Banking sector reactions to COVID-19: The role of bank-specific factors and government policy responses

This paper examines the impact of bank-specific factors and variations in the context of stringency of government policy responses on bank stock returns because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 1,927 publicly listed banks from 110 countries is used for the period of the first major wave of COVID-19, that is, January to May 2020. Our findings indicate that stock returns of banks with higher capitalization and deposits, more diversification, lower non-performing loans, and larger size are more resilient to the pandemic. While banks’ environment and governance scores do not have a significant impact, higher social and corporate social responsibility strategy scores intensify the negative stock price reaction to COVID-19. We further observe that the pandemic-induced reduction in bank stock prices is mitigated as the strictness of government policy responses increases, mainly through economic responses such as income support, debt and contract relief, and fiscal measures from governments.     

The impact of direct environmental,social, and governance reporting: Empirical evidence in European-listed companies in the agri-food sector

Companies are continuously pressured for the dissemination of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information, because of the constant debate on the issue of corporate sustainability, considered a critical and very important topic for society; despite this pressure, ESG's disclosure practices vary considerably from company to company, both in quantity and quality. The study aims to address the issue and verify the effectiveness of ESG reporting through the influence that the ESG disclosure has on profitability and value of listed European agri-food companies. The results obtained, studying a sample of 57 European-listed companies (EU28) in the agri-food sector observed in the period 2010–2018, show that the ESG disclosure practices of the companies impact corporate profitability; specifically, evidence is provided for the existence of a positive relationship between profitability and disclosure practices of strictly environmental and social information and a negative effect between company market value and disclosure practices relating to governance. These results suggest that greater transparency and accountability help to improve business profitability.     

The effect of mergers and acquisitions on environmental,social and governance performance and market value: Evidence from EU acquirers

This study explores the effect of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on market value and performance in the context of mergers and acquisitions. We examine whether acquisition of targets with better ESG performance can help acquirers to increase their own ESG performance and whether the market values the increased ESG performance positively. Moreover, we explore whether the acquisition of targets with better ESG performance affects the market value of acquirers. For this study, we utilize a sample of 100 European mergers and acquisitions between 2003 and 2017, for which matching data on the ESG performance of both the target and acquiring firms are available. Our results show that the postmerger ESG performance of the acquirer increases following the acquisition of a target that has higher ESG performance than that of the acquirer in the premerger stage, whereas the postmerger market value of the acquirer increases following an increase in the acquirer's postmerger ESG performance in relation to its premerger ESG performance. Finally, we provide partial evidence of a positive relationship between the postmerger market value of the acquirer and the acquisition of a target with higher ESG performance than itself in the premerger stage.     

Environmental,social, and governance practices and perceived tail risk

Using the implied volatility smirk on individual equity securities to measure perceived tail risk, we find that better environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices significantly reduce ex-ante expectations of a left-tail event. Our findings are robust to using multiple model specifications and to adjusting for potential endogeneity concerns. We also show that, while practices in each ESG pillar are important in reducing perceived tail risk, the environmental pillar plays the most important role. Our results indicate that investors consider strong ESG practices to be insurance against left-tail events rather than wasteful investment borne out of managers’ own values or self-interest.     

ESG表现与企业金融化——内外监管双“管”齐下的调节效应

以2011—2018年A股非金融、非房地产上市公司为样本,探讨环境、社会责任及公司治理（ESG）表现对企业金融化的影响效应。研究表明：ESG表现抑制了企业金融化,而企业内部监管会放大ESG表现对企业金融化的负向效应,外部金融监管则弱化了两者之间的负向关系。抑制效应、放大效应和弱化效应在环境、社会责任方面体现较为明显,而在公司治理方面不明显。进一步研究发现,ESG表现以及环境、社会责任能通过融资约束抑制企业金融化行为,融资约束在公司治理对企业金融化的影响中不具有中介作用;异质性分析发现ESG表现以及环境、社会责任对企业金融化的抑制效应在国有企业、研发能力较强企业中较为显著,而公司治理在非国有企业和研发能力较强的企业中表现出正向的金融化效应。研究结果丰富了ESG表现影响企业金融化的理论机制,为完善上市公司监管制度体系、夯实实体经济发展根基提供了依据。     

