The financial crisis has exposed deep-rooted problems with banks' financial reporting. Long neglected in analyses of bank performance, this article recommends a new focus on bank cash flows. We identify weaknesses and deficiencies in the existing literature on banking performance. Short case...

Events such as the recent global financial crisis, the failure of Lehman Brothers, and the bailout of American International Group, have called increased attention to the opaque workings of the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets which have remained unregulated until now. Nevertheless,...

The regulatory framework established during the Great Depression was dismantled in stages after 1969. The deregulation of deposits at banks and savings institutions created incentives to widen the scope of investments that banks and thrifts could make. Novel instruments were created that should...

In recent years, financial institutions and their supervisors have placed increased emphasis on the importance of consolidated risk management. Consolidated risk management, also referred to as integrated or enterprise-wide risk management, can have many specific meanings, but in general it...

The majority of commentators, along with the public opinion, are inclined to identify the causes of the last financial crisis in a combination of traditional market and regulatory failures in the operation and regulation of financial markets. Whatever cannot be explained along these lines is...

Financial regulation today is largely framed by traditional business categories. The financial markets, however, have begun to bypass those categories, principally over the last thirty years. Chief among the changes has been convergence in the products and services offered by traditional...

Over the past decade, European exchanges have undertaken enormous reforms in their trading platforms and internal governance. Automation of trading combined with the internationalization of the major trading institutions has significantly intensified pressures for the consolidation of exchanges...

In this paper, we have highlighted the potential implications of a move in the U.S. to T+1 on European financial institutions. We explain that while many European institutions feel that they are sheltered from this move, those that undertake trading activities in the U.S. will find that they...

The complex dynamics of world financial markets yield inherent uncertainty and the prospect of periods of enhanced volatility. The turbulent global economic and regulatory environment of the past few years has certainly illustrated this reality. As investment managers interpret clients’...

It has become almost conventional wisdom that investors should avoid funds with high expense ratios. Like many nuggets of conventional wisdom, there is some truth, but many exceptions: some of the best funds come at the price of higher expense ratios. Financial planners need this type of...