Les stratégies d’internationalisation des banques européennes sont-elles efficaces ? Cette thèse analyse le lien entre l’internationalisation des banques et leur performance. L’objectif étant de vérifier s’il existe des modalités d’implantation qui expliquent les écarts de bénéfices entre les établissements bancaires européens. Nous nous focalisons sur trois types de stratégies d’implantation : l’installation de filiales, les alliances ou partenariats avec des entreprises étrangères et les fusions et acquisitions transfrontalières. Parmi les filiales étrangères nous distinguons les filiales qui portent l’enseigne du groupe de celles qui portent un autre nom. Cette distinction nous permet d’analyser l’impact sur la performance du choix de garder ou non l’enseigne du groupe lors du déploiement international. Nos résultats montrent qu’il existe bien des modalités expliquant des différences de rentabilité entre les établissements. En effet, il semble qu’une implantation via des filiales portant le nom du groupe bancaire ait un impact négatif sur la performance. Par ailleurs, nous avons aussi relevé que la réalisation de partenariats transfrontaliers dans plus de dix secteurs différents n’est pas bénéfique pour la banque. / Are European banks’ cross-border strategies effective? This thesis analyzes the relationship between European banks’internationalization strategies and their performance. We investigate whether there are internationalization strategies that explain differences between European banks’ profits. We focus on three types of implementation strategies: at first, the installation of subsidiaries, then, alliances or partnerships with foreign companies and last but not least, cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Among foreign subsidiaries we distinguish those which carry the the group’s brand from those which carry a different name. This distinction allows us to analyze the results a bank can expect by keeping its company name while expanding overseas. Our results show that there are strategies that explain differences in profitability between institutions. Indeed, it appears that internationalization through subsidiaries with a brand perspective has a negative impact on performance. In addition, we also note that the implementation of cross-border partnerships in more than ten different sectors is not beneficial for the bank.

Text in Afrikkans / Summaries in English and Afrikaans / The capital-adequacy problem is essentially concerned with the amount of capital that a bank should maintain in order to conduct its operations in a prudent manner. Because one of the primary functions of bank capital is to act as a risk cushion for the protection of a bank's depositors, a bank's capital funds are often regarded as comprising an insurance element. The capital-adequacy concept, therefore, may be seen as part of the overall banking risk, or prudential management. An attempt has been made to indicate that bank supervisors should use not only capital ratios when analysing a bank's capital position. Other factors, such as asset quality and other financial risks, should also be taken in consideration. Financial ratio analysis, however, provides bank supervisors with useful information. When combining ratio analysis with non-quantifiable factors, bank supervisors may indeed achieve their goal of determining capital adequacy. / Die kapitaaltoereikendheidsprobleem is hoofsaaklik gebaseer op die hoeveelheid kapitaal waaroor 'n bankinstelling moet beskik, ten einde die bankbesigheid op 'n verstandige wyse te bedryf. Een van die primere funksies van kapitaal is om te dien as verliesabsorberingsbuffer ter beskerming van 'n bankinstelling se deposante, en daarom word toereikende kapitaal dikwels geag om 'n soort versekeringselement te bevat. Die konsep van kapitaaltoereikendheid kan dus beskou word as deel van die totale risikobestuurskonsep. Daar is tydens die studie gepoog om aan te dui dat banktoesighouers nie net kapitaalverhoudings behoort te gebruik om 'n bankinstelling se kapitaalposisie te ontleed nie. Ander faktore, soos batekwaliteit en antler finansiele risiko's, moet ook in ag geneem word. Finansiele verhoudingsgetalontledings voorsien banktoesighouers van waardevolle inligting. Indien verhoudingsgetalle egter met nie-gekwantifiseerde inligting gekombineer sou word, kan banktoesighouers hul doel om kapitaaltoereikendheid te bepaal, bereik. / M.Com. (Business Management)

