The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's (APRA's) supervisors use expert judgment to rate the risk of failure of general insurers (GIs). Using statistical data, we model the determinants of GI ratings and solvency cover and find: (1) sufficient predictive power in statistical data to...

We develop and test a statistical model to identify Australian general insurers experiencing financial distress over the 1999-2001 period. Using a logit model and two measures of financial distress we are able to predict, with reasonable confidence, the insurers more likely to be distressed....

Incomplete observations are a common feature of financial applications that use survey response, annual report, and proprietary banking and security issue and pricing data. Finance researchers use a variety of procedures, including deleting offending observations and imputing ad hoc values, that...

We examine the determinants of underwriter spreads on straight/fixed rate Eurobonds issued by U.S. firms between 1990 and 1998. We find that underwriter spreads are influenced by: (i) the governing law as it influences the timely and orderly renegotiation of contract terms, with bonds governed...