Impact of the global financial crisis on Islamic and conventional stocks and bonds

This study explores the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on Islamic and conventional stock and bond indices in 11 Islamic and eight non‐Islamic countries. We find that there are benefits of Islamic stocks during the GFC, particularly during the early stage of the crisis because Islamic institutions are prohibited from holding sub‐prime mortgage securities and derivatives. The strongest benefits of Islamic stocks are in the UK and USA. We conclude that there are benefits of risk reduction and stability for Islamic stocks during a financial crisis, although not necessarily during a global recession.     

A shared boundary object: Financial innovation and engineering in Islamic financial institutions

This paper explores the way in which ethico-faith-based rules act as a boundary object in constraining the process of financial innovation and engineering (FIE) in Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs). The paper examines how this faith-based approach is enacted in the FIE process amid different social worlds and groups that cooperate without consensus within IFIs. We contribute to studies of governance in faith-based organizations, by identifying the plasticity of faith-based rules that act as boundary objects in the governance of the FIE process. The plasticity of ethico-faith based rules allows coordination among local and global actors with intersecting faith-based values, logics, and interests. IFIs ensure that the products of FIE become an integral part of and as compatible as possible with the logics of global financial markets.     

伊斯兰银行业公司治理:理论与实践

伊斯兰银行业公司治理由于其自身不同的经营特点而与传统银行业治理存在较大的差异,其治理结构、代理关系较为复杂,成为英美、德日模式之外较具代表性的一种模式。本文从伊斯兰银行的治理结构及其复杂的委托代理关系出发,论述了其面临的代理问题,并就其代理问题介绍了伊斯兰银行业的公司治理实践,以期为我国的银行业治理提供一定的借鉴。     

Controlling Investment Decisions: Depreciation- and Capital Charges

This paper examines a multiperiod principal-agent model in which a divisional manager has superior information regarding the profitability of an investment project available to his division. The manager also contributes to the periodic operating cash flows of his division through personally costly effort. We demonstrate that it is optimal for the principal to delegate the investment decision and to base the manager's compensation on the residual income performance measure. Our analysis points to a class of depreciation rules and to a particular capital charge rate which together ensure that a profitable (unprofitable) project makes a positive (negative) contribution to residual income in every period. As a consequence, the compensation parameters for each period can be chosen freely so as to address the moral hazard problems without impacting the manager's investment incentives.     

美国投资银行危机及其转型剖析

本文通过分析美国投资银行经营模式的缺陷,找出2008年美国投资银行危机及其转型的深刻原因。分析结果显示,融资模式的缺陷、过度依赖高风险业务是美国投资银行危机的内因,而外部监管漏洞放任了投资银行的经营管理,是投资银行危机的重要外因。投资银行危机促使美国主要独立投资银行转型为全能银行经营模式,这是美国银行业发展一个重要的转折点。但危机仅仅是投资银行转型的诱因,全能银行经营模式的相对优势是美国独立投资银行转型的根本原因。     

Efficiency and Dynamics of Islamic Investment: Evidence of Geopolitical Effects on Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes

This paper analyzes both the market quality and price dynamics of a sample group of Islamic indexes. Our results highlight that efficient investment allocation is not compromised by the application of Shariah criteria. However, although few indexes impose an additional liquidity cost on investors, a vast majority of indexes present degrees of liquidity that are similar to conventional indexes. Ultimately, investors whose investment decisions are guided by religious principles do not bear significant additional costs of inefficiency but may have to accept that their portfolios are more sensitive to geopolitical events. However, Islamic indexes may contribute to the international diversification of investors' portfolios.     

Capital expenditures and firm performance: evidence from a cross‐sectional analysis of stock returns

Using a simple two‐period model of investment, we show that there should be a nonlinear relation between a firm's investment‐to‐capital ratio and its subsequent stock returns. This prediction finds substantial empirical support. The evidence indicates that the slope of the investment function is negative at low investment levels, close to zero at intermediate investment levels and negative at high investment levels. Our results, which are robust to the use of narrowly‐ and broadly‐defined measures of capital investment, pose a challenge to the hypothesis that the negative cross‐sectional correlation between investment and stock returns is attributable to some sort of overinvestment phenomenon.     

Growth Opportunities and Investment Decisions: A New Perspective on the Cost of Capital

This paper shows that it is not always correct to make an upward adjustment to the stock beta in calculating the hurdle rate for capital budgeting even when the project under consideration is riskier than existing assets. The paper also shows that the correct hurdle rate is smaller than the market capitalization rate calculated from the firm's stock beta when the project under consideration has the same risk as existing assets. In addition, it is shown that the market capitalization rate will be an underestimate (overestimate) of the correct hurdle rate when the risk of future assets is greater (smaller) than both the risk of assets in place and that of future capital expenditures. These new results are direct consequences of the insight that the firm's investment opportunities are in fact real call options written on underlying assets.     

