Financial leverage increases the expected return on equity. We show that this leverage effect is not only irrelevant for shareholders' present wealth but also for the return on their investments. This result is straightforward if we do not only look at the return on equity but at the return on...

This paper gives an overview of the capital requirements for banks. Regulatory capital is analyzed, followed by the discussion of economic capital. These ideas are used to explain risk adjusted performance measures. -- Regulatorisches Kapital ; ökonomisches Kapital ; RAROC ; RORAC

This paper compares the shareholder-value-maximizing capital structure and pricing policy of insurance groups against that of stand-alone insurers. Groups can utilise intra-group risk diversification by means of capital and risk transfer instruments. We show that using these instruments enables...

The median U.S. non-regulated firm reports a 47 percent decline in leverage ratio between 1980 and 2010. We investigate whether the cost-benefit tradeoff to shareholders, captured by the valuation impact of an additional dollar of debt on owners' equity, is an explanation for the observed change...