Corporate Finance Commons^™

Mergers And Acquistions : A Study On The Performance Of Non-Financial Companies In Malaysia, Maran Marimuthu

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study examines the performance of non-financial companies that were involved in merger and acquisition activities between 1990 and 1995. A sample of 60 non-financial companies has been selected which are then split into two main groups; low sales growth companies and high sales growth companies. The objectives of the study are; to examine those companies' performance over the period 1996-1998, to compare their performance with respect to pre-crisis and crisis periods and to assess shareholder value appreciation in comparison between the low sales growth companies and high sales growth companies during their post-acquisition period. Capital gains are used to …

Performance Of Unit Trusts In Malaysia In The Period Of 1995 To 1999, Khing Wee Ong

Student Works (2000-2009)

Malaysia has experienced one of the Vv'Orst economic and financial crises in the history, in the second half of 1997. Many people are aware on how the crisis affected the share market, but not many know about the effects to the unit trusts industry. This research provides an insight on how the unit trusts in Malaysia have performed during the financial crisis. To make comparisons, the period of the research has been divided into two sub-periods, the first one being prior to the financial crisis (March-95 to June-97) and the second or.e being during the financial crisis (July-97 to November-99). …

Performance Comparison Between Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (Bimb) And Conventional Banks, 1989-1999, Chiu Sian Nee Alison

Student Works (2000-2009)

This is an empirical study which compares the performance of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) with seven commercial banks for the period 1989-1999 in terms of growth, profitability, liquidity, solvency, credit risk, earnings risk and sectoral contribution to the economy. BIMB's performance during the period of the financial crisis 1997-1999 is also compared with fifteen commercial banks. Ratio analysis is used in these comparisons. This report is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the fundamental principles and mode of operations of both conventional and Islamic banks. Chapter 2 reviews the literature pertaining to the performance of Islamic banks in …

Nonperforming Loans In Banking And Financial Sector, Ning Ning Chang

Student Works (2000-2009)

It is crucially important to understand the connection between banking sector fragility and the nonperforning loans (NPLs) problem. The problem of mounting NPLs gained much prominence during the recession that hit particularly all countries over the world in 1980s. It is again become prominent following the financial crisis that recently hit the Asian countries. This study examines various factors contributing to the NPL problem, where some endogenous as well as exogenous factors are identified. Poor management and poor lending policies, fraud and embezzlement, moral hazard incentives, heavy government intervention and weaknesses in prudential regulation and supervision are among the factors …

The Impact Of The Travel Account On The Malaysian Balance Of Payments, Goh Mei Lee

Student Works (2000-2009)

The current account deficits in the balance of payments have been a serious concern to policy makers and academicians in their efforts to formulate possible ways to assist the current account deficits . This study looks at the Malaysian services account balances in the current account of the balance of payment with specific focus on the travel account position. The long-standing deficits in the Malaysian current account position due to the services account deficits have been rather prominent in the ear1y I980's due to excessive external debts . The net investment payment ranked the highest in terms of generating outflows …

Journal Of Actuarial Practice, Volume 8, Nos. 1 And 2 (2000), Colin Ramsay , Editor

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Complete volume, includes ARTICLES:

Realistic Pension Funding: A Stochastic Approach • Shih-Chieh Chang 5

Risk Sources in a Life Annuity Portfolio: Decomposition and Measurement Tools • Mariarosaria Coppola, Emilia Di Lorenzo, and Mari/ena Sibillo . .43

A Comparative Study of the Performance of Loss Reserving Methods through Simulation • Prakash Narayan and Thomas Warthen 63

Concentration in the Property and Liability Insurance Market by Line of Insurance • Edward Nissan and Regina Caveny 89

Safe-Side Requirements in Life Insurance: A Corporate Perspective • Annamaria Olivieri and Ermanno Pitacco 115

Actuarial Analysis of Retirement Income Replacement Ratios • Robert Keng Heong …

Modeling Corporate Bond Default Risk: A Multiple Time Series Approach, Wai-Sum Chan

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

A multiple time series approach is used to forecast the short-term u.s. corporate bond default level. These time series have two auxiliary economic variables: U.S. price inflation and U.S. GNP growth rate. Actual U.S. data from the turn of the century to the present are used to estimate the parameters of multivariate time series model. Diagnostic checks are performed to examine adequacy of the model. The model's forecast for the aggregate U.S. bond default level in 2000-2001 are 0.42% and 0.56%, respectively, while the forecast for the speculative-grade default rate in 2000 is 3.6%, which is more pessimistic than some …

Actuarial Analysis Of Retirement Income Replacement Ratios, Robert Keng Heong Lian, Emiliano A. Valdez, Chan Kee Low

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

A measure of level of post-retirement standard of living is the replacement ratio, i.e., percentage of final salary received as annual retirement income derived from savings. The replacement ratio depends on many factors including salary, salary increases, investment returns, and post-retirement mortality. Elementary life contingencies techniques are used to develop a replacement ratio formula and analyze its sensitivity to these factors.