A comparative performance of conventional and Islamic unit trusts: Market timing and persistence evidence

It is expected that the returns and resistance of Islamic mutual funds will be different from conventional mutual funds as the former have limited choices for portfolio diversification. This article analyses the performance of conventional and Islamic unit trusts for the period February 1995 to July 2012 in the Malaysian market, one of the most developed Islamic mutual fund markets. The performance analysis is based on four parameters: (i) risk-adjusted returns of unit trusts; (ii) market timing abilities; (iii) selection performance; and (iv) persistence. The results of this study suggest that the returns of both conventional and Islamic unit trusts have outperformed the market throughout the sample period. The results for market timing and selectivity are mostly the same for both categories of funds. However, Islamic unit trusts seem to have better resistance to market downturn than conventional unit trusts. The results of this research can be used by investors to identify funds or create portfolios that are more suitable for a recessionary scenario and for fund managers to better manage their portfolio performance during times when markets are likely to fall. The findings in this article are highly relevant for policymakers, investors and fund managers to determine policy matters, deciding on investment and marketing strategy for Islamic mutual funds.     

Risk,return and mean‐variance efficiency of Islamic and non‐Islamic stocks: evidence from a unique Malaysian data set

We find that Islamic stocks are more mean–variance efficient than non‐Islamic stocks and the market because they reduce risk of the same level of returns. We combine a unique Malaysian data set of individual Islamic stocks (as opposed to aggregate stock indices) since 1997 with a new method where we apply Islamic business activity and financial ratio screens to the universe of Malaysian stocks. Both data sets show that Islamic stocks have an annualised standard deviation that is on average 3.43–3.78 percent points lower compared to non‐Islamic stocks. This lower variance of Islamic stocks is exclusively driven by financial ratio screens.     

Originators,wholesalers, and conduits: The marginal value of the contract rate on 30-year conventional mortgages

The model we present solves for the value of an incremental change in the mortgage contract given an expectation about the time the mortgage will be outstanding and a required return for this time span. The marginal value participants in the primary mortgage market place on the contract rate of a 30-year conventional mortgage determines the array of bids for new mortgage production. Mortgagors can issue mortgages at various discounts. High discounts are associated with low contract rates, and low discounts are associated with high contract rates. This article examines the way wholesale dealers and conduits value the various contract rates associated with current production of 30-year conventional mortgages.     

保险市场与资本市场对接模式的国际比较研究

现阶段我国保险业快速发展的瓶颈约束与我国资本市场的结构性缺陷迫切需要借鉴国际上先进的保险市场与资本市场对接经验,从金融深化和金融创新的层面探索适合我国国情的对接模式。本文通过比较美、英、日、德四国的对接模式发现,保险市场与资本市场的和谐对接是资金、产品和制度对接三方面的共融体,是金融市场自然演进与风险资本动态规制的最优范式结合。基于此,我国应在经济、金融微观制度基础变迁的基础上适时选择符合我国国情的具有可操作性和可持续性的对接模式。     

Stock recommendations and investment portfolio formation: A study in the Brazilian market

The stock analysts have a relevant role in the capital market, since, directly or indirectly, they contribute to the paper pricing and to the composition of the investment portfolio. The purpose of this study is to verify if it is possible to obtain extraordinary returns, above those offered by a market portfolio, with the monitoring of the stock recommendations issued by Brazilian capital market analysts, one of the most important in Latin America. Based on a wide range of consensual recommendations concerning the period from 2000 to 2010, and with the monitoring of the historical series of paper returns covered by the analyses, the performance of two portfolios were compared, one formed by stocks that received favorable and the other one formed by stocks that received unfavorable analyst recommendations. The results showed bias in recommendations, since there is, systematically, a greater number of favorable against unfavorable recommendations. The results mainly showed that the analysts were unable to identify the stocks that actually offered greater returns within the period considered.     

宏观投资核算的类型及其改进——兼与微观投资的比较

本文简要分析了微观投资的类型,并从对象、主体等角度对宏观投资进行类型化分析,指出宏观投资核算存在的问题及其改进策略。以此为基础,本文比较了两类投资的差异,指出微观投资可以是存量,也可以是流量;宏观投资一般是流量,也可以用宏观投资存量表示存量。因此,只有微观流量对应宏观流量,微观存量对应宏观存量,才能实现两类投资的转换。     

