Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

From Bit Valley To Bitcoin: The Nasdaq Odyssey, Mark Lennon, Daniel Folkinshteyn

Rohrer College of Business Departmental Research

Over the past 15 years, NASDAQ, the world’s first all-electronic stock exchange, has actively engaged in efforts to serve the global digital economy by expanding its reach beyond its original domestic U.S. market. They have attempted to create a global 24/7 trading platform, to serve customers in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. These efforts have met with varying degrees of success. More recently, the renamed NASDAQ OMX Group has been experimenting with the disruptive fintech (financial technology) Bitcoin and its underlying technology blockchain to develop robust trading solutions, which drastically reduce transaction and record keeping costs. In this paper we …

Base Erosion And Profit Shifting: Options, Opportunities And Alternatives, James Mohs, Martin Goldberg, David Palacio Buitrago

Finance Faculty Publications

Base erosion and profit shifting is generally defined as tax strategies that serve to exploit gaps or inconsistencies in global tax systems that allow an enterprise to shift profits to lower tax jurisdictions. This can be accomplished by either shifting income to lower tax jurisdiction or shifting deductible expenses to higher tax jurisdictions. Historically, these shifting strategies have been handled on a country by country basis with no centralized framework. In 2015 the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development proposed modifications through its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project that if adopted by the member countries, would reverse the adverse …

The Macro Behind Microfinance: Cambodia's Financial Inclusion Success Story, Jonathan Chang

Social Space

Financial inclusion refers to the delivery of affordable financial services to disadvantaged and low-income segments of society. However, as it also involves striking a fine balance between managing businesses’ credit risks and improving customers’ access to credit, different countries have made varied progress in their financial inclusion efforts. To date, across both developed and developing nations, SMEs and individuals still struggle in the face of limited access to adequate financing. Yet there is one country that has made considerable strides in this area: judging from the tremendous success of its microfinance sector, Cambodia seems to have found the sweet spot …

Scaling Impact Investing Through Innovative Finance: A Focus On Women's Livelihoods, Durreen Shahnaz

Social Space

I embarked on a journey from the first steps of my career to utilise finance to do good for the world. This journey has now turned into a global movement that is taking the world by a storm, known as impact investing or social finance.

How Hedge Funds Beat The Market, Singapore Management University

Research@SMU: Connecting the Dots

From epic tales spun around investment legends Ray Dalio and George Soros, to the secretive, high-octane world of Wall Street, the hedge fund has attained a worldwide notoriety for being an opaque, unwieldy beast. Professor Melvyn Teo studies what makes them tick.

See the papers:

• The geography of hedge funds
• The liquidity risk of liquid hedge funds; The liquidity risk of liquid hedge funds
• Limited attention, marital events and hedge funds

Stock Loan Lotteries And Individual Investment Performance, Jordan Moore

Rohrer College of Business Departmental Research

Individual investors trade excessively, sell winners too soon, and overweight stocks with lottery features and low expected returns. This paper models a financial innovation to address these biases and improve individual investor performance. Individual investors pledge shares of stock to an exchange for multiple periods and face a steep penalty for redeeming shares early. The exchange lends the shares to institutions and holds a lottery with the lending fees. I extend the Barberis and Xiong (2009) discrete-time model of realization utility to include stock loan lotteries. Investors with cumulative prospect theory preferences are reluctant to forgo trading opportunities for fixed …

The Paradoxes Of Risk Management In The Banking Sector, Chu Yeong Lim, Margaret Woods, Christopher Humphrey, Jean Lin Seow

Research Collection School of Accountancy

This paper uses empirical evidence to examine the operational dynamics and paradoxical nature of risk management systems in the banking sector. It demonstrates how a core paradox of market versus regulatory demands and an accompanying variety of performance, learning and belonging paradoxes underlie evident tensions in the interaction between front and back office staff in banks. Organisational responses to such paradoxes are found to range from passive to proactive, reflecting differing organisational, departmental and individual risk culture(s), and performance management systems. Nonetheless, a common feature of regulatory initiatives designed to secure a more structurally independent risk management function is that …

Sentiment And Stock Returns: Anticipating A Major Sporting Event, Brian C. Payne, Jiri Tresl, Geoffrey C. Friesen