Life Contingencies With Stochastic Discounting Using Moving Average Models, Steven Haberman, Russell Gerrard, Dimitrios Velmachos

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper offers simplified procedures for calculating moments of functions in life contingencies when the random force of interest is modeled using an unconditional moving average process of order q, MA(q). It extends the MA(l) model that has been used for stochastic discounting. Using the more general MA(q) model allows actuaries to better capture the auto correlation between successive interest rates in a time series.

Independent Claim Report Lags And Bias In Forecasts Using Age-To-Age Factor Methodology, Stewart Gleason

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper finds that when report lags are assumed to be independent, the age-to-age factor method produces biased estimates when applied to claim count development data. Two distributions are considered as models for the ultimate number of claims for an accident period: (0 a Poisson distribution, and (ii) a negative binomial distribution. In the Poisson case, the assumption of independent report lags implies the independence of the total number of claims reported in any two periods. In the negative binomial case, however, assuming that report lags are independent does not imply that increments are independent, and a somewhat different argument …

Concentration In The Property And Liability Insurance Market By Line Of Insurance, Edward Nissan, Regina Caveny

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper uses an National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) 1995 data set to examine the concentration of property and liability insurance by line of insurance in the U.S. The primary measure of concentration used is the Herfindahl index. The largest 100 affiliates are divided into three largest sets of 20, 30, and 50. We find that the homeowners line is the most concentrated line and commercial auto physical damage is the least concentrated line, with the top 20 affiliates commanding the largest between-set and within-set contributions.

Risk Sources In A Life Annuity Portfolio: Decomposition And Measurement Tools, Mariarosaria Coppola, Emilia Di Lorenzo, Marilena Sibillo

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

The paper considers a model for a homogeneous portfolio of whole life annuities immediate. The aim is to study two risk factors: the investment risk and the insurance risk. A stochastic model of the rate of return is used to study these risk factors. Measures of the insurance risk and the investment risk for the entire portfolio are suggested. The problem of the longevity risk is presented, and its consequences with different projections of the mortality tables are analyzed. The model is applied to some concrete cases, and several illustrations show the importance of the two components of the riskiness …

A Comparative Study Of The Performance Of Loss Reserving Methods Through Simulation, Prakash Narayan, Thomas Warthen

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Actuaries are often asked to provide a range or confidence level for the loss reserve along with a point estimate. Traditional methods of loss reserving do not provide an estimate of the variance of the estimated reserve, and actuaries use various ad hoc methods to derive a range for the indicated reserve. We use a Monte Carlo simulation method to compare various loss reserve estimation methods, including traditional methods and regression-based methods of loss reserving.

Safe-Side Requirements In Life Insurance: A Corporate Perspective, Annamaria Olivieri, Ermanno Pitacco

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Safe-side requirements concern the assumptions used to calculate premiums in relation to a set of more realistic assumptions. Roughly, safe-side requirements express the capability of premiums to generate positive margins. In a strictly actuarial framework, safe-side requirements are given in terms of some notion of expected profit, calling for assumptions that let such profit be non-negative. An expected profit of zero, however, is not a realistic aim for the insurer. We investigate the notion of conservative assumptions by adopting a unconventional approach. Our focus is the management of the financial resources coming both from premiums and from shareholders' capital. This …

Realistic Pension Funding: A Stochastic Approach, Shih-Chieh Chang

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

The process funding pension plans is viewed as a dynamic control process. Two performance measures are introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of plan contributions: the cost-induced performance measure (CIPM) and the ratio-induced performance measure (RIPM). A dynamic programming approach is used to determining the optimal contributions with the objective of minimizing the performance measure. The methodology developed is applied to a sample of members of Taiwan's Public Employees Pension Plan (Tai-PERS). We show that RIPM produces more stable results than those using CIPM.

