IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jebusi/v82y2015icp17-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate governance and performance of financial institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Zagorchev, Andrey
  • Gao, Lei

Abstract

We examine how corporate governance affects financial institutions in the U.S. between 2002 and 2009. First, we find that better governance is negatively related to excessive risk-taking and positively related to the performance of U.S. financial institutions. Specifically, sound overall and specific governance practices are associated with less total non-performing assets, less real estate non-performing assets, and higher Tobin's Q. Second, we show that better governance contributes to higher provisions and reserves for loan/asset losses of financial institutions, supporting the income smoothing hypothesis. Moreover, the results are similar without the financial crisis period, and different robustness checks confirm the analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Zagorchev, Andrey & Gao, Lei, 2015. "Corporate governance and performance of financial institutions," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 17-41.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jebusi:v:82:y:2015:i:c:p:17-41
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconbus.2015.04.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148619515000223
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeconbus.2015.04.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    2. Michael L. Lemmon & Karl V. Lins, 2003. "Ownership Structure, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value: Evidence from the East Asian Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1445-1468, August.
    3. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Cohen, Alma, 2005. "The costs of entrenched boards," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 409-433, November.
    4. Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger & Stulz, René M., 2011. "Bank CEO incentives and the credit crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 11-26, January.
    5. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    6. Flannery, Mark J. & Kwan, Simon H. & Nimalendran, Mahendrarajah, 2013. "The 2007–2009 financial crisis and bank opaqueness," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 55-84.
    7. Pathan, Shams, 2009. "Strong boards, CEO power and bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1340-1350, July.
    8. Emmanuel Farhi & Jean Tirole, 2012. "Collective Moral Hazard, Maturity Mismatch, and Systemic Bailouts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 60-93, February.
    9. Emilia Peni & Sami Vähämaa, 2012. "Did Good Corporate Governance Improve Bank Performance during the Financial Crisis?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 41(1), pages 19-35, April.
    10. Reena Aggarwal & Isil Erel & René Stulz & Rohan Williamson, 2010. "Differences in Governance Practices between U.S. and Foreign Firms: Measurement, Causes, and Consequences," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 3131-3169, March.
    11. Bikker, J.A. & Metzemakers, P.A.J., 2005. "Bank provisioning behaviour and procyclicality," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 141-157, April.
    12. Caprio, Gerard & Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2007. "Governance and bank valuation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 584-617, October.
    13. Bouvatier, Vincent & Lepetit, Laetitia, 2008. "Banks' procyclical behavior: Does provisioning matter?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 513-526, December.
    14. Akhigbe, Aigbe & Martin, Anna D., 2006. "Valuation impact of Sarbanes-Oxley: Evidence from disclosure and governance within the financial services industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 989-1006, March.
    15. Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Krishnan, Gopal V. & Lobo, Gerald J., 2009. "Is the market valuation of banks' loan loss provision conditional on auditor reputation?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1039-1047, June.
    16. Kose John & Lubomir Litov & Bernard Yeung, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Risk‐Taking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1679-1728, August.
    17. Chi‐Yih Yang & Boon Leing Tan & Xiaoming Ding, 2012. "Corporate governance and income smoothing in China," Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(2), pages 120-139, October.
    18. Weisbach, Michael S., 1988. "Outside directors and CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 431-460, January.
    19. Doidge, Craig & Andrew Karolyi, G. & Stulz, Rene M., 2007. "Why do countries matter so much for corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-39, October.
    20. Jonathan R. Macey & Maureen O'Hara, 2003. "The corporate governance of banks," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 91-107.
    21. Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2009. "The Credit Crisis: Conjectures about Causes and Remedies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 606-610, May.
    22. Aebi, Vincent & Sabato, Gabriele & Schmid, Markus, 2012. "Risk management, corporate governance, and bank performance in the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3213-3226.
    23. Beltratti, Andrea & Stulz, René M., 2012. "The credit crisis around the globe: Why did some banks perform better?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 1-17.
    24. Furfine, Craig H, 2001. "Banks as Monitors of Other Banks: Evidence from the Overnight Federal Funds Market," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(1), pages 33-57, January.
    25. Akhigbe, Aigbe & Martin, Anna D., 2008. "Influence of disclosure and governance on risk of US financial services firms following Sarbanes-Oxley," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2124-2135, October.
    26. Aggarwal, Reena & Erel, Isil & Ferreira, Miguel & Matos, Pedro, 2011. "Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 154-181, April.
    27. Grant Kirkpatrick, 2009. "The corporate governance lessons from the financial crisis," OECD Journal: Financial Market Trends, OECD Publishing, vol. 2009(1), pages 61-87.
    28. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc, 2012. "Bank valuation and accounting discretion during a financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 614-634.
    29. Andres, Pablo de & Vallelado, Eleuterio, 2008. "Corporate governance in banking: The role of the board of directors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2570-2580, December.
    30. Rich Fortin & Gerson M. Goldberg & Greg Roth, 2010. "Bank Risk Taking at the Onset of the Current Banking Crisis," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 891-913, November.
