Some financial products facilitate (“Financial Instruments”’) the use of voting rights that can be considered questionable under the law (“Questionable Uses of Voting Rights”). These Questionable Uses of Voting Rights become apparent when, using the Financial Instruments, an investor...

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions organised a seminar for its company network on November 29-30, 2007, hosted by Santander at its corporate headquarters in Madrid, Spain. In intensive discussions over the two days, 32 representatives from companies,...

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions organised a seminar for its company network on November 29u009630, 2007, hosted by Santander at its corporate headquarters in Madrid, Spain. In intensive discussions over the two days, 32 representatives from companies,...

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions organised a seminar for its company network on November 29u009630, 2007, hosted by Santander at its corporate headquarters in Madrid, Spain. In intensive discussions over the two days, 32 representatives from companies,...

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions organised a seminar for its company network on November 29u009630, 2007, hosted by Santander at its corporate headquarters in Madrid, Spain. In intensive discussions over the two days, 32 representatives from companies,...

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions organised a seminar for its company network on November 29u009630, 2007, hosted by international bank Santander at its corporate headquarters in Madrid, Spain. In intensive discussions over the two days, 32...

In this study we investigate the determinants of financing obstacles using survey data on a sample of around 5000 firms from the euro area countries. This completely new survey – started at the end of 2009 - gives us the opportunity to test whether firm characteristics such as size, age,...

Exchanges and other trading platforms are often vertically integrated to carry out trading, clearing and settlement as one operation. We show that such vertical silos can prevent efficiency gains from horizontal consolidation of trading and settlement platforms to be realized. Independent of the...

An unprecedented process of financial consolidation has taken place in the European Union over the past decade. Building on earlier US evidence, we examine the impact of strategic similarities between bidders and targets on post-merger financial performance. We find that, on average, bank...

The paper investigates small business lending as an information problem. It models the effects of information asymmetries within the bank combined with fixed wages. Two kinds of inefficiencies arise in equilibrium: the credit officer either sometimes shirks or he is occasionally fired. In both...