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(1) Background: This research aims to investigate the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors on European banking corruption. Thus, its novelty is based on considering anti-competitive concerns as a major component that may considerably impact fraud and bribery in corruption investigations. (2) Methods: To approach the research question, we conducted an examination of anti-competitive practices at 344 financial institutions headquartered in Europe throughout the period 2018 to 2022 using the entropy weight and TOPSIS methods. (3) Results: This study reveals that anti-competitive actions are typified by environmental debate and genuine policy competition. Analysing the results prompted us to reach this conclusion. The present study's findings reveal that financial institutions in Scandinavian nations demonstrate the most significant anti-competitive activity. (4) Conclusions: This research is the first study to underscore the concept of anti-competition disputes and their impact on the emergence of corruption, extortion, and fraud in the European banking sector. Although anti-competitive and corrupt practices may appear to be distinct concepts, they both lead to the financial sector acquiring disproportionate control over the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we analyze the volatility of volatility indices and estimate the Hurst parameter using data from five international markets. For our analysis, we consider daily data from VIX (CBOE), VXN (CBOE Nasdaq 100), VXD (DJIA), VHSI (HSI), and KSVKOSPI (KOSPI). The period of analysis is from January 2001 to December 2021 and incorporates various market phases, such as booms and crashes. The novelty here is the use of recent methodology, including different range-based estimators for volatility analysis. We apply the Hurst exponent to the volatility measures Vgk,t, Vp,t, Vrs,t, and Vs,t, and then estimate the volatility of volatility indices through the GARCH(1, 1) model. Based on the values of the Hurst exponent, we analyze the trace of the behavior of three trading strategies, i.e., the momentum-based strategy, the random walk, and the mean-reversion strategy. The results are highly recommended for financial analysts dealing with volatility indices as well as for financial researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]