This study empirically examines the development of the high-yield segment of the corporate bond market in the United States, as a pioneer country, and the United Kingdom and the euro area, as later adopting countries. Estimated diffusion models show for the United States a significant pioneer...

We consider the role of trustees – who are nominated to protect the interests of investors – in securitization pricing and whether investors rely on them to mitigate risks. In particular, we examine the effect of trustee reputation on initial yield spreads of European mortgage-backed...

In the years preceding the 2007-2009 financial crisis, forward-looking indicators of bank risk concentrated and suggested unusually low expectations of bank default. We assess whether the ex-ante (i.e. prior to the crisis) cross-sectional variability in bank characteristics is related to the...

Syndicated lending is a widely practiced alternative to traditional bilateral lending and within Europe the syndicated loan market increased significantly during the 2000s. Using a dataset consisting of 4,166 European banks, the authors examine the factors that determine the bank's willingness...

While the 2007-2010 financial crisis has hit a variety of countries asymmetrically, the case of Spain is particularly illustrative: this country experienced a pronounced housing bubble partly funded via spectacular developments in its securitization markets leading to looser credit standards and...

"This book provides a detailed analytical assessment of merger and acquisition phenomenon in banking. It advances the prior literature focusing on some specific aspects that have been investigated by only limited previous analysis. It assesses the effect produced by M&A transactions on bank...