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

This study documents the effect of the Super Bowl on the stock returns of firms that are geographically associated with the competing teams. We find significant upward return drift in the 9 trading days leading up to the Super Bowl, a pattern consistent with investors trading in anticipation of the game itself. The ‘‘anticipatory behavior’’ among investors leads to widespread pregame returns, which is not documented in prior studies. These pre-event abnormal returns are positive and statistically and economically significant for all firms, and the size of pre-event returns varies according to each team’s favored status. In addition, firms associated …

The Archway Investment Fund Quarterly Report, First Quarter 2017, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

A Leveraged Buyout Of Paychex, Inc., Devon Zielanzy

The University Honors Program

A leveraged buyout is the acquisition of a company funded primarily through debt, typically 60% to 70% of the price, while a financial sponsor provides the remaining amount of funding. A public company is acquired, then made private, and finally sold after a period of time for a profit. During the time that the company is held private, cash flows of the firm are used to repay the debt taken on to acquire it and actions are taken to improve the business and performance of the firm (Rosenbaum 161-162).

Banking On It: Investment Banks As The Next Step For Impact Investing, Mitchell Laferriere

Social Space

For their size, investment banks have comparatively little to do with the rising practice of impact investing: They make up only nine per cent of all the assets under management (AUM) in the impact investment industry. That totals about US$1 trillion in investments in an US$11 trillion market.

Sofi 101: Understanding Social Finance, Christian Petroske, Florian Parzhuber, Haneol Jeong, John Kinsella, Maaya Murakami, Mitchell Laferriere, Remi Cordelle

Social Space

What is social finance? Rachel Kalbfleisch of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) defines it as a collection of approaches to managing money that create value for society or the environment, often while producing a financial return,1 while the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing calls it “an approach to managing money to solve societal challenges”.2 In other words, social finance is a movement that covers various ways of using finance—via socially responsible investments, micro-loans, community investments, and so on—to achieve a social or environmental impact. Who is involved in this process? While charities, socially driven businesses and governments all work …

Can Investors Benefit From Using Morningstar's Stewardship Grades?, Scott B. Moore, Gary E. Porter

2017 Faculty Bibliography

Interest in governance led Morningstar to develop a summary measure for mutual fund governance. In contrast to previous work in this area, we focus on whether and how individual investors can use the Stewardship Grade Overall to improve mutual fund selection. We find that regardless of fee structure, top overall governance grade funds impose lower costs on investors regardless of fund investment style. We also find some evidence that choosing funds with the highest stewardship grade may earn positive risk adjusted returns. Stewardship Grade overall may therefore help less sophisticated investors identify better-performing mutual funds.

How Costly Is A Misspecified Credit Channel Dsge Model In Monetary Policymaking?, Takeshi Yagihashi

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper examines whether misspecification in credit market friction could be costly in the context of monetary policymaking. Using two widely known dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models, we simulate a hypothetical financial crisis and examine how each model performs when the misspecification occurs in the credit channel. We demonstrate that monetary policy suggested by misspecified models tends to destabilize the economy during crisis, even though one of the two models does reasonably well in estimating policy-invariant model parameters. We also show that the opportunity cost of using a misspecified model is high relative to the outcome achieved under a …

Ua25/2 Memoranda, Wku Human Resources

WKU Administration Documents

Memoranda issued by WKU Human Resources to faculty & staff via email.

• Personnel Actions Approval Procedures
• Governor's Proposal for Public Pension Reform
• Keeping the Promise Highlights
• Keeping the Promise KERS-NH/CERS-NH
• Keeping the Promise KTRS
• Keeping the Promise KERS HAZ. / CERS HAZ. / SPRS
• Keeping the Promise - Legislative Retirement
• Keeping the Promise - Judicial Retirement
• Keeping the Promise - Additional Reforms

Start-Up Funding Via Equity Crowdfunding In Germany – A Qualitative Analysis Of Success Factors, Martin Angerer, Alexander Brem, Sascha Kraus, Andreas Peter