Bakgrund: Relationen mellan avkastning och risk har länge varit debatterad. Den klassiska modellen Capital Asset Pricing Model, CAPM, är en av standardmodellerna inom finans. CAPM har dock brister och kompenserar inte investerare för den företagsspecifika risken som tas. Senare forskning har visat på att det är den företagsspecifika risken som utgör den största delen av total aktierisk och har fortsatt att öka under de tre senaste decennierna. Detta medför att det finns ett intresse att undersöka och analysera sambandet mellan den interna risken som företag har och den aktievolatilitet som återfinns på marknaden. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och analysera sambandet mellan företags interna risk i form av nyckeltal och aktievolatilitet på svenska noterade bolag på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm under perioden 2007 till 2018. Studien kommer att specifikt undersöka sambandet mellan två typer av risk; finansiell risk och operationell risk. Metod: För att uppnå syftet med studien har en deduktiv ansats och en kvantitativ metod tillämpats för att undersöka och analysera två dataset bestående av aktievolatilitet och nyckeltal baserad på data från kvartalsrapporter. Studien har använt en obalanserad paneldata av kort karaktär. Resultat: Studiens resultat tyder på att omkring hälften av aktievolatilitet kan förklaras av den interna risken. Intressant är att resultaten även indikerar att investerare värderar den finansiella och operationella risken som lika värdefulla vid bedömningen av den interna risken. Författarnas slutsats blir att den företagsspecifika risken har en relativt stor påverkan på aktievolatilitet och att det är värt i framtiden att diskutera hur investerare adekvat ska kompenseras för den faktiskt tagna risken. / Background: A long debated area within financial theory is the relationship between risk and return. The classic Capital Asset Pricing Model, CAPM, has long been the preferred model within finance. CAPM is however not without its flaws and do not compensate the investors for the idiosyncratic risk that is taken. Recent research has suggested that it is the idiosyncratic risk that is the main driver of the total risk in stock volatility, and that the impact of this risk have continued to increase over the last three decades. Considering this, it is of interest to examine and analyze the relationship between the internal risk of companies and the stock volatility reflected on the market. Aim: The aim of this study is to examine and analyze the effect the internal risk, in the form of key ratios, has on stock volatility on Swedish public companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm during the time period of 2007 to 2018. The study will especially focus on two types of internal risk; financial risk and operational risk. Methodology: This study has used a deductive approach and a quantitative methodology to fulfill the aim of the study. The study has used an unbalanced panel data of short character to examine and analyze the datasets consisting of stock volatility and data retrieved from quarterly reports. Results: The results indicate that approximately half of the stock volatility can be attributed to the internal risk. The results further indicate that investors value the financial and operational risk equally when assessing the internal risk in the company. The authors conclusion from the study is that the idiosyncratic risk has a relatively large effect on stock volatility and that a future discussion, about the compensation investors receive is adequate to the actual risk that is taken, is needed.

Le sujet principal de cette thèse est la physique des verres de spin. Les verres de spin ont été introduits au début des années 70 pour décrire alliages magnétiques diluées. Ils ont désormais été considerés pour comprendre le comportement de liquides sousrefroidis. Parmis les systèmes qui peuvent être décrits par le langage des systèmes desordonnés, on trouve les problèmes d’optimisation combinatoire. Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous considérons les modèles de verre de spin avec intéraction de Kac pour investiguer la phase de basse température des liquides sous-refroidis. Dans les chapitres qui suivent, nous montrons comment certaines caractéristiques des modèles de verre de spin peuvent être obtenues à partir de résultats de la théorie des matrices aléatoires en connection avec la statistique des valeurs extrêmes. Dans la dernière partie de la thèse, nous considérons la connexion entre la théorie desverres de spin et la science computationnelle, et présentons un nouvel algorithme qui peut être appliqué à certains problèmes dans le domaine des finances. / The main subject of this thesis is the physics of spin glasses. After their introduction in the 70s in order to describe dilute magnetic alloys, spin-glass models have been considered prototype models to understand the behavior of supercooled liquids. Among the systems that can be described and analyzed using the language of disordered systems, there are problems of combinatorial optimization. In the first part of the thesis, we consider spin-glass models with Kac interactions in order to investigate the supercooled phase of glass-forming liquids. Afterwards, we show how some features of spin-glass models can be described by ubiquitous results of Random Matrix Theory in connection with Extreme Value Statistics. Finally, from the interaction of spin-glass theory and computer science, we put forward a new algorithm of immediate application in Financial problems.

I investigate the effects of requiring the audit engagement partner (EP) signature and individual EP’s quality on information asymmetry, analysts’ forecast errors and forecast dispersion. I predict and find that, ceteris paribus, there is a significant decline in information asymmetry, analysts’ forecast errors and forecast dispersion from the pre- to post-EP signature period in the UK over both of short-term (e.g., 2008-2010) and long-term (e.g., 2004-2014). These findings hold when using a control sample approach and a different proxy for the information asymmetry, which indicate that my results are not likely due to the effect of concurrent events and correlated omitted variables. These findings provide timely and important empirical evidence to the ongoing debate about whether the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board should pass a similar requirement in the U.S. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