功能视角下投资银行组织模式变迁的回顾与前瞻

投资银行的核心功能是创造一个超越法律的信息市场和采用合约以及相应的自我实施机制,为经济主体提供与信息高敏感度证券资产相关的各种金融服务。历史地看,合伙制是投资银行实现这一功能的理想模式。随着信息通讯技术的变革和金融理论的发展,传统业务隐含技能的代码化推动投资银行从合伙制模式而转向公众化。次贷危机后,以放弃法人独立性为代价来换取联邦金融救助成为美国主要投资银行的惟一选择。尽管这种模式可在获得信息优势、范围经济等利益的同时,还可借助联邦安全网实现稳定,但与之伴随的严重利益冲突,不仅可能威胁金融安全和稳健性,而且可能压抑市场创新,导致其服务效率的下降,最终影响投资银行的机构功能地位。     

Performance evaluation bias: A comparative study on the role of financial fixation,similarity-to-self and likeability

Performance evaluations are critical to organizational control. Dissatisfaction with systems emphasizing financial targets only has driven many companies to adopt systems using multiple performance measures. These multiple measurement systems (MMS) however may exacerbate certain cognitive biases. Using multiple performance measures can be a cognitively complex task that invites coping reactions anchored in simplifying heuristic biases, such as the likability of the target evaluatee and similarity-to-self. There are reasons to believe that these biases may manifest differently across “individualistic” or “collectivist” cultures. Our study examines three biases (financial fixation, similarity-to-self and likeability) across two distant cultures (United States and Spain) along the individualistic–collectivist dimensions. Participants are MBA students from Spain and the US. Consistent with theory-based predictions, we find that likability and similarity-to-self impact Spanish participants while financial fixation presents greater influence among US participants. These findings underscore the importance of considering national culture in designing performance measurement systems and advise about the role of specific biases, which are not culturally neutral.     

Interest rate risk of German financial institutions: the impact of level,slope, and curvature of the term structure

We investigate here the sensitivity of the equity values of a large sample of German financial institutions to movements in the term structure of interest rates. While similar approaches rely on a single interest rate factor only, we quantify the exposure to changes in level, slope, and curvature, which are the driving factors of term structure changes. Our main findings are: (i) banks and insurances are exposed to level and curvature changes but only marginally to slope movements; (ii) the interest rate risk exposure depends on the banking sector investigated; (iii) level and curvature changes are priced in the cross-section of stock returns.

The impact of the stapled security structure on the quality of financial disclosure: Evidence from Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts and Listed Infrastructure Funds

This paper is the first study to explore whether the stapled structure influences firms’ activities in earnings management (EM). Trusts and firms under stapled securities are exposed to various managerial opportunities and activities that can provide the flexibility of using EM approaches. Therefore, the stapled structure is expected to induce increased EM behavior and signal a lower level of financial disclosure quality than the unstapled structure. This empirical research analyzes a panel dataset that contains information of Australian REITs (A-REITs) and Listed Infrastructure Funds (LIFs) from the year of 2000–2017. Evidence shows that stapled A-REITs and LIFs use a greater magnitude of EM approaches than unstapled entities. The results imply that the stapled security structure may signal lower-quality of financial disclosure for firms than the unstapled security structure. This study provides additional insight into the understanding of how the security structure may impact firms’ financial disclosure behavior.     

Performance of the different RAROC models and their relation with the creation of economic value. A study of the largest banks operating in Brazil

This article approaches several different methodologies for calculation of the RAROC (Risk Adjusted Return on Capital) for Brazilian banks. Two questions gave reason to the study: whether the application of different methods for calculation of the RAROC would generate significantly different results?, and checking what is the connection between the RAROC and the generation of economic value, measured by the EVA (Economic Value Added), for the largest banks with operations in Brazil? The following methodologies for verification of the RAROC were applied: Buch’s Method (2011); Prokopczuk’s Method (2006); Prokopczuk’s Method (2006) with application of the VaR technique; Saunders’s Method (2007); Chapelle’s Method (2008); and the Smithon & Hayt Method (2001), by applying these parametric and non-parametric statistics in order to check the sensibility of the differences between models. This study has evidenced that, when we compare the methodology based on minimum capital with other methodologies, there are no significant differences, except in the few cases indicated. It is important to notice it only occurred in the case of the Bank of Brazil and it was concentrated in the comparison of the Creditmetrics models and in the methodology in which there is equivalence by the reference equity.     

Reporting of book-tax differences for financial and tax purposes: A case study

Recent events in financial and tax accounting have brought the issue of financial accounting for tax expenses to the forefront of both the accounting profession and academia. Complexities abound on both sides, from ASC 740/FAS 109 and ASC 740-10/FIN 48 issues on the financial accounting side to the Schedule M-3 and Schedule UTP reporting requirements on the tax side. This complexity has created a vacuum in accounting curricula, as bits and pieces of the total puzzle are covered in the intermediate accounting and tax courses, without a comprehensive, integrated review in one place.