AT THE CROSSROADS: THE LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND FINANCIAL SERVICES REFORM

Abstract: In September of 1996, The Board of Directors of the American Council of Life Insurance ("ACLI")reversed decades of policy and embraced for the first time the concept of reciprocal ownership or "affiliations" between life insurance companies and commercial banks. Under this new policy mandate, the ACLI is advocating federal legislation that would permit banks to sell all types of insurance and control insurance underwriters through separate affiliates or subsidiaries. In return, 1) insurers would have the authority to acquire banks; 2) the insurance activities of banks would be fully subject to state insurance regulation; and 3) federal bank regulators would be precluded from preempting state regulatory authority.
This article reviews the various factors that precipitated this watershed policy decision, discusses the structural and regulatory issues that are important to life insurers, and speculates briefly on the prospects for financial services legislation.     

城商行股权结构异质性及治理效率：基于文献及案例视角的分析

股权结构是城商行公司治理基石,良好的股权结构对于防范内部人控制、大股东控制问题具有至关重要的作用。城商行股份制改革逐渐步入深水区,深入研究国内城商行股权结构具有重要的理论与现实意义。通过对东部沿海36家样本城商行的案例分析,并基于股权结构异质性与治理效率文献研究的视角,结果表明,虽然多数城商行已具备相对集中且制衡的股权结构状态,但是,受地方财政分权及晋升激励制度的影响,地方政府仍然通过＂胡萝卜加大棒＂政策直接或者间接（通过控制链）控制城商行,这种控制在一定程度上影响城商行治理效率的发挥及经营绩效的改善,城商行距离真正的市场化运作还有一定的距离。     

城市商业银行股权结构改革的制度经济学解释

产权结构的优化依然是城市商业银行完善公司治理、提高银行经营效率的决定因素。城市商业银行制度演变的逻辑起点,决定了地方政府对城市商业银行的绝对控制权的掌握,进而决定了城市商业银行产权制度安排的非效率特征,也决定了城市商业银行的产权结构改革的趋势。正是城市商业银行的产权结构的制度安排现状,成为产权制度强制性变迁的路径依赖。"金股"机制前提下的多元化股权制度安排,不失为城市商业银行产权变迁的政策切入点。     

我国银行业改革与引进外资的开放竞争策略

针对我国银行业面临的问题和外资银行进入后的竞争压力,本文通过分析几种不同改革思路后认为,我国银行业改革的核心问题是产权和公司治理,两者紧密相连,产权改革是为了获得良好的公司治理,私有化和引入外资都是可供选择的产权改革方式之一,理论上不存在何者更优.国有商业银行改革的关键在于改变国有独资所有权结构为多元投资结构,可供选择的方案有不改变所有权性质的多个国有投资主体的单一所有制和引进包括国有、民营、外资参股的多元所有制.鉴于我国银行业目前的特点,外资参股并不是一种最优的选择,引进外资银行的正确策略是:独资优于合作,合作优于合资.     

城商行股权结构异质性及治理效率--基于文献及案例视角的分析

股权结构是城商行公司治理基石,良好的股权结构对于防范内部人控制、大股东控制问题具有至关重要的作用。城商行股份制改革逐渐步入深水区,深入研究国内城商行股权结构具有重要的理论与现实意义。本文通过对东部沿海36家样本城商行的案例分析,并基于股权结构异质性与治理效率文献研究的视角,发现虽然多数城商行已具备相对集中且制衡的股权结构状态,但是受地方财政分权及晋升激励制度的影响,地方政府仍然直接或者间接控制城商行,这种控制在一定程度上影响城商行治理效率的发挥及经营绩效的改善,城商行距离真正的市场化运作还有一定的距离。     

Location Decisions of Foreign Banks and Competitor Remoteness

This paper examines the role of “competitor remoteness”—the weighted average distance of all competing banks to a host country—on the location decision of a foreign bank. It uses unique, bilateral data on 1,199 foreign banks from 75 home countries present in 110 host countries. It finds that, besides bilateral distance, competitor remoteness importantly drives foreign banks’ location decisions. The impact of distance and competitor remoteness is stronger for non‐OECD home and host countries, when the scale of foreign bank inward and outward investment is limited, and for host countries where foreign banks dominate.     

银行业改革、市场化与信贷资源的配置

鉴于我国资本市场弱法律风险和股权高度集中的基本特征,本文提出了一个分析我国银行信贷业务预期违约风险的基本框架。以此为基础,本文考察了我国的银行业改革以及市场化进程对银行信贷资源配置行为的影响。研究发现,银行配置信贷资源时,会认真考虑贷款企业的历史财务绩效和代理成本。并且,银行业改革和地区市场化进程都成功促进了银行信贷资源配置行为的商业化。本文的研究为评价银行业改革的历史进程提供了经验证据,也为进一步的努力方向提供了一些有益的线索。一方面,银行在配置其信贷资源时不仅要进一步关注贷款企业的财务绩效;另一方面,也应当致力于促使银行在确立必要报酬率时进一步关注贷款企业的代理成本。     

Can Foreigners Improve the Profitability of Emerging Market Banks? Evidence from the Vietnamese Strategic Partner Program

Foreign ownership and foreign management are often assumed to improve the efficiency of emerging market banks. Our article examines this relationship for the Vietnamese strategic partner program, where foreign banks have been allowed to take minority stakes in local banks. We add to the existing literature by distinguishing between ownership by foreign strategic and non-strategic investors, and between foreign management sent by the strategic partner and independent foreign executives. We show that only the presence of independent foreign executives has a positive impact on banks. We interpret these results as the consequence of conflicts of interest and power struggles between local shareholders and the strategic partner, which prevent efficiency in enhancing technology transfer.     

Analysing the determinants of performance of best and worst European banks: A mixed logit approach

Using a dataset of 7635 observations on 1384 commercial banks operating in the EU between 1993 and 2001, we utilise a mixed logit model to identify factors that explain the probability of a bank being a best [worst] performer. The empirical evidence confirms the importance of country-level characteristics (location and legal tradition), and firm-level features (bank ownership, balance sheet structure and size). Specifically, smaller sized banks with higher loan-intensity, and foreign banks from countries upholding common law traditions have a higher probability of best performance.     

Foreign bank lending in the U.S. during three U.S. recessions

We study whether foreign banks engaged in countercyclical lending in the United States during the 1990–1991, 2001, and 2007–2009 recessions. Aggregate lending by foreign banks increased in the 1990–91 recession and by domestic banks in the 2001 recession. Controlling for local GDP and unemployment, we show countercyclical lending by foreign branches in the 1990 recession and by foreign subsidiaries in the 2001 recession. In the 2008 recession, foreign branches and subsidiaries exhibited neither countercyclical nor procyclical lending. We conclude that foreign banks like domestic banks respond to local economic conditions; the foreign ownership is not a factor.