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Financiële technologische ontwikkeling, de zogeheten fintech, is hot en happening. De ontwikkelingen gaan snel maar leiden geregeld tot moreel kwetsbare praktijken. Een geautomatiseerd systeem de schuld geven van economische uitbuiting, uitsluiting en privacyschending is onzinnig. De auteurs gaan in op de vraag wat de rol van financiële ethiek (nog) is als de besluitvorming en gedragssturing bij en in het ontwerp van allerlei systemen (grotendeels) vooraf bepaald wordt.

This paper develops the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility reputation (CSRR) both theoretically and empirically. The first part examines the literature on CSRR extensively in an attempt to develop both a qualitative and a quantitative interpretation to measure CSRR. The new aspect of this paper is the explicit modelling of the confrontation of CSR expectations and CSR performance. Crisp and Fuzzy models were subsequently explored. A sample of 2,447 firms covering approximately 176 survey questions on corporate social responsibility, obtained from 29 countries, was then implemented to measure CSRR per company, per country and per sector. On average, companies were found to comply with their expectations. In conclusion – as based on our model – Europe was found to be the best CSRR ranked continent, and the United Kingdom and Finland the top ranked countries. We also found the ‘utilities’ sector to be the best ranked sector, with ‘health care’ and ‘financials’ at the lowest end of the distribution.

In dit artikel introduceren wij een maatstaf waarmee de reputatie voor maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen (MVO-R) kan worden gemeten. Met behulp van deze maatstaf wordt vervolgens voor 2447 ondernemingen uit 29 landen de MVO-Reputatie bepaald. De data die gebruikt zijn om de MVO-R-scores te berekenen, bestaan uit MVO-scores van internationale rating agency’s, die per onderneming betrekking hebben op circa 177 aspecten van MVO. Uit het empirisch onderzoek blijkt dat: i) ondernemingen gemiddeld genomen meer dan voldoen aan de MVO-verwachtingen die geschapen zijn door de ondernemingen zelf; ii) er in Europa het hoogst wordt gescoord op MVO-Reputatie, met Groot Brittannië en Finland als leiders; iii) dat de utilitysector het best scoort en dat ‘gezondheidszorg’ en ‘financiële instellingen’ het slechtst scoren op MVO-Reputatie.

This paper examines the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and corporate financial distress. There are two main theoretical factors of interest: the structure of the monitoring process, and the personal characteristics of non-executive directors (NEDs). The first approach is basically agency-theory oriented, and emphasises relationships that complicate proper control, such as dependents on the board (Jensen, 1993). The second approach refers to the resource dependency theory, which focuses on the quality of the director(s) involved (Hillman and Dalziel (2003). The relevant relationships are tested on a newly built database consisting of 52 listed companies in the Netherlands that became financially distressed in the period from 1993 to 2003 and a control sample of 167 listed companies. We collected data on NEDs such as age, education, dependency, other board positions (and chairmanships), workload, and the number of executive and non-executive board members. A positive relationship with financial distress was found to exist if the average workload of NEDs on the board was high, or if there was a foreigner on the board. If one of the NEDs has inside knowledge, this is negatively related to financial distress. As a final conclusion, the hypothesis originating in resource dependency theory, which is that the human characteristics of NEDs are important in avoiding financial distress, cannot be rejected with regard to the Netherlands as examined in the period from 1993 to 2003.

This paper assesses the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and downside equity tail risk, a field of research that has so far been neglected. Using global equities data over the period of January 2003 to December 2011, inclusive, the downside tail risk of each company is estimated using techniques of extreme value theory and CSR is approached using stakeholder theory. Our findings show a significant relationship between certain aspects of CSR and downside tail risk. The nature of the relationship differs across region, CSR category and time. Furthermore, the relationships we found are sequential, which makes a causal link between CSR and tail risk plausible.

The paper discusses the implications of the unequal rate of growth of the international financial market on the one hand and the growth of the real economy on the other. Based on viewing balance sheet equilibrium as a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth, a discussion is presented about the optimal interest rate, which depends on the natural and real economic growth of the economy. In the final section, two propositions are presented. The first proposition is that the average interest rate should vary with the rate of growth of the real economy which is a proxy for organic growth in economic processes. Lower interest rates are not desirable because of their impact on economic opportunities. Higher interest rates should be rejected because of the implicit additional positive time preference that they entail. The second proposition concerns the accumulation of wealth. Under the assumption of the existence of a positive interest rate, the absence of a financial tax and the absence of bankruptcies, financial capital grows exponentially and therefore needs to be managed institutionally, in a positive way. A structural imbalance between the monetary sector on the one hand, and the real economy on the other, leads to the illusion of purchasing power in the hands of the public.

