Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Evidence On Banking Efficiency: An Analysis Of Financial Intermediation In Mexico, Violeta Diaz Avilez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the last two decades, financial systems in many developing countries became globalized. Mexico presents a clear example of how globalization can change the financial structure of a country. The banking sector in Mexico, as in many other developing countries, experienced periods of expropriation by the Federal government, privatization of banks without foreign intervention, and liberalization of foreign participation in bank ownership during this period. However, only in a few other cases has the rise in foreign participation been more dramatic than in Mexico.

These changes undoubtedly impacted the banking sector’s development and performance. The purpose of this dissertation is …

Alternate Models For Forecasting Hedge Fund Returns, Michael A. Holden

Senior Honors Projects

Alternate Models for Forecasting Hedge Fund Returns

Michael Holden

Faculty Sponsor: Gordon Dash, Finance and Decision Sciences

Investors have always wanted to improve the efficiency of modeling realized volatility to maximize directional trading returns and substantially improve profitability. As proposed, this honors project will provide evidence from hedge fund returns that a Radial-Basis Function (RBF) artificial neural network (ANN), specifically the Kajiji-4 RBF-ANN dominates other forecast methods in producing one-period ahead change-of-direction when forecasting the expected returns of various hedge fund indexes.

I began this project by collecting historical economic data in monthly increments to serve as the dependent variables. …

Bond Volatility Transmissions Between United States And European Markets, Seth Kulman

Senior Honors Projects

Bond Volatility Transmissions Between United States and European Markets

Seth Kulman

Faculty Sponsor: Gordon Dash, Finance and Decision Sciences

Recent events have illustrated the degree of connection between the world’s economies.  Economic events occurring in one country are felt in countless others, most vividly demonstrated by the onset of a worldwide recession following the financial collapse in the United States.  Volatility no longer stays contained within one local economy.

The purpose of this study is to examine volatility spillovers between the United States and European bond markets.  To identify volatility effects in a given country, we will be using a …

How Important Are Earnings Announcements As An Information Source?, Sudipta Basu, Truong Xuan Duong, Stanimir Markov, Eng Joo Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In a competitive information market, a single information source can only dominate other sources individually, not collectively. We explore whether earnings announcements constitute such a dominant source using Ball and Shivakumar's (2008) [How much new information is there in earnings?, Journal of Accounting Research, 2008, 46(5), pp. 975–1016] R ² metric: the proportion of the variation in annual returns explained by the four quarterly earnings announcement returns. We find that the earnings announcement days' R ² is 11% – higher than the corresponding R ² of days with dividend announcements, management forecasts, preannouncements, and 10-K and 10-Q filings and …

Technical Appendix To "Stochastic Capacity Investment And Flexible Vs. Dedicated Technology Choice In Imperfect Capital Markets", Onur Boyabatli

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Technical appendix with proofs for the technical statements in the article: Stochastic capacity investment and flexible vs. dedicated technology choice in imperfect capital markets. (2011). Management Science, 57 (12), 2163 - 2179. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1395

Investment Styles, Fees, & Returns Among Individually Managed & Team Managed Mutual Funds, Kendal Cehanowicz

Honors Projects in Finance

Identifying a successful mutual fund investment involves a crucial analysis of alternatives, all of which influence the true benefit of the investment. Major considerations must include performance, management and fees; which ultimately determine investment returns. Studies have shown that team managed mutual funds exhibit similar risk adjusted performance to individually managed mutual funds, however studies lack this comparison of performance based on fund fees and investment objective. This gap in research implies that there is an opportunity to examine how fund management, investment objective, and fund fees affect overall returns to the investor. Using the 2010 Center for Research in …

A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of A Campus Computing Grid, Preston M. Smith

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Any major research institution has a substantial number of computer systems on its campus, often in the scale of tens of thousands. Given that a large amount of scientific computing is appropriate for execution in an opportunistic environment, a campus grid is an inexpensive way to build a powerful computational resource. What is missing, though, is a model for making an informed decision on the cost-effectives of a campus grid. In this thesis, the author describes a model for measuring the costs and benefits of building a campus computing resource based on the institution’s existing investment in computing hardware.

For …

New Evidence On The Wealth Transfer During The Argentine Crisis, James Lam, Elisabeta Pana, Faculty Advisor

Honors Projects

In this study, we investigate the wealth preservation hypothesis and revisit the theory of wealth transfer from Argentina to the United States during the Argentine crisis. We show that the boom experienced by the Argentine stock market is explained by both wealth preservation through top non-ADR stocks and by wealth transfer through ADR stocks. Argentine investors without access to trading abroad preserved wealth by converting their bank deposits into the most liquid ADR and non-ADR stocks. An investment in a portfolio of less liquid ADRs resulted in a wealth loss, unless used as a vehicle to transfer funds abroad.

Loan Repayment And Personal Finance For Aspiring Public Servants, Ryan Nofsinger

Working in the Public Interest Conferences

Shares federal loan repayments programs, based on income levels, available to Law School graduates.

Quantitative Hedge Fund Selection (Part 2), Melvyn Teo

Research Collection BNP Paribas Hedge Fund Centre

Do fund incentives, volatility exposure, and liquidity risk affect fund performance? We show that hedge funds with high performance fees and high water mark provisions tend to outperform those with low performance fees and no high water marks. Moreover, funds that short volatility and embrace liquidity risk deliver significantly higher returns relative to funds that long volatility and eschew liquidity risk. Investors with access to secure capital and managed account platforms may be positioned to take advantage of these performance differences.

