Does risk management matter? Evidence from the U.S. agricultural industry

This article constructs triple-difference tests around shifts in the supply of risk management instruments available to agricultural producers to reveal a positive relation between risk management and productivity. This relation is more robust when producers adopt instruments with payoffs linked to group performance and weaker when payoffs are linked to individual performance. Additionally, productivity is particularly high among risk-managing producers in counties containing high levels of bank deposits, a proxy for access to finance. Overall, this article illuminates the relation between hedging and real firm outcomes as well as the interaction between access to finance and firms' risk management choices.     

Are Risk Management Disclosures Informative or Tautological? Evidence from the U.S. Banking Sector

Banks experienced increasing risk levels during the latest financial crisis. Investors’ confidence was shaken by the effectiveness of bank risk management practices, which has opened new challenges for bank management in approaching its risk. Understanding and communicating adopted risk management mechanisms is likely to provide insights and enable diagnosis on firm risk exposure. Conveying data that reduces information asymmetry might be reflected on stock performance. Investigating the impact of risk management disclosures content on stock price change and return volatility, using a sample of U.S. national commercial banks during 2009–2010, shows that informative risk management disclosures seems to be valued by investors. This is reflected on current‐year stock prices and reduces the subsequent‐year return variances.     

How local is local? Evidence from bank competition and corporate innovation in U.S.

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - This paper aims to fill in a research gap in the effects of bank competition on corporate innovation. In addition to the evidence on the favorable...     

How do corporate websites contribute to the information environment? Evidence from the U.S. and Taiwan

We study corporate website disclosures in the U.S. and Taiwan, two countries with different regulatory and market environments, to provide insights into the uniformity of website content and its contribution to the information environment. We observe significant variation in content both within and between the two countries. U.S. firms with higher analyst following tend to create more transparent financial information environments and provide disclosures that are complementary to analysts’ analyses through their corporate websites. They also tend to provide easier access to investor relations (IR) services if analyst coverage is light or nonexistent. However, neither effect is true in Taiwan where the securities analysis industry is less mature. Individual investors have greater ownership share in U.S. firms with more information about IR services on their websites; however, their ownership share drops as financial disclosure on the firm’s website increases, consistent with institutions diluting individual ownership in firms with more transparency in financial reporting. In Taiwan, however, institutions dilute individual ownership share in firms with less financial information and more trading information on their websites. These results are consistent with Barber et al.’s (2009) findings that institutions find Taiwan firms that attract the aggressive, speculative trading of individuals to be extremely profitable investments. Website disclosures in both countries have some effect on the stock-price response to mandatory earnings releases, but their impact is greater in the U.S. Our findings indicate that website disclosures contribute to the information environment and are related to the degree of interest in the firm by sophisticated market participants. Thus, they provide insights to regulators of both countries as they seek to improve disclosure and “level the information playing field.”     

Can we trust the accounting discretion of firms with political money contributions? Evidence from U.S. IPOs

Using hand-collected data from the U.S., we examine the influence of political money contributions (PMC) on IPO financial reporting. Unraveling the conflicting managerial incentives, we develop and test three distinct hypotheses whereby accounting discretion is utilized to downplay, embellish, or truthfully impart the PMC firm’s prospects. Consistent with the last two hypotheses, we document income-increasing reporting. The effects are strongest for firms sensitive to policy outcomes, and least affected by contemporaneous political events. Post-issue analysis shows that at-issue discretionary accruals systematically predict future accounting performance but are unrelated to stock returns. Survival analysis indicates a lower probability of IPO failure. Robust to a battery of checks, our results support the value-relevance of financial information and a novel use of accounting discretion as a means of signaling expected political gains.     

How financial information disclosure affects risk perception. Evidence from Italian investors’ behaviour

This paper investigates how different representations of financial information may be appraised in terms of complexity and usefulness, and how financial disclosure influences individuals’ risk perception. By using a consumer testing analytical approach, we run a survey on a sample of Italian investors: 254 bank customers were submitted 4 different templates, each combining a different typology of data (historical and prospective) and framing (words, numbers and charts) to indicate the same level of risk and return of four real-life financial instruments. Representation formats partially overlap with those mandated by regulators and used within the financial industry. Results show that the perceived riskiness of financial products is affected by the way information is disclosed. Perceived complexity of the financial information disclosure intensifies perception of riskiness of the product solicited. Gender, age, personal traits, behavioural biases and financial knowledge, do also play a role. Overall, given investors’ heterogeneity and behavioural biases, neither simplifying disclosure nor a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach may be sufficient to ensure correct risk perception and to prevent unbiased investment choices.     

Reserve overstocking in a highly integrated world. New evidence from Asia and Latin America†

Monthly data are used to investigate reserves management in eight Asian and Latin American countries. Idiosyncratic explanatory variables enter into co-integration relationships based on a stochastic buffer stock model, where a reserve variability measure is obtained via conditional variance approaches. International factors influence the co-integration residuals (representing the excess demands for reserves), which tend to co-move within and across geographical areas. Principal components analysis is then implemented to associate their common drivers with the US fed fund effective interest rate and real-effective exchange rate. This two-step approach sheds light on some controversial aspects of reserves and exchange rate management, such as ‘fear of floating’ and mercantilist behavior. Our results suggest that the size of recent excess reserve holdings is probably overstated.     