In this paper we present and illustrate using real-life data a framework for managing an investment portfolio in which the investment opportunities are described in terms of a set of attributes and part of this set is intended to capture the effects on society. Here we link with the emerging literature on SRI: socially responsible investment. Given the multi-attribute descriptions of the individual investment opportunities we show how these can be combined into portfolios with the same attributes at the portfolio level. Also we show how a manager can systematically be supported in the choice between different portfolio profiles. As part of the framework we use multi-criteria decision tools.

This paper presents and illustrates the concept of sustainable corporate finance. Sustainability is a well-established concept in the disciplines of environmental economics and business ethics. The paper uses a broader definition of what is called “the firm” to pinpoint sustainability to the finance literature. The concept of sustainable finance is compared to traditional and behavioral finance. Four criteria are used to systematically analyze the basic differences. First on the order is the theory of the firm: the definition of the firm is reconsidered by integrating behavioral aspects and by expanding financial analysis to a three-dimensional goal setting. Secondly, a closer look is taken at the assumed behavior of economic agents and its consequences for the applied methodology. The shareholders paradigm is discussed against the background of growing stakeholder importance. Finally, the fourth criterion deals with the different ethical framework and its implication for financial behavior.

This paper assesses the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and downside equity tail risk – a field of research that has so far been neglected - using world wide data for the period 2003-2011. Tail risk is estimated using Extreme Value Theory. Corporate Social Responsibility is approached using stakeholder theory. The results show that there are significant relationships between CSR and tail risk. These relationships are tested for robustness using a heterogeneous and homogeneous tail index, raw returns and idiosyncratic returns, and various values for the tail threshold. The relationships we found are sequential, which makes a causal relationship between CSR and tail risk plausible.

Inspired by the LaPorta et al. (1997, 1998) work on comparative corporate governance, we tested the Matten & Moon (2008) framework to analyze differences in cross-national CSR performance. A model was built that questions whether different social, environmental and governance issues are more effectively and efficiently addressed by implicit or by explicit CSR countries. Data on corporate social responsibility of corporations in 22 large economies around the world was related to data on country-specific institutional factors to identify national differences among countries. Based on a multifactor regression model, it was found that variation in CSR performance can be explained positively by the influence of nationally-related environmental and social factors. CSR performance is negatively related to a national governance factor. This paper cannot reject the hypothesis based on the Chapple and Moon (2005) suggestion that national factors determine to some extent the variation in cross-country CSR performance. The empirical findings enabled us to further develop the conceptual work of Matten and Moon (2008). Our main conclusion is that national– institutional factors do play a prominent role in explaining the CSR behavior of firms.

This international empirical study analyses the relation between board transparency, CEO monitoring policy and financial performance. A unique dataset of, on average, 1211 companies from 25 different countries, as provided by international SiRi analysts over the years 2003-2007, enables us to quantify relations between reported corporate governance attributes and financial performance. This paper applies the Fama and French (1993) and Carhart (1997) methodology to estimate the influence of ‘good governance’ on financial performance. Quintile top and bottom portfolios are selected and compared financially. Controlling for size, risk, book-to-market value and a momentum factor, it is concluded that the top transparent companies show significant better financial performance statistically (7.8% per year) than compared with less transparent companies. A second conclusion shows there is evidence that a more intense CEO monitoring policy by a company’s board does lead to a statistically higher financial performance in countries with the German legal origin but a negative return in those with the French legal origin. Despite the increasing influence of stewardship theory, these results indicate that the opposing agency theory still dominates the international capital markets.

In this paper, we assess the interaction between international firms’ stakeholder performance and their stock market returns. Using data from more than 2,000 firms from 24 countries and 15 industries for the period 2003-2007, we analyze stakeholder performance for firms in different countries/regions and industries. We measure stakeholder performance as firms’ community involvement, their management, customer relations, employee relations, environmental management, and their relationship with contractors and suppliers. We establish that the interaction differs per stakeholder, per country/region, and per industry. Moreover, we conclude that the stakeholders ‘environment’ and ‘community’ are priced factors in the international business environment.