This paper examines the sensitivity of financial sector stock returns to two risk factors – interest rates (both long-term and short-term) and exchange rates. Specifically we investigate the impact of the European Union and the introduction of the euro on European financial sector risk in the...

α (“Alpha”) has symbolic importance on the investments side of finance. That is, a fundamental pillar of modern finance theory is the risk-return relation, and traditionally alpha is taken to represent the degree of “mispricing” in asset returns. But, such an interpretation is not...