The Impact of Trust-Preferred Issuance on Bank Default Risk and Cash Flow: Evidence from the Debt and Equity Securities Markets

Trust‐preferred stock is a debt‐equity hybrid that offers the tax deductibility of dividends but is treated as equity capital by bank regulators and rating agencies. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether holders of bank debt securities benefit from trust‐preferred issuance in the form of lower default premia and whether bank shareholders benefit from the tax deductibility of trust‐preferred dividends. Using daily returns surrounding the Federal Reserve's announcement that trust‐preferred securities would be included as a component of commercial banks' Tier I equity capital, we find evidence to support both hypotheses.     

Bank Capital: Lessons from the Financial Crisis

Using a multicountry panel of banks, we study whether better capitalized banks experienced higher stock returns during the financial crisis. We differentiate among various types of capital ratios: the Basel risk‐adjusted ratio, the leverage ratio, the Tier 1 and Tier 2 ratios, and the tangible equity ratio. We find several results: (i) before the crisis, differences in capital did not have much impact on stock returns; (ii) during the crisis, a stronger capital position was associated with better stock market performance, most markedly for larger banks; (iii) the relationship between stock returns and capital is stronger when capital is measured by the leverage ratio rather than the risk‐adjusted capital ratio; (iv) higher quality forms of capital, such as Tier 1 capital and tangible common equity, were more relevant.     

THE EFFECTS OF BANK CONSOLIDATION ON RISK CAPITAL ALLOCATION AND MARKET LIQUIDITY

We investigate the effects of financial market consolidation on the allocation of risk capital in a financial institution and the implications for market liquidity in dealership markets. An increase in financial market consolidation can increase liquidity in foreign exchange and government securities markets. We assume that financial institutions use risk‐management tools in the allocation of risk capital and that capital is determined at the firm level and allocated among separate business lines or divisions. The ability of market makers to supply liquidity is influenced by their risk‐bearing capacity, which is directly related to the amount of risk capital allocated to this activity.     

投资者理性预期、流动性约束与股价崩盘传染研究

“传染性”是股价崩盘三大基本特征之一,会加剧股价崩盘负面影响,甚至引发系统性金融风险,因此,本文重点关注股价崩盘传染机制研究。首先,本文基于两阶段理性预期均衡模型,提出股价崩盘传染两大假设,即投资者理性预期与流动性约束导致传染;其次,基于2000-2016年全球28个国家或地区资本市场数据,实证检验股价崩盘传染机制和传染渠道。研究显示:(1)投资者理性预期、流动性约束会导致股价崩盘发生传染;(2)股价崩盘事件会在资本市场关联国家或地区传染;(3)提高资本市场信息透明度、加强金融管制有助于降低受关联国家或地区股价崩盘传染。     

Adverse Selection,Investor Experience and Security Choice in Venture Capital Finance: Evidence from Germany

This article analyses 336 German venture capital transactions from 1990 to 2005 and seeks to determine why selected financial securities differ across deals. We find that a broad array of financial instruments is used, covering straight equity, mezzanine and debt‐like securities. Based on the chosen financial securities’ upside potential and downside protection characteristics, we provide an explanation for the differing use of these securities. Our results show that investors’ deal experience, adverse selection risks and economic prospects in the public equity market influence the selection of financial securities.     

Contrasting Worldviews at Bank and Securities Market Regulators

Bank and securities regulators operate with different attitudes about the appropriate regulation of financial institutions and markets. Bank regulators’ prudential oversight protects depositors from worrying about the repayment of their bank claims. In contrast, securities market regulators tend to presume that security markets (almost) always clear quickly at prices close to the asset's fundamental value. These regulators seek to assure full disclosure of information, which facilitates active securities trading. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) investor protection duties are tailored to the financial sophistication of individual investors.     

Stock Market Reactions and Information Transfer Due to Financial Instability in the Life Insurance Industry

ABSTRACT: This study examines the stock market reactions and information transfer effects due to financial instability for four life insurance companies that eventually failed or were taken over by regulators. The four companies were First Executive Corporation, First Capital Holdings Corporation, Monarch Capital Corporation, and Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. In general, significant negative capital market responses were found after a company released an announcement regarding financial instability. Information transfer effects of a negative announcement by one insurer were not found to have a significant impact on the other insurers. This study complements past studies of contagion effects within the insurance industry.     

Relationships between Financial Sectors’ CDS Spreads and Other Gauges of Risk: Did the Great Recession Change Them?

The objectives are to discern how the three financial sectors’ credit default swap (CDS) spreads interrelate to each other and with three other risks in terms of possible contagion, competition, interdependence and independence relations under the full sample and two subperiods: the 2007 Great Recession and the 2009 Recovery, and to assess the impact of QE1 on those risks in the second subperiod. The results indicate that the own and cross‐effects among the CDSs and the other risk measures are significant and mixed, but all in all contagion is dominant. The system has become less stable and less adjusting to the equilibrium in the first subperiod. QE1 in the second period decreases risks but increases inflationary expectations.     

