Ramona Arpagaus, Analyse der Auswirkungen des Frankenschocks auf Banken in der Schweiz und der EU, sowie auf Schweizer Unternehmen, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Frankenschock und dessen Auswirkungen im Jahr 2015.
Dazu werden bestimmte Schweizer Unternehmen und ihre Branchen untersucht. Vor allem die
Auswirkungen des Frankenschocks auf die Bankenbranche wird vertieft analysiert. Dazu
werden die Reaktionen auf den Frankenschock von gewissen Banken der Schweiz und der
europäischen Union untersucht und anschliessend verglichen.
Schlussfolgernd lässt sich sagen, dass durch den Frankenschock die Schweizer Unternehmen
sehr unterschiedlich getroffen wurden. Zusätzlich wurde ersichtlich, dass die Auswirkungen
des Frankenschocks im Jahr 2015 auf die Banken der Schweiz breitflächiger waren, als für die
Banken der europäischen Union. |
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Nadya Dettwiler, Empirical Evidence on the Pricing of Physical Climate Risk in Financial Markets, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Master's Thesis)
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Nicolas Schmidli, The Impact of the Basel III Banking Regulation on different Stakeholder of an Economy, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Bachelor's Thesis)
This paper is divided into two parts. The first part is a historical review of the work of
the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). Since its inception in 1974 the
BCBS had the goal to create a multinational banking regulation standard that would
level the playing field for international active banks and create stability for the
financial sector.
Basel I was the first international standard and had as its main component an 8% risk
weighted capital requirement. From Basel I to Basel II the risk weight itself stayed at
8% but the calculation of the capital requirements became more complex. Flaws from
Basel I in the standardised approach to calculate risk weighted capital were addressed
and partially amended. In addition, the internal ratings-based approaches, to calculate
risk weighted requirements were introduced. The new methods were criticised as
being too optimistic and as a mechanism for large banks to decrease their capital
requirements. Studies showed that when using the internal methods capital
requirements were significantly lower than with the standardised approach. Basel III
was created as an answer to the global financial crisis in 2008. New instruments were
introduced to raise the quantity and the quality of banks’ capital. In the 2010s banks
had to increase both weighted ratios and leverage ratios to meet the new standards.
The second part of the paper discusses the hypothesis that higher capital requirements
will lead to a shrinkage of bank lending activity. To address this question, the Swiss
and the Norwegian banking sector are analysed. Both the capital ratios and the lending
activities during the Basel III implementation are discussed in detail. For the two Swiss
global systemically important banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, a stagnation in lending
growth from 2015 – 2019 is observed. In the same period the revised “too big to fail”
requirements had to be implemented by these banks. With existing work, the empirical
connection of capital ratios and bank lending is discussed. |
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Koray Alper, Fatih Altunok, Taniu Çapacıoğlu, Steven Ongena, The effect of unconventional monetary policy on cross-border bank loans: Evidence from an emerging market, European Economic Review, Vol. 127, 2020. (Journal Article)
We analyze the impact of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England on cross‐border credit flows. Relying on comprehensive loan‐level data, we find that Fed QE strongly boosts cross‐border credit granted to Turkish banks by banks located in the US, Euro Area and UK, while ECB and BoE QEs work only moderately through banks in the EA and UK, respectively. In general QE works at short maturities across bank locations and loan currencies, more strongly for weaker lenders and borrowers, and may have resulted in maturity mismatches in Turkish banks searching for yield. |
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Emilia Garcia, Judit Montoriol-Garriga, Trade credit use as firms approach default, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 52 (5), 2020. (Journal Article)
Using a sample of distressed firms with information about suppliers, we document an average fall in the use of trade credit as firms approach bank-ruptcy compared to a control sample of non-bankrupt firms. However, we uncover a large degree of heterogeneity across suppliers. Suppliers facing high switching costs maintain their business ties with the distressed firms as they approach bankruptcy, and provide them more trade credit. Suppliers in concentrated markets provide temporary support to their clients. Overall, the findings of this paper show that switching costs are fundamental to ex-plain whether suppliers provide liquidity to their distressed clients or not. |
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Adrian Becker, The Effect of Exchange-Traded Funds on their Underlying Securities' Trading Costs, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Marianne Marty, Wie werden sich die finanziellen Kennzahlen der PostFinance verändern, wenn das Kreditverbot aufgehoben wird?, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Manthos D. Delis, Iftekhar Hasan, Maria Iosifidi, Steven Ongena, Gender, Credit, and Firm Outcomes, In: Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper, No. 19-70, 2020. (Working Paper)
