This paper investigates conflicts of interest associated with relationship banking. Using a sample of 270 German initial public offerings (IPOs), we ask if universal-bank-underwritten IPOs perform differently from IPOs underwritten by specialized investment banks. We find that universal-bank...

The purpose of this paper, structured in three Sections, is twofold: (a) The first is to analyse the conditions under which a group of financial firms is considered to be a ‘financial conglomerate' in accordance with the (complex) definition of this term in Article 2 (point (14)) of the...

We empirically investigate whether and how the ex-ante M&A activity of banks relate to their much debated bailouts and credit ratings during the 2008 financial crisis. Our M&A sample comprises of 1603 transactions performed by 41 large sized European banks over the period 1990-2006. We find that...

The financial crisis that started in 2008 has generated significant losses for European banks, forcing them to undertake a series of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) to reinforce their balance sheets in order to comply with regulatory capital requirements. As a results, they have produced...

This paper investigates the impact of gender diversity on bank efficiency using a unique hand-collected dataset specific to a sample of 128 commercial banks from Central and Eastern European countries during the period 2005-2012. Robust findings that account for endogeneity indicate that the...

The availability of bank lending and corporate bond markets underwent a drastic change in the eurozone with the break out of the financial crisis. To quantify the relation between the two, this paper empirically tests the role of bank lending tightening on non-financial corporate (NFC) bond...

Following the 2008-9 financial crisis, large banks increasingly issued contingent convertible bonds (CoCo bonds) to increase their capital buffers – a policy supported by national bank regulators. This paper examines whether the issuance of CoCo bonds provides the same reduction in bank...

Using a sample of 4757 bilateral bank loans to Chinese enterprises, we analyze the effect of firms' initial public offerings (IPOs) on interest rate savings. Our evidence shows that following successful equity IPOs, firms are granted with a significant discount in their cost of credit. This...