S.W.I.F.T.解决2000年问题的进展

中国银行作为S.W.L.F.T.用户主席单位，同S.W.L.F.T.国际组织保持着经常性联系.1999年10月29日S.W.L.F．T．2000年小组指定性测试（MandatoryTest－ing）计划经理JoachimHeinke向所有用户协会主席通报了指定性测试期内各成员国情况：截止到10月底，已有98％的S.W.L.F．T用户通过或正在进行指定性测试，占实际日业务量的996％294％的S.W．I．F.T用户确认完成了指定性测试，占实际日业务量的99．0％。上述数据显示了整个金融业在SWLFT2000年就绪方面取得了令人瞩目的成绩。另外S.W.L.F.T.还通报了各国用户具体测试情况。为了…     

S.W.I.F.T.的两种新参与者类型

1998年9月ＳＷＩＦＴ政策委员会曾提出了“非银行机构资金交易确认方案”,核心是通过建立两种新参与者类型,使公司和非银行金融实体也可以利用ＳＷＩＦＴ来进行资金交易的电子化确认。这些公司和非银行金融实体被称作“参与者”,他们可以使用一系列ＳＷＩＦＴ服务,但在ＳＷＩＦＴ中无股份,也无投票权。1999年3月,ＳＷＩＦＴ董事会同意将该方案向本年度大会提交。同年6月,ＳＷＩＦＴ年度大会的股东以绝对多数票通过了上述两种新参与者类型:非银行机构(Ｃｏｕｎｔｅｒｐａｒｔｙ)的资金交易确认和服务中介(ＳｅｒｖｉｃｅＰｒｏｖｉｄｅｒ)的…     

读者.作者.编者

征稿启事在最近一个时期,本刊集中报道以下几方面的情况,希望各级银行和广大作者、读者给我们以积极支持,踊跃供给稿件。 (一)各级银行单位(集体和个人)开展学习毛主席著作的典型材料。主要介绍他们长期坚持活学活用毛主席著作的经验,特别是运用毛主席的有关经济工作的指导思想,解决银行工作中的重大问题的心得体会。 (二)各地银行单位在开展比学赶帮运动中选拔出的先进单他和先进人物,本刊正在陆续介绍他     

读者.作者.编者

我们不断收到有些读者和作者的来信,他们热情地向我们提出许多改进工作的意见,提出一些要求解答的问题,同时建议本刊介绍一些有关写作方面的材料等等。为了进一步加强与读者、作者的联系,我们特在刊物上开辟“读者、作者、编者”专栏,作为沟通情况的园地;并在这个专栏内适当介绍一些有关写作方面的材料,以满足大家的要求。     

金融寡头J.P.摩根

约翰·皮尔庞特·摩根(John Pierpont Morgan,Sr.,简称J.P.摩根)(1837年-1913年)是19世纪末20世纪上半叶美国最重要的银行家,现在他的名字永远写在了一个公司的名字上面,这就是J.P.摩根公司,现在它又与大通曼哈顿公司合并为J.P.摩根大通公司(J.P.Morgan Chase Co.).     

Can media deter management from manipulating earnings? Evidence from China

This study examines the influence of media exposure on managers’ earnings management behavior using China’s publicly traded firms during 2001–2009. We find that firms with more media exposure (both negative and non-negative) manage their earnings less than firms with less media exposure. We also find that “suspect firms” (being specially treated or with refinancing plans like seasoned equity offerings or right offerings) with more media exposure engage in more accrual-based earnings management relative to other firms. These results suggest that Chinese media serve as an external monitor to the majority of firms and place excessive pressure on suspect firms. This paper contributes incrementally to the literature by emphasizing the conflicting role media exposure plays in managerial decisions in earnings management. The findings of this study have practical implications for regulators, auditors, financial analysts, as well as other information intermediaries.     

B.A.S.I.C框架：市场约束下的银行监管

从1994年的墨西哥危机后,阿根廷开始在其对银行的监管中逐渐引入市场约束因素,并从债券、审计、监管、信息和信用评估5个方面建立起了B.A.S.I.C框架.在90年代末的东南亚金融危机和巴西金融动荡中,阿根廷的银行部门表现得相当稳定,并对整个宏观经济的稳定作出了贡献.B.A.S.I.C框架对于即将加入WTO的我国具有重要的借鉴意义.     

赛门铁克成功反击W97M.Prilissa.A和W32.FunLove.4099病毒

北京——赛门铁克公司日前宣布,赛门铁克已经成功地反击了两种计算机新病毒——W97M.Prilissa.A 和 W32.FunLove.4099。W97M.Prilissa.A 是一种具有自我繁殖功能的病毒,并可通过电子邮件传播并于圣诞节发作。W32.FunLove.4099是一种能够破坏 Windows NT文件安全设置的新病毒。这种病毒是比较容易发现的,但是系统一旦被感染就极难修复,因为这种病毒能够躲过反病毒软件的扫描,并重新感染用户的系统。赛门铁克诺顿防病毒软件(Norton Anti-Virus)