This paper examines the financing structure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) inGermany and questions whether an equity gap – or, more generally, a financing gap - exists.Reviewing the literature and available data sources, we find that financing constraints seem toaffect, if at...

There is a renewed interest of banks and supervisors in operational risk. In the new Capital Adequacy Framework of June 1999 the Basel Committee calls for capital charges for operational risks as a component of Pillar one...

Die folgende Vorlage will als Hilfe bei der Entwicklung, Formulierung und Überprüfung der Risikopolitk einer Bank dienen...

Praktiker wie Akademiker setzen sich im Allgemeinen mit Finanzrisiken vertieft auseinander und vernachlässigen dabei die übrigen Risiken. Damit geht ein unnötiger Wertverzehr einher...

Natural catastrophes attract regularly the attention of media and have become a source of public concern. From a financial viewpoint, natural catastrophes represent idiosyncratic risks,diversifiable at the world level. But for reasons analyzed in this pap er reinsurance markets are unable to...

In June 2003 Swiss banks held over CHF 500 billion in mortgages. This important segment accounts for about 63% of all loan portfolios of Swiss banks. Since default insurance is not common in Switzerland, the corresponding risks are a severe threat for the health of the financial system. We...

In this paper we discuss some statistical pitfalls that may occur in modeling cross-dependences with copulas in financial applications. In particular we focus on issues arising in the estimation and the empirical choice of copulas as well as in the design of time-dependent copulas.

This paper argues that observations of non-stationary choice behavior need notnecessarily imply specific properties of the individual’s discount function. As weshow, the observed “anomalies” in intertemporal choice can alternatively be explained by an individual’s perception of the risk...