    31. Hamid Mehran & Alan Morrison & Joel Shapiro, 2011. "Corporate governance and banks: what have we learned from the financial crisis?," Staff Reports 502, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    32. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    33. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation," Scholarly Articles 29407535, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    34. Fonseca, Ana Rosa & González, Francisco, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of bank income smoothing by managing loan-loss provisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 217-228, February.
    35. Erkens, David H. & Hung, Mingyi & Matos, Pedro, 2012. "Corporate governance in the 2007–2008 financial crisis: Evidence from financial institutions worldwide," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 389-411.
    36. Beatty, A & Chamberlain, Sl & Magliolo, J, 1995. "Managing Financial Reports Of Commercial-Banks - The Influence Of Taxes, Regulatory Capital, And Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 231-261.
    37. Bebchuk, Lucian Arye & Cohen, Alma, 2003. "Firms' Decisions Where to Incorporate," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 383-425, October.
    38. Cornett, Marcia Millon & McNutt, Jamie John & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Corporate governance and earnings management at large U.S. bank holding companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 412-430, September.
    39. Levine,Ross Eric, 2004. "The Corporate Governance of Banks - a concise discussion of concepts and evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3404, The World Bank.
    40. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation : An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 293-315, January.
    41. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    42. Beaver, William H. & Engel, Ellen E., 1996. "Discretionary behavior with respect to allowances for loan losses and the behavior of security prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1-3), pages 177-206, October.
    43. Borisova, Ginka & Brockman, Paul & Salas, Jesus M. & Zagorchev, Andrey, 2012. "Government ownership and corporate governance: Evidence from the EU," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2917-2934.
    44. Donald P. Morgan, 2002. "Rating Banks: Risk and Uncertainty in an Opaque Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 874-888, September.
    45. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, Yifan & Kara, Alper & Molyneux, Philip, 2019. "Chair-CEO generation gap and bank risk-taking," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 352-372.
    2. Battaglia, Francesca & Gallo, Angela, 2017. "Strong boards, ownership concentration and EU banks’ systemic risk-taking: Evidence from the financial crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 128-146.
    3. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2018. "Bank governance and performance: a survey of the literature," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 236-256, July.
    4. Mavrakana, Christina & Psillaki, Maria, 2019. "Do board structure and compensation matter for bank stability and bank performance? Evidence from European banks," MPRA Paper 95776, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Raluca Roman, 2015. "Shareholder activism in banking," Research Working Paper RWP 15-9, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    6. Iqbal, Jamshed & Strobl, Sascha & Vähämaa, Sami, 2015. "Corporate governance and the systemic risk of financial institutions," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 42-61.
    7. mamatzakis, em, 2014. "The effect of corporate governance on the performance of US investment banks," MPRA Paper 60198, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Renata Karkowska & Jan Acedański, 2020. "The effect of corporate board attributes on bank stability," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 19(2), pages 99-137, May.
    9. Sardar Ahmad & Saeed Akbar & Devendra Kodwani & Anwar Halari & Syed Zubair Shah, 2023. "Compliance or non‐compliance during financial crisis: Does it matter?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2348-2366, July.
    10. Bowo Setiyono & Amine Tarazi, 2018. "Does Diversity of Bank Board Members Affect Performance and Risk? Evidence from an Emerging Market," CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, in: Belén Díaz Díaz & Samuel O. Idowu & Philip Molyneux (ed.), Corporate Governance in Banking and Investor Protection, chapter 0, pages 185-218, Springer.
    11. Shkendije Himaj, 2014. "Corporate Governance in Banks and its Impact on Risk and Performance: Review of Literature on the Selected Governance Mechanisms," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 3(3), pages 53-85.
    12. Oumeima Kacem & Sana El Harbi, 2022. "Do risk governance and effective board affect bank performance? Evidence from large banks worldwide," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(4), pages 461-483, December.
    13. Switzer, Lorne N. & Tu, Qiao & Wang, Jun, 2018. "Corporate governance and default risk in financial firms over the post-financial crisis period: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 196-210.
    14. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2017. "Supervisory boards, financial crisis and bank performance: do board characteristics matter?," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(4), pages 310-337, November.
    15. Saghi-Zedek, Nadia & Tarazi, Amine, 2015. "Excess control rights, financial crisis and bank profitability and risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 361-379.
    16. Ameni Tarchouna & Bilel Jarraya & Abdelfettah Bouri, 2022. "Do board characteristics and ownership structure matter for bank non-performing loans? Empirical evidence from US commercial banks," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(2), pages 479-518, June.
    17. Thierno Barry & Laetitia Lepetit & Frank Strobel & Thu Tran, 2018. "Better than independent: the role of minority directors on bank boards," Working Papers hal-01937927, HAL.
    18. Marina Brogi & Valentina Lagasio, 2019. "Do bank boards matter? A literature review on the characteristics of banks' board of directors," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(3), pages 244-274.
    19. Raouf, Hajar & Ahmed, Habib, 2022. "Risk governance and financial stability: A comparative study of conventional and Islamic banks in the GCC," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    20. José María Díez-Esteban & Jorge Bento Farinha & Conrado Diego García-Gómez & Cesario Mateus, 2022. "Does board composition and ownership structure affect banks’ systemic risk? European evidence," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 155-172, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jebusi:v:82:y:2015:i:c:p:17-41. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-economics-and-business .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.