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Based on stakeholders’ theory, our paper investigates the relationship between customer complaints and bank performance. We use a unique hand-collected database of customer complaints published by the banking and financial ombudsman and the financial data of the universe of Italian banks during the 2010–2017 period and employ a fixed effect panel data model and two-step system GMM estimation. We first confirm that higher complaints scaled by bank size reduce profitability and increase bank risk. Then, we show that bank institutional form affects this outcome. In contrast to cooperative banks, the performance of commercial banks is negatively influenced by customer complaints. Moreover, in contrast to medium and large banks, small banks’ profitability is not affected by customer complaints. We also found that a bank’s decision to settle customer complaints has a positive impact in the long run. The results are consistent when using normalized variables for size and different robustness checks. Consequently, managerial and policy implications related to customer complaints are proposed. Indeed, commercial banks must protect relational capital with customers by strengthening dialogue among the compliance function, complaints office and commercial areas to proactively manage the risk of complaints and improve performance. Policy makers should enhance banking transparency and simultaneously promote greater financial education of clients, which can foster trust in banks and their stability.

This paper investigates the determinants of the stocks and flows (both in- and outflows) of nonperforming loans (NPLs) by considering a bank-specific factor that is not adequately analysed in the literature, namely, bank capital buffers. Using unbalanced panel data with 6,087 bank-year observations for the 2006–2018 period and a two-step system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation, we find that banks with higher levels of capital buffers (both in terms of Tier 1 and total capital) have fewer NPL stocks and generate fewer NPL inflows. When we control for the characteristics of the loan portfolio, real guarantees collected by the bank increase the stocks and flows of new, impaired loans, while personal guarantees favour the outflow of bad loans.

Financial crises and economic downturns provide a unique opportunity to investigate the behaviour of investors and financial instruments and shed light on the market’s anticipation of future economic growth. In view of the current crisis, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the European green bond market. Using daily data from Thomson Reuter’s Refinitiv, we conducted event studies on corporate credit spread changes over the period from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Our results reveal that green bonds’ credit spreads increased significantly after the start of the coronavirus outbreak. However, as the fear of the pandemic eased in response to positive news about the vaccines, green bonds’ credit spreads fell below conventional bonds. Overall, green bonds showed a higher risk exposure and lower resilience to distress while profiting during an upside. Our paper provides the first evidence about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the announcement of vaccines’ effectiveness on the European corporate green bond market. Our results suggest several key points that are relevant to both investors and issuers under the unprecedented conditions created by the pandemic.

Research Question/Issue: Do enforcement actions impact banks' board composition? Based on a unique sample of sanctions imposed on Italian banks by the country's banking supervisory authority from 2009 to 2015, we investigate whether supervisory enforcement actions affect changes at the board level. Moreover, we examine whether changes at the board level after a sanction are effective in reducing the probability of further sanctions in the future. Research Findings/Insights: The findings reveal that sanctioned banks change their board composition following a supervisory sanction. We further test whether these changes improve bank governance and find that, under certain conditions, they may reduce the probability that the board is sanctioned again. Robustness tests confirm the results. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This study provides empirical evidence that supports the role of supervisory enforcement actions in inducing banks to adopt changes at the board level. Given that the relationship between supervisory sanctions and changes in board characteristics is still neglected, we contend that our results may increase the understanding of the effectiveness of enforcement actions in improving board characteristics. Practitioner/Policy Implications: We believe that our results have policy implications by making a clear and concrete contribution to the ongoing debate on the revision of the principles for enhancing corporate governance and banking supervision.

This paper investigates the determinants of shareholder value in European banks over a seven-year period from 2011 to 2017. Using a panel fixed effects regression model, we find that banks that focused more on traditional lending activities and increased their risk-taking level generate greater shareholder value. Shareholder value is a persistent variable over time; bank size has a positive impact on shareholder value, while financial leverage has a negative influence. We also find a negative relationship between gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) and shareholder value. Further analyses were conducted by clustering the sample into subsamples based on GDPPC, the density of bank branches and bank size. The main results are confirmed with a robustness check using a two-step IV-GMM estimate.

La recente pandemia, la crisi finanziaria e del debito sovrano hanno dimostrato quanto sia importante monitorare il rischio sistemico. Infatti, banche efficienti favoriscono la crescita e l’economia reale. In questo contesto, la minimizzazione dei costi di agenzia è una condizione necessaria per lo sviluppo e la stabilità del sistema bancario, in modo da garantire una più corretta allocazione delle risorse finanziarie. Utilizzando un campione europeo sulla struttura proprietaria delle banche, il seguente articolo si pone un duplice obiettivo: studiare la relazione tra il rischio sistemico e l’assetto azionario della banca e identificare il canale attraverso cui tale relazione si manifesta. Coerentemente con la teoria dei costi di agenzia, i risultati ottenuti suggeriscono che una struttura azionaria più concentrata si associa a un minor livello di rischio sistemico, mentre il rischio di credito rappresenta il principale canale attraverso cui la struttura proprietaria influenza il rischio sistemico delle banche europee.

Merito di credito

mutuo e leasing

Il project finance

Le operazioni di merger and acquisition

Enforcement actions (sanctions) aim to penalize guilty companies and provide examples to other companies that bad behavior will be penalized. A handful of papers analyze the consequences of sanctions in banking for sanctioned companies, while no papers have investigated the spillover effects on non-sanctioned banks. Focusing on credit-related sanctions, we show the existence of a spillover effect: non-sanctioned banks behave similar to sanctioned banks, depending on their degree of similarity, offloading problematic loans and reducing their lending activity.

Il costo del capitale

La crisi economica e finanziaria esplosa con il fallimento di Lehman Brothers ha messo in discussione il modello operativo e le scelte strategiche messe in atto dalle Investment Banks e, di fatto, la loro funzione-utilità all’interno di un sistema finanziario. La rincorsa scellerata al profitto di breve termine, l’assunzione di livelli elevatissimi di rischio favoriti da un indebolimento della normativa e dei controlli interni hanno portato le banche di investimento sull’”orlo dell’estinzione”. Le scelte spesso eticamente discutibili se non addirittura illegali ne hanno minato la reputazione e causato l’applicazione di pesanti sanzioni da parte delle autorità di vigilanza. Eppure, per un sistema economico, rimane fondamentale poter disporre di una catena finanziaria evoluta nell’ambito della quale i servizi di Corporate & Investment Banking sono fondamentali per l’elevato valore aggiunto che sono in grado di esprimere. L’accesso a queste particolari tipologie di operazioni, spesso, rappresenta per l’impresa un’occasione per intraprendere un percorso virtuoso di miglioramento della propria cultura finanziaria. Il testo descrive le tecniche, le logiche e i vincoli che regolano la costruzione delle operazioni tipiche di questa specifica area dell’intermediazione. In particolare, la trattazione si sofferma ad analizzare la struttura di operazioni normalmente sviluppate secondo una logica “tailor made”. All’intermediario è infatti richiesto di supportare l’impresa seguendo una logica di forte personalizzazione per riuscire a soddisfarne le esigenze finanziarie di maggiore complessità. Il volume fornisce un supporto logico e teorico per approcciare le technicalities utilizzate dagli operatori nell’attività di corporate banking (valutazione d’azienda, analisi del merito creditizio, analisi degli investimenti, diagnosi dei fabbisogni finanziari e copertura dei rischi). Al contempo, offre l’opportunità di approfondire, con taglio applicativo, l’analisi delle divers

Credito non performing e forborne exposure: nuove regole e implicazioni gestionali

Bulgarian Cooperative Banking