壽險公司積極開發新商品以因應大量退休人口的需求，讓退休屋主得以所居住之房屋為抵押物，向金融機構貸款以獲得退休後之資金來源的反向房屋抵押貸款商品也應運而生。但這類的退休商品，除了讓壽險公司因人類平均壽命延長的現象而曝露在長壽風險的威脅下之外，其中所牽涉到之多樣的財務風險，也讓壽險公司在經營上面臨另外一個挑戰，但是反向房屋抵押貸款商品因其商品特性，似乎也可以提供壽險公司不同的風險分散的效果，有助於提升整體商品組合的避險效果。 本研究所提出之多因子免疫模型，可供壽險公司依照其所銷售之商品及所欲規避之風險，選擇一個最適的商品銷售數量，讓整個商品組合獲得最佳之避險效果。本研究透過多因子免疫模型進行數值分析，發現商品中加入反向房屋抵押貸款商品時，其避險效果明顯的優於未包含反向房屋抵押貸款之商品組合，顯見壽險公司發行反向房屋抵押貸款商品將有助於達到風險分散的效果，獲得更佳的避險成效。 關鍵字：長壽風險、財務風險、反向房屋抵押貸款、多因子免疫模型。 / Life insurance company try to meet the demand of the elder who has been retired by designing new products. The mortgage instruments to enable elderly homeowners to borrow by using the equity in their home as collateral, called “reverse mortgage”. With the launch this kind of product, life insurance company exposures in the threat of longevity and involves in others financial risks. However, the features of reverse mortgage may create the different effects of diversification for life insurance company to catch the better effects of hedging. We propose the Multi-Factors Immunization Approach to calculate the optimal product portfolio which attain the best hedging effects for life insurer by adjusting the number of units sold and recognizing the risks they want to hedge. We discover that the product portfolios which include reverse mortgage have the better hedging effects than these don’t include by numerical analysis. It is obviously that life insurer can acquire the effect of diversification and better hedging effects. Key words: Longevity risk, Financial risk, Reverse mortgage, Multi-factors immunization approach.

This thesis consists of an introductory part and four self-contained papers related to individual financial behavior and risk-taking in financial markets. In Paper [I] we estimate within-family and community social interaction effects upon an individual’s stock market entry, participation, and exit decision. Interestingly, community sentiment towards the stock market (based on portfolio outcomes in the community) does not influence individuals’ likelihood to enter, while a positive sentiment increases (decreases) the likelihood of participation (exit). Overall, the results stress the importance of accounting for family social influence and highlight potentially important differences between family and community effects in individuals’ stock market participation. In Paper [II] novel evidence is provided indicating that the influence from family (parents and partners) and peer social interaction on individuals’ stock market participation vary over different types of individuals. Results imply that individuals’ exposure to, and valuation of, stock market related social signals are of importance and thus, contribute to the understanding of the heterogeneous influence of social interaction. Overall, the results are interesting and enhance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of social interaction on individuals’ financial decision making. In Paper [III] the impact of divorce ­­­on individual financial behavior is empirically examined in a dynamic setting. Evidence that divorcing individuals increase their saving rates before the divorce is presented. This may be seen as a response to the increase in background risk that divorce produces. After the divorce, a negative divorce effect on individual saving rates and risky asset shares are established, which may lead to disparities in wealth accumulation possibilities between married and divorced. Women are, on average, shown to not adjust their precautionary savings to the same extent as men before the divorce. I also provide tentative evidence that women reduce their financial risk-taking more than men after a divorce, which could be a result of inequalities in financial positions or an adjustment towards individual preferences.   Paper [IV] provides novel empirical evidence that gender identity is of importance for individuals’ financial risk-taking. Specifically, by use of matching and by dividing male and females into those with “traditional” versus “nontraditional” gender identities, comparison of average risk-taking between groupings indicate that over a third (about 35-40%) of the identified total gender risk differential is explained by differences in gender identities. Results further indicate that risky financial market participation is 19 percentage points higher in groups of women with nontraditional, compared with traditional, gender identities. The results, obtained while conditioning upon a vast number of controls, are robust towards a large number of alternative explanations and indicate that some individuals (mainly women) partly are fostered by society, through identity formation and socially constructed norms, to a relatively lower financial risk-taking.

