This study examines the impact of corporate governance on financial performance of Lebanese banks during five years (from 2006 to 2010). Based on 182 observations, a quantitative method of data analysis was employed to investigate the relevance of corporate governance mechanisms. The first...

In the corporate governance of banks, bank boards of directors play a significant role by monitoring and advising management in the formulation and implementation of strategies. Our hypothesis is that certain characteristics of bank boards (size, composition and proactiveness) determine the...

We create a novel measure of market-nurtured optimism in that managers become more optimistic if the market had responded more favorably, and to a larger extent to positive earnings surprises, than to negative earnings surprises. These market-nurtured managers are prone to engage in...

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between European convertible bond issues and corporate governance. After reviewing the regulation of Taiwan's ECB issues, we use the data from publicly traded electronics stocks from Taiwan to perform the empirical study. We found that the...

Starting from the observation that at the multilateral level shareholder activism is considered as an important aspect of good corporate governance, this paper examines several legal and economic obstacles to institutional investor activism in the EU and in the US. We also examine the voting...

In this study, we examine the effect of firm-level governance on the firm's choice of an external auditor. Further, we test how the relation between corporate governance and auditor choice may be affected by the strength of legal environment. The results show that firm-level governance scores...

Firms with higher board independence, smaller boards, and lower expected managerial entrenchment, have lower cash holdings. We find that the positive association between cash holdings and managerial entrenchment is mitigated by stronger board structures. Specifically, in firms with higher...

We use financial data on poorly performing firms in Hong Kong to examine the motives behind paying out cash dividends when they suffer an earnings decline. We test three hypotheses behind the cash dividend policy: the maturity hypothesis, the free cash flow hypothesis, and the self-interest...

Recent research has explored the growing ‘financialization’ process in the U.S. and other advanced economies. The term is a catch-all phrase used to denote important changes in the structure of non-financial corporations’ balance sheets, including the growth of income from financial...

The threat of systemic risk in international financial markets necessitates the establishment of universal standards for corporate governance of financial institutions. This paper addresses some important issues and concepts in the governance of multinational financial institutions and why...