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Entrepreneurs often struggle to find sufficient funding for their start-ups. A relatively new way for companies to attract capital is via an internet platform, locating investors who in return receive something in return for their ventures. Equity crowdfunding is one of several types of crowdfunding, and is also known as crowdinvesting in the German-speaking realm. This article predominantly advances the scientific knowledge regarding the success factors of equity crowdfunding for German start-ups. The study conducted nine qualitative interviews with start-ups and crowdinvesting platforms. Its first result is that German start-ups select crowdinvesting because (1) it is a funding opportunity and …

Quran & Capitalism: The Compliance Of Income Share Agreements With Shari'ah, Kamil Fadel

Honors Program Theses

Income share agreements (ISAs) are a necessary option to finance higher educations. ISAs eschew fixed payments for the flexibility of income based repayments between a student and an investor. ISA contracts stipulate that, in return for educational financing, a student promises a percentage of their future income for an agreed upon time frame. Should the student not possess sufficient income, their obligations are $0.00. Among the fastest growing financial sectors is Islamic financing. Islamic finance abhors gambling, deception, and usury and upholds the public good as its ultimate aim. As Islamic finance grows globally, an opportunity to offer shari’ah compliant …

Succession; A Business Strategy, Jan Miller, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

Plan, Prepare, Prosper - workshop

This document is part of the Plan, Prepare, Prosper program that was developed under the Pilot of Drought Reform Measures ('the pilot'), a joint initiative between the Australian Government and the Western Australian Government. The program aims to support farmers and rural communities to prepare for drought, climate variability and other challenges.

The Succession planning: A business strategy workshop will help participants to begin and maintain the succession planning process.

This workshop will guide you through the process of exploring, planning and enacting succession planning.

Please use this manual as a checklist to help you …

International Diversification Into Emerging Equity Markets: Perspective Of U.S. Investors, Ki C. Han, Sukhun Lee, David Y. Suk, Hyun Mo Sung

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this study, we examine whether investing in emerging markets is indeed beneficial to U. S. investors. The results we find in this study are not so encouraging for U. S. investors. First, the change in currency exchange rate weakens the benefit of overseas investment to U. S. investors. Second, the correlations between the U. S. market and the emerging markets have been steadily rising during the sample period. Third, most of these emerging equity markets scored lower Sharpe Ratios than the U. S. equity market. Fourth, we find that the emerging market and its currency market move in the …

Factors Predicting Profitability Of Enterprises Funded By Microfinance Institutions In Burkina Faso, Fulgence Kabore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In sub-Saharan Africa, only 13% of new businesses show profitability and survive beyond start-up. Such a low rate of success has an adverse impact on the region economy as small and medium enterprises comprise 90% of African businesses. Understanding the cause of business failure can help existing and new entrepreneurs to focus on factors that may help to overcome barriers to business growth and increase entrepreneurs' chances of success. The purpose of the correlation study was to examine the relationship between business ownership characteristics, resources and professional management, timing, and profitability. The resource-based theory served as the theoretical lens for …

Capitalization Strategies For Small Business Sustainability, Richard Basch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the past 15 years, privately held small businesses generated nearly two-thirds of the net job growth in the United States, yet much of what scholars know regarding the capitalization challenges faced by small businesses is limited to data from large corporations. In 2013 alone, business bankruptcies numbered 33,212, and each year approximately 10% to 12% of U.S. small businesses close. Ineffective capitalization strategies coupled with a limited understanding of funding options frequently results in unsustainable business practices. In this multiple case study, the capital budgeting theory was utilized to explore the capitalization strategies small business owners in the greater …

Strategies Mortgage Loan Executives Need To Prequalify Mortgage Loan Applicants, Clement Olutayo Ogunyemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The mortgage industry played a major role in the recession faced by the U.S. economy in 2008, with approximately 8.8 million borrowers, or 10.8% of all homeowners, with negative equity in their homes. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies mortgage loan executives use to prequalify mortgage loan applicants. The target population consisted of 8 mortgage executives at 5 mortgage lending firms located in northwest Arkansas who demonstrated strategies to enhance the prequalification of mortgage loan applicants. The conceptual framework for the study was the theory of asymmetric information. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted and the …