Small and micro enterprises are usually majority owned by entrepreneurs. Using a unique sample of loan applications from such firms, we study the role of owners’ gender in the credit decision of banks and the post-credit decision firm outcomes. We find that, ceteris paribus, female entrepreneurs are more prudent loan applicants, with both the probabilities to apply for credit and of firm default after the loan origination being smaller. However, the relatively more aggressive behavior of male applicants pays off in terms of higher average firm performance after the loan origination. |
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Lizethe Méndez, Steven Ongena, "Finance And Growth" Re-Visited, Journal of Financial Management, Markets and Institutions, Vol. 80 (1), 2020. (Journal Article)
We test whether the relationship between finance and growth is present in 48 countries over 20 different periods of an equal length of 15 years, starting in 1980 (to 1995) and ending in 1999 (to 2014). We estimate growth regressions using an IV approach and we find that (1) overall financial development had a positive effect on economic growth for almost all our studied periods, (2) the legal system is the primary determinant of the effectiveness of the overall financial system, and (3) financial services were relevant for economic growth even during the financial crisis of 2008. This research is part of a research agenda revisiting the finance–growth nexus using up-to-date empirical methodologies. |
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Fabio Braggion, Mintra Dwarkasing, Steven Ongena, Household inequality, entrepreneurial dynamism and corporate financing, In: Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper, No. 14-27, 2020. (Working Paper)
Economic theories provide conflicting hypotheses on how wealth inequality affects entrepreneurial dynamism. To empirically investigate its impact, we construct local measures of household wealth inequality based on financial rents, home equity, and 1880 farmland. We identify its effects on entrepreneurship by instrumenting it with land distribution under the 1862 Homestead Act or US states’ removal of “death taxes”. Wealth inequality decreases firm entry and exit, and the proportion of high-tech businesses across metropolitan statistical areas. There is also less redistribution into public goods supportive of entrepreneurship such as schooling and the judiciary. Income per capita consequently grows more slowly. |
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Ana Mao de Ferro, Geraldo Cerqueiro, María Fabiana Penas, Political Uncertainty and the Geographic Allocation of Credit: Evidence from Small Businesses, In: SSRN, No. 3492043, 2020. (Working Paper)
We investigate how political uncertainty affects the geographic distribution of bank lending to small businesses. Using exogenous variation in gubernatorial elections with binding term limits, we show that political uncertainty causes local banks to increase lending to small firms in the other states where they operate, especially in the wealthier counties. The increase in credit availability in turn leads to an increase in employment growth and net firm creation in those states, especially in sectors that need larger amounts of startup capital. Our results indicate that geographic diversification and financial integration enable banks to sidestep the negative local economic effects of political uncertainty. |
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Steven Ongena, Soforthilfe für Schweizer Wirtschaft verdient Respekt, In: Finanz und Wirtschaft, p. 12, 17 June 2020. (Newspaper Article)
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Steven Ongena, Invited Policy Speech, In: European Investment Bank ENRI. 2020. (Conference Presentation)
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Jonathan Fu, Mrinal Mishra, The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Fintech Adoption, In: Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper, No. 20-38, 2020. (Working Paper)
We draw on mobile application data from 74 countries to document the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adoption of digital finance and fintech. We estimate that the spread of COVID-19 and related government lockdowns have led to between a 24 and 32 percent increase in the relative rate of daily downloads of finance mobile applications in the sample countries. In absolute terms, this equates to an average daily increase of roughly 5.2 to 6.3 million application downloads and an aggregate increase of about 316 million app downloads since the pandemic’s outbreak to the present, taking into account prior trends. Most regions across the world exhibit notable increases in absolute, relative, and per capita terms. Preliminary analysis of country-level characteristics suggest that market size and demographics, rather than level of economic development and ex-ante adoption rates, drive differential trends. |
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Valon Smajli, Pyramidensystem in Albanien, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Albanien erlebte nach dem Zusammenbruch des Kommunismus 1990 ein starkes wirtschaftliches Wachstum. Bis spät war das Land von der Aussenwelt isoliert und hatte keine Erfahrungen in der offenen Marktwirtschaft, die sich durch den Zerfall der kommunistischen Regierung ergab. Anfangs der 1990er Jahren wurden viele neue Unternehmen gegründet, von denen einige trügerische Handlungen tätigten, indem sie die Bevölkerung Albaniens zu Fehlinvestitionen täuschten. Diese Unternehmen entwickelten sich zu Pyramidensystemen und erreichten 1996, dass mehr als die Hälfte der Bevölkerung involviert war und Investitionen tätigte. 1997 brachen die Pyramidenfirmen zusammen und die Bevölkerung verlor ihr investiertes Vermögen. Die darauffolgende Wirtschaftskrise löste ein politisches, wirtschaftliches und sozial Chaos aus, was schlussendlich zu kriegsähnlichen Situationen, Lotterieaufstand, im Land führte. Obwohl Albanien als eines der ärmsten Länder Europas galt, wurden schätzungsweise 1.2 Mia. US-Dollar von der albanischen Bevölkerung in die Pyramidenfirmen einbezahlt.