ESG表现对商业银行竞争力的影响——兼论金融创新的调节效应

近年来,国家提出“双碳”目标,“十四五”规划要求全社会统筹经济、社会、环境效益,企业践行ESG理念变得至关重要。而商业银行作为金融业中最重要的机构之一,相关部门对其践行ESG理念提出了更高的要求。以2009年第一季度到2023年第一季度38家上市商业银行为样本,实证检验ESG表现对商业银行竞争力的影响,同时进一步研究金融创新的调节效应。结果显示：ESG表现对商业银行竞争力有显著正向影响,且存在一定的滞后效应;金融创新能够正向调节ESG对商业银行竞争力的影响;异质性分析表明,ESG表现对国有大型商业银行以及农村商业银行无显著影响,但对股份制商业银行和城市商业银行有显著正向影响。     

企业ESG表现改善的技术创新促进效应研究

ESG表现的改善不仅能够显著提升企业形象,而且对企业可持续发展具有多重积极影响,包括融资约束缓解效应、代理成本减少笑效应、内部控制优化效应等,而这些积极效应又将促进企业的技术创新。采用沪深A股上市公司2011—2020年数据的分析发现：ESG表现的改善能够显著促进企业技术创新,且其中存在缓解融资约束、降低代理成本、优化内部控制等影响路径;ESG表现改善的技术创新促进效应因企业特征的不同而具有异质性,非国有企业比国有企业、重污染企业比非重污染企业更强,成长期和成熟期企业比初创期和衰退期企业更为显著;市场化程度对ESG表现改善的技术创新促进效应具有负向调节作用,在市场化水平较低、政府对市场干预程度较高、产品市场发育程度较低的地区企业ESG表现改善的技术创新促进效应较强。因此,一方面,应加快构建和完善中国特色ESG体系,推动企业积极实施ESG战略以及ESG信息披露数量和质量的提升;另一方面,应对不同类型、不同地区企业的ESG表现提出差异化要求,在强化外部监督的同时激励和支持各类企业的ESG投资。     

企业ESG绩效会影响商业信用融资吗？——基于信息传递与治理赋能视角

基于2007—2021年沪深两市A股上市公司数据,探讨ESG绩效对商业信用融资的影响及作用机制。研究发现：ESG绩效提升了企业商业信用融资能力;机制检验发现,ESG绩效提高了信息传递效率和公司治理水平,从而影响商业信用融资;区分样本发现,ESG绩效对商业信用融资的影响在低竞争地位、非污染性行业、东部地区和环保法实施后的样本中更为显著。以上研究结论为企业进行ESG实践,提升商业信用融资水平提供了经验借鉴。     

企业ESG 履责的绿色生产力效应研究——基于绿色技术创新视角

论文选取2011-2020 年沪深A 股上市公司为研究样本,基于绿色技术创新视角,实证研究了企业ESG 履责的绿色生产力效应。研究发现,ESG 履责显著促进了企业绿色技术创新水平;机制检验发现,企业ESG 履责主要通过缓解财务约束,提升企业声誉,以及提高企业信息披露质量,促进绿色技术创新水平的提升;进一步基于“宏观——中观——微观”的多维异质性检验显示,当企业所处环境规制压力较高、所在行业竞争压力较大、以及企业人力资源基础较好时,ESG 对绿色技术创新的促进效应更为凸显。论文研究对新形势下构建绿色生产力体系、助力实现新质生产力发展提供有益启示。     

The impact of material and immaterial sustainability on firm performance: The moderating role of franchising strategy

CSR and sustainability engagement is growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention. Accordingly, restaurant stakeholders now demand restaurant companies to disclose relevant ESG information (i.e., materiality) to analyze risks and opportunities that ESG factors bring to firms over the long term. As established in stakeholder theory, restaurant materiality is shaped by a firm's key stakeholders and also by the industry's distinguishing factor, franchising. However, despite their importance and timeliness, materiality and franchising remain largely absent from scholarly discussion in the field of tourism and hospitality. Using a novel industry-specific materiality classification of sustainability initiatives, here we show that franchising positively moderates the impact of investing in immaterial sustainability on firm performance. The results provide early empirical validation of stakeholder theory in relation to restaurant materiality and franchising, and show the impact of allocating a firm's resources to material and immaterial sustainability issues on firm performance in the restaurant context.