Creating An Ethical Organizational Environment In Banking, Svenja Nitsche

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An ethical organizational environment ensures a trustworthy organization. This case study explored strategies that banking managers in the United Arab Emirates used to create an ethical organizational environment, one that emphasized the inclusion of ethical values, moral principles, and commitment to society. The target population included senior managers who created and implemented strategies to ensure employees adopted the ethical values in pursuit of an ethical environment. Ethical climate theory provided the conceptual framework for this study. Interviews with 5 managers and company documentation contributed the data for this research. Data were analyzed following inductive investigation and case description. Connecting corporate …

Factors Affecting Student Loan Default In Proprietary Non-Degree Granting Colleges, Samuel Hanson Kelley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The significant problem addressed in this research was the increasing default rate among federal student loan borrowers who attended non-degree-granting proprietary colleges in Florida (i.e., career and technical colleges). The purpose of this study was to identify, better understand, and predict which borrower characteristics increased the likelihood of student loan default at proprietary non-degree-granting colleges. The research was based on the structural-functional and planned behavior theories and utilized a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional design to explore the relationship between academic success, age, college graduation status, ethnicity, gender, high school class ranking, and federal student loan default. Self-reported data were obtained from …

Marital Status Of Executives And Company Performance, Ilona Day

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research paper explores differences in company performance levels, as measured by selected company fundamentals and annual return, with regard to the marital status of top executives, specifically the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer. It examines whether the differences in firm performance are determined by the marital status of the respective business executive. Groups of never married, married, and divorced executives are compared against each other to establish if and how the company performance changes between these groups. Summary statistics of the examined variables in conjunction with the results of the simple and multiple regression analyses indicate …

Too Big To Fool: Moral Hazard, Bailouts, And Corporate Responsibility, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

Domestic and international regulatory efforts to prevent another financial crisis have been converging on the idea of trying to end the problem of “too big to fail”—that systemically important financial firms take excessive risks because they profit from success and are (or at least, expect to be) bailed out by government money to avoid failure. The legal solutions being advanced to control this morally hazardous behavior tend, however, to be inefficient, ineffective, or even dangerous—such as breaking up firms and limiting their size, which can reduce economies of scale and scope; or restricting central bank authority to bail out failing …

Controlling Systemic Risk Through Corporate Governance, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

Most of the regulatory measures to control excessive risk taking by systemically important firms are designed to reduce moral hazard and to align the interests of managers and investors. These measures may be flawed because they are based on questionable assumptions. Excessive corporate risk taking is, at its core, a corporate governance problem. Shareholder primacy requires managers to view the consequences of their firm’s risk taking only from the standpoint of the firm and its shareholders, ignoring harm to the public. In governing, managers of systemically important firms should also consider public harm. This proposal engages the long-standing debate whether …

Benchmark Regulation, Gina-Gail S. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

Benchmarks are metrics that are deeply embedded in the financial markets. They are essential to the efficient functioning of the markets and are used in a wide variety of ways—from pricing oil to setting interest rates for consumer lending to valuing complex financial instruments. In recent years, benchmarks have also been at the epicenter of numerous, multi-year market manipulation scandals. Oil traders, for example, deliberately execute trades to drive benchmarks lower artificially, allowing the traders to capitalize on the manipulated benchmarks. This ensures that later trades relying on the benchmarks will be more profitable than they otherwise would have been. …

Rethinking Corporate Governance For A Bondholder Financed, Systemically Risky World, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

This Article makes two arguments that, combined, demonstrate an important synergy: first, including bondholders in corporate governance could help to reduce systemic risk because bondholders are more risk averse than shareholders; second, corporate governance should include bondholders because bonds now dwarf equity as a source of corporate financing and bond prices are increasingly tied to firm performance.

Financial Analysis With Artificial Neural Networks Short-Term Stock Market Forecasting, Andrew Linzie

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Excerpt from Introduction

Seldom reward is absent from risk, and stock markets are a prime example. Stock markets across the world are viewed as profitable and risky at the same time. Companies have made a business out of forecasting these markets. Quantitative analysis companies use mathematicians, financial analysts, and computer scientists to compete in the stock market. The old days of floor trading have progressed towards high-frequency trading with supercomputers housed within the exchange. For example, the New York Stock exchange has created regulations for these companies so that there’s competitive equality. The computer’s power, length of cable to the …