Examensarbete, Civilekonomprogrammet, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet Författare: Gustav Johannesson och Martin Westport Handledare: Andreas Stephan Medbedömare: Anna Stafsudd Titel: Sambandet mellan Corporate Social Performance och finansiell risk - En kvantitativ studie som undersöker nordiska företag Bakgrund: Företags sociala ansvar har ständigt funnits på företagsagendan under senaste åren efter ökade globala utmaningar och större påtryckningar från intressenter. Man kan se allt större risker som är kopplade till företags hållbarhetsarbete. Med bakgrund till detta finns det ett stort intresse och en uppåtgående trend kring hållbara investeringar där Norden är ledande inom området. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara sambandet mellan Corporate Social Performance, både på en sammanslagen och individuell nivå, och finansiell risk. Metod: Genom den deduktiva forskningsansatsen och den kvantitativa forskningsstrategin som är baserad på paneldata testar författarna sina hypoteser. Författarna bygger sina hypoteser på intressentteorin och riskhanteringsteorin som testas med ett nordiskt urval på 144 företag under tidsperioden 2002-2016. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att det finns ett negativt samband mellan Corporate Social Performance och finansiell risk. Det finns även ett negativt samband mellan företags sociala prestationer och finansiell risk. Detta är i linje med författarnas förväntningar. Däremot visar resultatet inga samband mellan företags miljömässiga och styrningsmässiga prestationer och deras finansiella risk. / Degree Project, The Business Administration and Economics Programme, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University Authors: Gustav Johannesson and Martin Westport Supervisor: Andreas Stephan Co-assessor: Anna Stafsudd Title: The relationship between Corporate Social Performance and Financial Risk - A quantitative study that examines Nordic companies Background: Corporate Social Responsibility has been on the corporate agenda in recent years following increased global challenges and greater pressure from stakeholders. One can see more risks associated with corporate sustainability. This has led to a great interest globally and an upward trend in Socially Responsible Investing where the Nordic region is at the leading edge. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explain the relationship between Corporate Social Performance, both at a combined and an individual level, and financial risk. Method: Through the deductive research approach and the quantitative research strategy that is based on panel data, the authors test their hypotheses. The authors base their hypotheses on stakeholder theory and risk management theory and test them with a Nordic sample of 144 companies over the period 2002-2016. Conclusion: The study results show that there is a negative relationship between Corporate Social Performance and financial risk. There is also a negative relationship between social performance and financial risk. This is in line with the authors’ expectations. However, the results show no relationship between companies’ environmental and governance performance and their financial risk.

Value and size related equity investment strategies are supported by a large body of empirical research that shows a persistent premium, both longitudinally and crosssectionally. However, the competing rational and behavioural finance explanations for the success of these strategies are a subject of debate. The rational explanation is that the premium earned on value shares or shares of small companies can be attributed to higher risk. Behaviouralists argue that such shares are not riskier and attribute the premium to cognitive errors and biases in human decision making. The purpose of this study is to determine, firstly, whether the value and size premium exist in South Africa during the period July 2006 to June 2012, which includes one of the worst equity market crises in history. Secondly, this study sets out to determine whether the premium earned on value and size strategies are adequately explained by the principles of rational finance theory. To provide evidence regarding the existence of the value premium and size effect, returns are analysed, cross-sectionally, on portfolios of shares sorted by value and size. For evidence of a rational explanation, returns are regressed on value and size variables, and the relative riskiness of value and small companies is analysed. The results show evidence of a value premium in portfolios of small companies, but not big companies. The size effect is found not to be statistically significant. While regressions do show significant relationships between value and size variables and returns, these variables are found not to be associated with higher levels of risk. The conclusion is that the evidence does not support a rational, risk based explanation of the returns

Text in Afrikkans / Summaries in English and Afrikaans / The capital-adequacy problem is essentially concerned with the amount of capital that a bank should maintain in order to conduct its operations in a prudent manner. Because one of the primary functions of bank capital is to act as a risk cushion for the protection of a bank's depositors, a bank's capital funds are often regarded as comprising an insurance element. The capital-adequacy concept, therefore, may be seen as part of the overall banking risk, or prudential management. An attempt has been made to indicate that bank supervisors should use not only capital ratios when analysing a bank's capital position. Other factors, such as asset quality and other financial risks, should also be taken in consideration. Financial ratio analysis, however, provides bank supervisors with useful information. When combining ratio analysis with non-quantifiable factors, bank supervisors may indeed achieve their goal of determining capital adequacy. / Die kapitaaltoereikendheidsprobleem is hoofsaaklik gebaseer op die hoeveelheid kapitaal waaroor 'n bankinstelling moet beskik, ten einde die bankbesigheid op 'n verstandige wyse te bedryf. Een van die primere funksies van kapitaal is om te dien as verliesabsorberingsbuffer ter beskerming van 'n bankinstelling se deposante, en daarom word toereikende kapitaal dikwels geag om 'n soort versekeringselement te bevat. Die konsep van kapitaaltoereikendheid kan dus beskou word as deel van die totale risikobestuurskonsep. Daar is tydens die studie gepoog om aan te dui dat banktoesighouers nie net kapitaalverhoudings behoort te gebruik om 'n bankinstelling se kapitaalposisie te ontleed nie. Ander faktore, soos batekwaliteit en antler finansiele risiko's, moet ook in ag geneem word. Finansiele verhoudingsgetalontledings voorsien banktoesighouers van waardevolle inligting. Indien verhoudingsgetalle egter met nie-gekwantifiseerde inligting gekombineer sou word, kan banktoesighouers hul doel om kapitaaltoereikendheid te bepaal, bereik. / M.Com. (Business Management)