Why do some banks fail in financial crises while others survive? This article answers this question by analysing the effect of the Dutch financial crisis of the 1920s on 142 banks, of which 33 failed. We find that choices of balance sheet composition and product market strategy made in the...

The purpose of this paper, structured in three Sections, is twofold: (a) The first is to analyse the conditions under which a group of financial firms is considered to be a ‘financial conglomerate' in accordance with the (complex) definition of this term in Article 2 (point (14)) of the...

A robust bank-based financial industry is a major player in the stability of an economy. This is demonstrated by the importance most countries place on macroeconomic decisions involving the banking sector. In 2017, the Ghana bank industry underwent a clean-up exercise to rehabilitate the...

The Greek banking market developed considerably after the accession of Greece to the Eurozone, which was reflected on the growth of number of banks, banking network and number of employees. The application of the austerity program in Greece had serious consequences on the Greek banking market....

The recent banking sector shakeup in Ghana resulted in a wave of bank failures, leading to mergers and consolidations of several banks. This study analyses the financial performance of commercial banks before the crises of the banking sector in 2017. Four out of the affected banks were selected...

The UBS- Credit Suisse (CS) merger in March 2023, one of the biggest banking unions in history, was an emergency rescue deal engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid more market-shaking turmoil in global banking. The merger resulted in a significant increase in the combined stakeholder net...

This paper studies the relationship between corporate governance and the systemic risk of financial institutions. Specifically, using a sample of large U.S. financial institutions from 2005 to 2010, we examine whether the strength of corporate governance mechanisms can explain the...

We study the effects on corporate loan rates of an unexpected change in the Italian legislation which forbade interlocking directorates between banks. Exploiting multiple firm-bank relationships to fully account for all unobserved heterogeneity, we find that prohibiting interlocks decreased the...