Dadurch, dass die Wirtschaft und die Politik in Albanien in den 1990er Jahren turbulente Phasen erlebt hatte, fokussiert sich die bestehende Literatur auf die gesamte Dekade und untersucht die Zusammenhänge, die zu diesen Phasen geführt haben. Nur wenige legten den Fokus auf die Pyramidensysteme in Albanien. Die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit bietet einen Überblick über die Entstehung, Entwicklung und den Zusammenbruch der Pyramidenfirmen in Albanien, und diskutiert gleichzeitig mögliche Einflussfaktoren, die zum Erfolg derer führten. |
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Christoph Rave, Sind Filialbanken vom Aussterben bedroht? Eine kritische Analyse am Beispiel von Regionalbanken, Sparkassen und Raiffeisenbanken, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Das Paper liefert eine umfassende Zusammenfassung der aktuellen Situation in Bezug auf
Filialbanken. Der Fokus wird hierbei auf Regionalbanken, Sparkassen und Raiffeisenbanken
gelegt, wobei eine detaillierte Analyse am Beispiel der Sparkasse Aachen vorgenommen wird.
Der starke Wandel des Zweigstellennetzes ist auf diverse Einflussfaktoren zurückzuführen:
verändertes Kundenverhalten, die Digitalisierung, neue Wettbewerber, zunehmende
Regulierungsanforderungen, hohe operative Kosten und das aktuelle Zinsumfeld. Ich komme
zu dem Ergebnis, dass die analysierten Banken wesentliche Änderungen vornehmen müssen,
um ihre langfristige Existenz zu sichern. In besonderem Masse sollte das Zweigstellennetz
individuell angepasst werden. Auch ist es nötig, dass die Effizienz umfassend gesteigert wird.
Des Weiteren sollte der Fokus zunehmend auf der Beratungsleistung liegen, wobei die moderne
Filiale den Kunden einen echten Mehrwert bieten muss. |
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Manthos D Delis, Iftekhar Hasan, Steven Ongena, Democracy and credit, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 136 (2), 2020. (Journal Article)
Does democratization reduce the cost of credit? Using global syndicated loan data from 1984 to 2014, we find that democratization has a sizable negative effect on loan spreads: a 1-point increase in the zero-to-ten Polity IV index of democracy shaves at least 19 basis points off spreads, but likely more. Reversals to autocracy hike spreads more strongly. Our findings are robust to the comprehensive inclusion of relevant controls, to the instrumentation with regional waves of democratization, and to a battery of other sensitivity tests. We thus highlight the lower cost of loans as one relevant mechanism through which democratization can affect economic development. |
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Mike G Tsionas, Emmanuel Mamatzakis, Steven Ongena, Does risk aversion affect bank output loss? The case of the Eurozone, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 282 (3), 2020. (Journal Article)
We propose a new model to infer the evolution of bank-specific output losses due to the uncertainty in bank output prices. Losses are based on bank risk aversion with micro foundations tethered to the uncertainty regarding prices. Our model allows us to measure time-varying bank-specific output losses and risk aversion while taking into account all bank cross-sectional heterogeneity. We employ a panel data set to estimate the input and output elasticities with both parametric and non-parametric techniques. We are the first to document that increasing risk aversion among Eurozone banks during the financial crisis resulted in sizable output losses. Although subdued thereafter, losses have been resurging in recent years. Both conventional and unconventional monetary policy responses by the European Central Bank (ECB) mitigated uncertainty in bank output prices, though unequally so across countries. Certain measures of unconventional monetary policy may have even enhanced bank risk aversion and thereby output losses, but mainly so for large countries. |
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Mascia Bedendo, Emilia Garcia, Linus Siming, Cultural preferences and firm financing choices, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 55 (3), 2020. (Journal Article)
We document significant differences in the financing structures of small firms with managers of diverse cultural backgrounds. To isolate the effect of culture, we exploit cultural heterogeneity within a geographical area with shared regulations, institutions, and macroeconomic cycles. Our findings suggest significant cultural differences in the preference toward debt funding and in the use of formal and informal sources of financing (bank loans and trade credit). Our results are robust to alternative explanations based on potential differences in credit constraints and in the distribution of cultural origins across industries, trading partners, and headquarters locations. |
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Admir Brahaj, Auswirkungen von Negativzinsen durch die Schweizerische Nationalbank auf das schweizerische Bankgeschäft, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2020. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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