Ownership Structure And Corporate Performance : A Study On Malaysian Public-Listed Companies, Yoke Ping Lua

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study examines the relationship between ownership structure and corporation performance on 100 Malaysian public-listed companies from 1993 to 1997. We first investigate the effect of ownership concentration on corporate performance, as measured by return on equity, market to book value ratio and return on assets. Further, we extend our analysis by examining the relation between insider ownership and the three accounting ratios. The results showed no significant relationship between ownership concentration or insider ownership and corporate performance for the selected corporations in 1993 - 1997. This study further confirms the studies conducted by Kwabena (1993) and Yee (1998) that …

The Selective Capital And Exchange Controls In Malaysia : A Malaysian Perspective, Muhamad Shukri Abdul Rani

Student Works (2000-2009)

The latest financial and currency crisis that struck Malaysia in 1997 has exposed several macroeconomic weaknesses within the Malaysian economy, in light of the huge influx of international capital flows and speculative activities, and highlighted once again the issue of premature capital account and financial liberalization. These weaknesses such as economic growth well above potential output, loss of efficiency in the economy, current account deficits, over dependence on the banking sector for loans, which were later used for unproductive investments such as those in the stock and property markets have made Malaysia vulnerable to the shocks that emanated from the …

The Effectiveness Of Monetary Policy In Malaysia In The Light Of Financial Liberalization, Farizah Ahmad

Student Works (2000-2009)

Financial liberalization had caused instability in the money demand function as well as in the velocity of money. As a result, money supply is no longer reliable as the main intermediate target and there appeared to be a shift in the technique of monetary control towards greater reliance on interest rates as the main operating instrument. Developing countries that continue to emphasize on quantitative method in their monetary framework while at the same time implement financial refom1s may face the problem of a loss of monetary control and hence, monetary policy may possibly not be effective in influencing income or …

The Impact Of The Real Exchange Rates On Exports : The Malaysian Case, Lay Lian Chuah

Student Works (2000-2009)

Many studies have yielded contradicting results on the impact of real exchange rate volatility on exports. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine the relationship between real exchange rate volatility and Malaysian exports. The model of this study is adapted from Caballero and Corbo's ( 1989) paper. In this respect, this paper also uses the same standard calculation for real exchange rate (RER) volatility. However, a minor adaptation was made whereby the standard deviation, the measurement of real exchange rate volatility is refined by using trade weighted settlement in its computation. This would be a more accurate way of measurement, as …

Afghanistan's Economic Potentials And Malaysian Entrepreneurs' Perceptions, Abdul Sattar Murad

Student Works (2000-2009)

Afghanistan is a country that has started its economic development after the World War II, one of the very early beginners in launching its economic development programs; it is one of the least developed countries in Asia. This study reviews the economic potentials of Afghanistan including mineral, water, land resources and perception of Malaysian Investors. These two aspects of the study highlight the causes of low economic development and factors responsible for it. This study attempts to examine four logically linked questions, i.e. (i) what are the trade potentials of Afghanistan? (ii) What are the mineral potentials of Afghanistan? What …

Seasonality Effects Of Finance Stocks On The Kuala Lumpur Exchange, Foon Lee Ng

Student Works (2000-2009)

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the seasonality effect or calendar anomalies of Finance stocks on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) over the period of January 1992 to June 1999. Among the calendar anomalies investigated in this study are the day-of-the-week effect, the pre-holiday effect, the end-of-the-month effect and the firm size effect. Empirical results reveal that there is an existence of the day-of-the-week effect in the financial stocks for the entire sample period. The results are consistent with those previous studies in which Monday's returns are significantly negative whilst Friday's returns are positive. In particular, …

Relationship Between Risks And Return In The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, Keat Chye Khoo

Student Works (2000-2009)

Results of empirical tests on the relationship between stock returns and arious risk factors of sixty stocks in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange over the eriod 1979-1998 are presented in this study. Overall the applicability of the capital sset pricing model in Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange using monthly data is absent. 1arket risk alone or with another risk factors are unable to explain the variation in verage returns. However, there is a significant non-linear relationship between verage returns of individual stocks and market risk in two test periods 1983-86 and 995-98. This study also finds that other risk factors are …

Behaviour Of Trading And Non-Trading Stock Returns In The Malaysian Stock Market, Lay Khong Tan

