The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of capital and risk transfer instruments on diversification and insolvency risk in a parent-subsidiary relationship. To better assess the effects, we compare this setting to the case of a holding company and an integrated financial group. In the...

In financial groups enterprise risk management is becoming increasingly importantin controlling and managing the different independent legal entities in thegroup. The aim of this paper is to assess and relate risk concentration and joint defaultprobabilities of the group’s legal entities in...

Ratings stehen derzeit im Brennpunkt der öffentlichen Aufmerksamkeit, vorrangigwegen der unter dem Schlagwort Basel II bekannt gewordenen Planungendes Basler Ausschusses für Bankenaufsicht. Bereits die ersten Fassungender Konsultationspapiere haben für erhebliche Diskussionen gesorgt2...

In the work of the Basel Committee there has been a tradition ofdistinguishing market from credit risk and to treat both categories independentlyin the calculation of risk capital. In practice positionsin a portfolio depend simultaneously on both market and credit riskfactors. In this case, an...

This paper analyzes the relation between agency conflicts and risk management in a contingent claims model of the firm. In contrast to previous contributions, our analysis incorporates not only stockholder-debtholder conflicts but also managerstockholder conflicts. In particular we consider a...

This paper develops a quantitative framework for analyzing the impact of macroeconomic conditions on credit risk and dynamic capital structure choice. We begin by observing that when cash flows depend on current economic conditions, there will be a benefit for firms to adapt their default and...

Market liquidity is the ease of trading an asset. Its risk is the potential loss, because a security can only be traded at high or prohibitive costs. While the omnipresence and importance of market liquidity is widely acknowledged, it has long remained a more or less elusive concept. Treatment...

We analyse whether family firms differ from non-family firms in terms of business segment and geographical diversification or the application of currency hedging instruments. This analysis is based on a unique dataset of 339 publicly listed companies (1,561 firm years) in the German Prime...

I apply standard time series models to US housing prices. Forecasts made in 2005 or earlier would have produced stress scenarios that are worse than the subsequent actual change in housing prices. The probability of these scenarios is in the range that banks claim to consider in their risk...

The current financial market crisis has impressively demonstrated the importance of aneffective credit risk management for financial institutions. At the same time, the use and thevaluation of credit derivatives has been widely criticised as a result of the crisis. Over the pastdecade, credit...