Regulatory Soft Interventions in the Chinese Market: Compliance Effects and Impact on Option Market Efficiency

Securities Laws in China are administered by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The CSRC has great flexibility in administering securities laws since the committee represents the will of the state. Under the state‐controlled financial system, the CSRC works closely with state‐controlled financial firms and suggests, but does not mandate, actions to be taken in the equity market, especially during periods of extreme market stress. These suggestions, or soft interventions, have been used to block trades associated with short sales, significantly reducing short‐sales volume. With daily and intraday data, we investigate the impact of these interventions on put‐call parity and implied volatilities. There is overwhelming evidence of increased deviations from put‐call parity and changes in implied volatility after soft interventions. Our results are robust after allowing for bid‐ask spreads, taxes, transaction costs, and difference‐in‐differences comparisons with control securities in the Hong Kong market.     

Looking Beyond Credit Ratings: Factors Investors Consider In Pricing European Asset‐Backed Securities

In this paper, we empirically investigate what credit factors investors rely upon when pricing the spread at issue for European asset‐backed securities. More specifically, we investigate how credit factors affect new issuance spreads after taking into account credit rating. We do so by investigating primary market spreads for tranches of non‐mortgage‐related asset‐backed securities issued from 1999 to the year prior to the subprime mortgage crisis, 2007. We find that although credit ratings play a major role in determining spreads, investors appear to not rely exclusively on these ratings. Our findings strongly suggest that investors do not ignore other credit factors beyond the assigned credit rating.     

Regulations and Productivity Growth in Banking: Evidence from Transition Economies

This paper examines the relationship between the regulatory and supervision framework, and the productivity of banks in 22 countries over the period 1999–2009. We follow a semiparametric two‐step approach that combines Malmquist index estimates with bootstrap regressions. The results indicate that regulations and incentives that promote private monitoring (PMON) have a positive impact on productivity. Restrictions on banks’ activities relating to their involvement in securities, insurance, real estate, and ownership of nonfinancial firms also have a positive impact. Regulations relating to the first and second pillars of Basel II, namely, capital requirements (CAPR) and official supervisory power (SPR) do not have, in general, a statistically significant impact on productivity over the study period although they appear to gain in importance following the onset of the financial crisis in 2007. The latter finding indicates that stringent capital and supervisory standards have positive productivity effects when financial pressures peak. Our results are robust when controlling for various country‐specific features and alternative estimation approaches.     

Research on China's financial systemic risk contagion under jump and heavy-tailed risk

To accurately measure the dynamic characteristics of systemic risk contagion under the impact of extreme financial events, we construct a research framework that analyzes the contagion dynamics of systemic risk under extreme risk impact from the perspectives of both time and space. Based on the macro-jump CCA method, this paper extracts the heterogeneous volatility sequence of financial industries considering the thick tail of the distribution of financial assets returns. Then, the dynamic variation of systemic risk in the financial sectors is characterized from the time dimension. The volatility spillover network method is used to examine the spillover contagion of systemic risk among financial system sectors from the spatial dimension. Empirical studies have found that when considering the risk contagion level, the capital market service sector plays a risk‑leading role, followed by the currency service sector and the insurance sector. The measurement indicators that consider the jump risk and the tail risk have good early warning effects on extreme financial events. Seen from the spatial direction of risk spillover, the real estate sector exhibits the most obvious risk spillover effect on other sectors and can be regarded as the source of systemic risk, which suggests differentiated regulation.     

Convergence of Insurance and Financial Markets: Hybrid and Securitized Risk-Transfer Solutions

One of the most significant economic developments of the past decade has been the convergence of the financial services industry, particularly the capital markets and (re)insurance sectors. Convergence has been driven by the increase in the frequency and severity of catastrophic risk, market inefficiencies created by (re)insurance underwriting cycles, advances in computing and communications technologies, the emergence of enterprise risk management, and other factors. These developments have led to the development of hybrid insurance/financial instruments that blend elements of financial contracts with traditional reinsurance as well as new financial instruments patterned on asset-backed securities, futures, and options that provide direct access to capital markets. This article provides a survey and overview of the hybrid and pure financial markets instruments and provides new information on the pricing and returns on contracts such as industry loss warranties and Cat bonds.     

Directors' and officers' liability insurance and loan spreads

We analyze the effect of directors' and officers' liability insurance (D&O insurance) on the spreads charged on bank loans. We find that higher levels of D&O insurance coverage are associated with higher loan spreads and that this relation depends on loan characteristics in economically sensible ways and is attenuated by monitoring mechanisms. This association between loan spreads and D&O insurance coverage is robust to controlling for endogeneity (because both could be related to firm risk). Our evidence suggests that lenders view D&O insurance coverage as increasing credit risk (potentially via moral hazard or information asymmetry). Further analyses show that higher levels of D&O insurance coverage are associated with greater risk taking and higher probabilities of financial restatement due to aggressive financial reporting. While greater use of D&O insurance increases the cost of debt, we find some evidence that D&O insurance coverage appears to improve the value of large increases in capital expenditure for firms with better internal and external governance.     

Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress,Incentive Distortions,and Gains Trading

Accounting rules, through their interactions with capital regulations, affect financial institutions’ trading behavior. The insurance industry provides a laboratory to explore these interactions: life insurers have greater flexibility than property and casualty insurers to hold speculative‐grade assets at historical cost, and the degree to which life insurers recognize market values differs across U.S. states. During the financial crisis, insurers facing a lesser degree of market value recognition are less likely to sell downgraded asset‐backed securities. To improve their capital positions, these insurers disproportionately resort to gains trading, selectively selling otherwise unrelated bonds with high unrealized gains, transmitting shocks across markets.     

证券市场托管制度优化研究

当前我国法规层面定义了证券"中央登记、二级托管"模式,但实质属于一级托管。证券托管制度的弊端逐渐显现,主要包括:一是交收主体错位不利于DVP结算制度的实施,二是无法有效组织券源满足市场融券需求,三是抑制证券公司的金融产品及业务创新,四是在一定程度上影响了市场的证券结算效率,五是不利于我国证券市场与国际接轨。本文建议:一是构建"看穿式"证券二级托管机制;二是优化顶层设计,健全与完善证券托管法规体系;三是建立证券公司二级托管业务内部管理体系;四是加强对证券公司开展二级托管业务的外部监督管理。     

Convergence and risk-return linkages across financial service firms

We examine the risk and return linkages across US commercial banks, securities firms, and life insurance companies during the 1991–2001 period. After controlling for changes in the broader stock market, interest rates, and foreign currency values, we find that return and risk interdependencies across these financial firms are significant and size-varying; larger institutions display stronger volatility transmission linkages, while smaller ones exhibit more prominent return-related linkages. The tighter link in risk among large financial institutions (FIs) suggests stronger convergence, employment of common models of risk measurement and risk management, and more intense inter-industry competition, particularly between large banks and large securities firms, compared to smaller institutions. Lack of risk spillover among smaller FIs confirms the intuition that they typically assume more localized and idiosyncratic risk. The co-movement of stock returns among smaller FIs has been helped by the effects of locally based factors, such as economic conditions and state regulations, on all such institutions, and a less diversified product set. Differences in spillover patterns between large and smaller institutions have implications on investment choices and mergers and acquisitions in the industry. Introduction of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) has had dissimilar effects on the riskiness of large versus smaller life insurance and securities firms, and an insignificant effect on commercial banks.     

海外保险机构并购国内基金公司的财富效应研究——基于宏利人寿并购泰达荷银基金案例分析

海外保险机构希望选择通过并购国内基金公司来增强自身综合化与国际化经营能力,但其前景如何？以宏利人寿保险并购国内泰达荷银基金管理为例,分别从市场反应和财务绩效两个方面来研究宏利人寿并购产生的财富效应。在并购公告的市场反应来看,其累积超常收益率都跑赢了市场;从财务指标变动趋势发现,宏利人寿盈利能力稳健,成长能力逐年增强,风险水平比较低,抵御风险能力较强,长期来看将产生协同效应,创造价值。从而对宏利金融管理人员、宏利金融公司股东、证券监管者、保险监管者等提出了一些建议。     

Cross‐Border Bank M&As and Risk: Evidence from the Bond Market

The impact of cross‐border bank M&As on bank risk remains an open question. Though geographically diversifying bank M&As have the potential to reduce the risk of bank insolvency, they also have the potential to increase that risk due to the increase in risk‐taking incentives by bank managers and stockholders following these transactions. This paper empirically investigates whether cross‐border bank M&As increase or decrease the risk of acquiring banks as captured by changes in acquirers' yield spreads. This paper also investigates how differences in the institutional environments between bidder and target countries affect changes in yield spreads following M&A announcements. The study finds that bondholders, in general, perceive cross‐border bank M&As as risk‐increasing activities, unlike domestic bank mergers. Specifically, on average, yield spreads increase by 4.13 basis points following the announcement of cross‐border M&As. This study also finds that these yield spreads are significantly affected by the differences in investor‐protection and deposit insurance environments between the transacting countries. However, the study does not find that the regulatory and supervisory environment in the home countries of the transacting parties significantly affects the changes in yield spreads. The overall evidence suggests that regulators should judge the relative environment in both the home and the host countries in evaluating the associated risks of an active multinational financial institution and in setting the sufficiency of the banks' reserve positions.     

Return Dependence and the Limits of Product Diversification in Financial Firms

Copula‐GARCH models indicate dependence between bank returns and those to insurance underwriting, securities brokerage, and mortgage finance increased during the recent crisis. In contrast, dependence between banks and the broader market was little changed. The crisis‐related jump in return dependence within the financial services sector was greatest for banks that had previously appeared the most independent. Larger banks were also especially prone to increased dependence. These findings raise doubts about the ability of financial conglomerates to diversify effectively and highlight the need for policy progress in methods for resolving such institutions should they become illiquid or insolvent.