisioning by banks has been largely pro‐cyclical to business cycles, though exceptions were recorded. First, new mortgage lending exhibited counter‐cyclical behavior before 1993. We attributed this behavior to the political and economic climate prevailing then which created uncertainties that made ownership of property a good hedge against economic and political risks. Secondly, the growth of real credit for investment and of foreign trade finance does not appear to have been related to business cycles.     

No lending relationships and liquidity management of small businesses during a financial shock

We investigate the determinants of the end of lending relationships with banks using small business data. We also investigate how small businesses without lending relationships financed credit demand during the global financial shock. First, we find that firms with lower growth, low working capital, and high internal cash were more likely to end lending relationships with banks. Supply-side effects on the determinants of the end of relationships are insignificant. Second, when firms experienced credit demand during the financial shock, those with lending relationships increased bank borrowings while those without lending relationships reduced internal cash. Third, firm performance (in terms of profitability) was neither lower nor higher for firms that did not have lending relationships with banks during the shock period.     

所有权安排与监事会治理效率——基于中国上市公司的实证发现

以2002年到2004年中国A股上市公司为样本,本文发现国有上市公司的监事会治理绩效要劣于非国有企业.但是,在国有企业中,随着第一大股东持股比例上升,监事会治理绩效逐渐增强.而在非国有企业中,随着第一大股东持股比例上升,监事会治理绩效则有轻微下降的趋势.这表明,监事会制度是一种依赖于产权安排的相机治理机制.     

Impact of international expansion strategy on the performance of Japanese banks

The effect of cross-border diversification on bank performance is part of the broader debate on how multinational banking and financial integration affect the global financial economy. Previous studies that examined this relationship present mixed results - namely that cross-border diversification improves bank performance but also increases bank risks that could lead to systemic failure. Even so, this line of debate has not been examined in the case of Japanese banks conducting international operations. The present study questions whether cross-border diversification improves the performance of Japanese banks and to what extent each cross-border expansion activity affects bank performance. The latter was largely ignored in previous studies. Our results show that cross-border diversification improves cost efficiency but decreases/harms the profit efficiency of the banks analyzed. In addition, we find that the expansion of foreign assets and foreign branch operations present funding risks and operational inefficiency. We offer two important recommendations. First, as a major player in international lending, the current expansion activities of Japanese banks require close monitoring and supervision to prevent systemic risk resulting from aggressive and risky overseas expansion activities. Second, the current expansion strategies of Japanese banks, especially the expansion of overseas assets and branch operations (retail banking), should be re-examined.     

The impact of foreign investors on the risk-taking of Japanese firms

Consistent with a bank-centered governance system, Japanese firms exhibit an exceptionally low level of performance variability. The increased involvement of foreign investors motivated by shareholder value is thus likely to have triggered a major shift in their risk-taking behavior. My results confirm this assumption as all standard measures of performance volatility appear to have significantly increased with the level of foreign ownership. Controlling for endogeneity provides higher point estimates supporting anecdotal evidence that foreign investors have targeted firms taking unusually low risk. Overall, the evidence highlights the considerable impact that this category of investors can have on a firm’s decisions and, by consequence, on its performance.     

Impact of Foreign Bank Entry on the Performance of Chinese Banks

This study investigates how foreign bank/investor penetrations influence local bank performance in China. At the country level, foreign bank penetration is proxied by MacroFP, measured by the percentage of banks with foreign strategic investors （FSI） among total banks. At the bank level foreign bank penetration is proxied by MicroFP, measured by the percentage shareholding of FSl in a bank. When foreign bank penetration is proxied by MacroFP, it is found to improve the profitability of local banks but not to reduce costs. Next, when foreign bank penetration is proxied by MicroFP, it is found to affect neither profitability nor costs. In sum, the present study demonstrates that the opening-up policy is correct from a macro perspective, However, for banks that have introduced FSI, determining the reasons for improvements in performance being inhibited is more important than releasing more shares to foreign investors.     

US vs. euro area: Who drives cross-border bank lending to EMs?

This paper analyzes the drivers of cross-border bank lending to 49 Emerging Markets (EMs) during the period 1990Q1–2014Q4, by assessing the impact of monetary, financial and real sector shocks in both the US and the euro area. The literature has traditionally highlighted the influence of US monetary policy on driving cross-border bank flows, and more recently the importance of both US and Euro Area (EA) financial/banking sectors’ related variables. Our contribution is the simultaneous analysis of the role of these US and EA drivers, as well as their interactions with real sector shocks. We corroborate the negative impact of US monetary policy tightening on cross-border lending to EMs, but we find that EA monetary policy seems to have an impact mostly on Emerging Europe, reflecting the fact that cross-border lending to most other EM regions is dollar denominated. We also find that real sector shocks in both the US and EA trigger an increase in cross-border lending, but less in EA when modeling the financial sector. Finally, for financial sector shocks, such as those associated with a decrease in bank leverage, our results indicate a broad-based overall contraction of cross-border lending if the shock originates in the US, and heterogenous effects across borrowing regions if the shock originates in the EA.