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study examines the stock returns and volatilities of trading and non­trading day for seven KLSE indices from January 3, 1994 to November 26, 1999. Six return series are computed. They are the overnight, open to close, morning, afternoon, close to close and open to open series. There is consistently positive overnight return throughout Monday to Friday. The weekend effect or Monday effect is significantly positive. The returns of the morning, open to close, close to close series are negative particularly on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Except for Monday, other weekdays have positive afternoon return. Mean and variance return are …

Long Run Determinants Of Malaysia Trade Balance : A Cointegration Study, Lok Sin Kuar

Student Works (2000-2009)

This paper aims to study the long run determinants of Malaysian trade balance the cointegration method by using quarterly data from 1973 1Q to 1998 4Q. In order to study the long run equilibrium relationship, trade balance is tested against other macroeconomic variables which resembles monetary policy, exchange rate policy and fiscal policy. The final results is that interest rate is the only variable found to be cointegrated with the trade balance. As such, it implies that interest rate may be an effective policy instrument to rectify the problem of trade imbalances in Malaysia. On the other hand, other policies …

Analysing Random Access Memory Chip Yield Performance, Choy Sar Kam

Student Works (2000-2009)

Despite advances in integrated circuits (IC) equipment and fabrication techniques, there still exist random fluctuations or statistical disturbances in any IC manufacturing facility. which can adversely affect the production yield. Actually devices and circuits are being designed with increasingly tighter parameter and performance margins. As a result, chip performance becomes even more sensitive to the statistical variations, and this may result in low production yield. One of the significant detractors of cost in a manufacturing line is yield loss due to contamination and the time required to increase the yield to profitable levels. Yield loss in a manufacturing line is …

Comparison Between The Economic Fundamentals Of Malaysia And Singapore Prior To The 1997 Southeast Asian Currency Crisis, Mun Chow Lai

Student Works (2000-2009)

This research paper makes a comparative study on the economic fundamentals of Malaysia and Singapore prior to the 1997 Southeast Asian Currency Crisis (SACC). The overriding objective here is to determine the structural economic characteristics of Malaysia and Singapore prior to the SACC and to explore the possibility that underlying fundamentals might have contributed towards or exacerbated the SACC. The analysis begins with an overview of the economics of Malaysia and Singapore using graphical and tabular analysis of broad indices. This is followed by the formulation of simultaneous equation models, one for Malaysia and another for Singapore. Besides service balance …

The Impact Of The Recent Currency Crisis On Malaysian Exports, Deivanai Kaliappan

Student Works (2000-2009)

Since the outbreak of East and Southeast Asian financial crisis, a lot has been said and done to explain currency crisis that started with floatation of Thai baht. Economists and policymakers from all over the world gathered to discuss the causes of the main agenda in global economic as well as the action to be taken in bringing the affected countries in the East and Southeast Asian region back to recovery path. However, it is already 17 months since the crisis erupted, still there is no well defined measures that can be adopted by the ailing economies to improve their …

A Study Of Stock Market Efficiency In Malaysia, Shook Chern Lee

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study examines the behaviour of the stock market in Malaysia and its implication on the weak form efficiency of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. Daily data of the number of stocks advancing, declining or remaining unchanged in price and the closing levels of the stock market indices of the Main Board, seven main sectors of the Main Board and the Second Board of the KLSE were used in this study. The period covered was from January 1994 to December 1998, a total of 1233 trading days. The results using the Theil-Leenders test indicates that there is some dependence in successive …

Is The Term Premium A Risk Premium?, Louis H. Ederington, Jeremy C. Goh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper explores whether excess holding period returns on long vis-a-vis short-term securities behave in a manner that is consistent with (1) market efficiency, (2) the time-varying-term-premium variant of the expectations hypothesis, and (3) theories of the term premium that view it as a reward for risk bearing. Both traditional and modern theories of the term premium imply that it should evolve fairly slowly over time as attitudes toward risk and/or perceived covariances with wealth or consumption change. This implies that this period's term premium should have some predictive ability for next period's. However, we find that this quarter's ex-post …

Private Placement Of Common Equity And Earnings Expectations, Jeremy C. Goh, Michael Gombola, Hai Wei Lee, Feng Ying Liu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Earnings forecast revisions by analysts subsequent to the announcement of private equity placements are examined. Results show that analysts make significant upward revisions to their forecasts for current-year earnings. Furthermore, these forecast revisions are significantly related to announcement-period abnormal returns, but not to the risk changes accompanying the equity placement. These findings are consistent with the information hypothesis, which suggests that private equity placements convey favorable information about future earnings.