Over a period that includes the 1998 Russian crisis and 2007-2009 financial crisis, banks with overconfident chief executive officers (CEOs) were more likely to weaken lending standards and increase leverage than other banks in advance of a crisis, making them more vulnerable to the shock of the...

This paper investigates the potential benefits provided by the directorship of CEOs in trade associations. Specifically, we argue that directorship in trade associations enhances the personal connections (social networks) of CEOs, translating into bank loan favors. Empirically, we find that...

This paper examines whether labor unions affect the bank performance during recently financial crisis. The empirical evidence from 228 largest banks around the globe indicate that the buy-and-hold returns of unionized banks are higher and the default probabilities are lower during the crisis...