The Liquidity Risk Of Liquid Hedge Funds, Melvyn Teo

Research Collection BNP Paribas Hedge Fund Centre

This paper evaluates hedge funds that grant favorable redemption terms to investors. Within this group of purportedly liquid funds, high net inflow funds subsequently outperform low net inflow funds by 4.79 percent per year after adjusting for risk. The return impact of fund flows is stronger when funds embrace liquidity risk, when market liquidity is low, and when funding liquidity, as measured by the TED spread, aggregate hedge fund flows, and prime broker stock returns, is tight. In keeping with an agency explanation, funds with strong incentives to raise capital, low manager option deltas, and no manager capital co-invested are …

A "Glittering" Bubble: Where Is Gold, At A Record High, Heading Next?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Since 2000, the price of gold has surged more than four times to an all time high of more than US$1,400. Is it purely speculative demand that is driving this unprecedented, multi-year surge, or are there other factors at play? With gold at such a high level, is it time for investors to bet that it will drop? Tarun K. Tandon, CEO of FLS Corporation, shares his thoughts at a recent International Trading Institute@SMU seminar.

After The Year Of Two Halves: Outlook, Risks And Opportunities For 2011, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The post-Lehman Brothers recovery in global financial markets may not have been as reassuring as investors hoped. Meanwhile, conflicts and natural disasters continue to cloud the overall outlook. Through it all, which are the sectors and asset classes to watch in 2011? Senior portfolio fund manager Ong Guat Cheng shares her personal take at SMU's Centre for Asset Securitisation and Management in Asia.

Divining The Merits And Pitfalls Of Dividends, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Capital gains on stock investments are not always a given, but many companies make it a point to give their shareholders a steady flow of returns that do not require a sell. While such payouts are not as exciting as hitting that 'multi-bagger', here’s something more certain: over time, patient shareholders have more to reap. In 'The Little Book of Big Dividends', author Charles Carlson draws readers' attention to the merits and red flags of investing for dividends.

Big Bank, Small Country: Switzerland, The Financial Crisis And The European Union, Justin Thomas Schubert

Inquiry Journal 2011

No abstract provided.

Stock Exchanges In The Middle East: Risky Business Or Smart Investing?, Jed A. Haddad

Honors Projects in Finance

The goal of any investor is to obtain the highest possible return for his or her money. However for years, the debate has continued; stocks, bonds, mutual funds; which of these financial instruments will produce the greatest gain to give the investor the highest profit? Historically, stocks have been known to provide investors with high returns. With the world becoming increasingly globalized, international markets have proven to offer investors more options to help diversify their portfolios. The Middle East has been known as a region of recent economic growth and stability. Three prominent examples of such are Kuwait, Israel, and …

Getting The Sharks To Bite In Your Ocean: A Look At Regional Differences In Funding Components In China And The United States, Jennifer Ashley Schwall

Honors Projects in Finance

This study explores the relationship between a venture capital firm’s geographic region and the investment traits that it values. This study’s results will help determine whether venture capital firms, by geographic region, emphasize certain investment traits over others when funding new companies.

The study examines three regions (the East Coast of the United States, the West Coast of the United States and China, specifically Beijing and Shanghai). By surveying available firms in each region, I collected data on which funding components, or investment traits, the sampled respondents valued. To increase the usefulness of my findings, I held constant the stage …

The Corporate Choice Between Public Debt, Bank Loans, Traditional Private Debt Placements, And 144a Debt Issues, Matteo P. Arena

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

The main purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of the corporate choice between different forms of debt financing. By analyzing the most comprehensive sample of U.S. corporate debt issues to date, I find that firms that issue 144A debt have significantly lower credit quality and higher information asymmetry than firms that issue traditional non-bank private debt. Further, the study shows that traditional private placements, rather than bank loans, are the favorite private debt source for firms with good credit quality. I also show that the firm characteristics of traditional private debt issuers have significantly changed after 1990 …

Equity Incentives And Earnings Management: Evidence From The Banking Industry, Qiang Cheng, Terry Warfield, Minlei Ye

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the relationship between equity incentives and earnings management in the banking industry. By focusing on this regulated industry and using industry-specific earnings management proxies, we provide evidence on the impact of regulation on earnings management arising from chief executive officers' equity incentives. We find that bank managers with high equity incentives are more likely to manage earnings, but only when capital ratios are closer to the minimums required by regulators. This finding indicates that, in the banking industry, potential regulatory intervention induces, rather than mitigates, earnings management arising from equity incentives.

Exploring The Feasibility Of Converting The Mardi Gras Hotel And Casino Into A Casino Boutique Hotel, Patrick Brennan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction:

The topic of my Professional Paper will be the feasibility study of renovating the Mardi Gras Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Currently the Mardi Gras is operating as a Best Western and is looking to expand into the boutique hotel market. With the maturation of the Las Vegas hotel market, it is vital to think forward in new methods of design and marketing to attract the next generation of convention attendees and visiting tourist.

Purpose:

The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of converting the Mardi Gras hotel and casino into a destination casino …