Many corporate finance researchers have avoided analyzing financial institutions, perhaps on the grounds that they are “unique” or “different” from other types of firms. This assessment reflects some unusual features of financial firms' liabilities and a set of governmental regulatory...

The Dodd-Frank Act seeks to assure financial stability in part by mandating periodic stress tests for large and systemically important financial institutions. Appropriately, the legislation leaves implementation issues to regulatory staff, including choice of the standard for assessing whether...

Bank and securities regulators operate with different attitudes about the appropriate regulation of financial institutions and markets. Bank regulators' prudential oversight protects depositors from worrying about the repayment of their bank claims. In contrast, securities market regulators tend...