IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/wptemi/td_572_06.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Incentives in universal banks

Author

Listed:
  • Ugo Albertazzi

    (Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department)

Abstract

This paper studies the provision of incentives in a universal bank. This is regarded as a (common) agent serving different clients with potentially conflicting interests; for example, it may buy assets on behalf of investors and sell assets on behalf of issuing firms. The clients offer incentive schemes to the bank and they behave non-cooperatively. The bank decides a level of effort and, when firewalls are absent, a level of collusion, modelled as a costly and unproductive redistribution of wealth among the clients. The main conclusion is that in the absence of firewalls the equilibrium incentive schemes are steeper. This means that the level of effort is higher and may compensate the (ex post) inefficiency of collusion. Moreover, this is shown not to hold in the presence of one naive player who does not recognize the existence of the conflict of interest. The model allows to draw conclusions about the desirability of firewalls or of softer measures like the imposition of transparency requirements.

Suggested Citation

  • Ugo Albertazzi, 2006. "Incentives in universal banks," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 572, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_572_06
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/temi-discussione/2006/2006-0572/tema_572.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gompers, Paul & Lerner, Josh, 1999. "Conflict of Interest in the Issuance of Public Securities: Evidence from Venture Capital," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 1-28, April.
    2. Martimort David & Stole Lars, 2003. "Contractual Externalities and Common Agency Equilibria," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-40, July.
    3. Kroszner, Randall S. & Rajan, Raghuram G., 1997. "Organization structure and credibility: Evidence from commercial bank securities activities before the Glass-Steagall Act," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 475-516, August.
    4. John H. Boyd & Chun Chang & Bruce Smith, 1998. "Moral hazard under commercial and universal banking," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Aug, pages 426-471.
    5. Martimort, David, 1996. "The multiprincipal nature of government," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 673-685, April.
    6. Peters, Michael, 2001. "Common Agency and the Revelation Principle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1349-1372, September.
    7. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 14-23.
    8. Patrick Bolton & Xavier Freixas & Joel Shapiro, 2004. "Conflicts of Interest, Information Provision, and Competition in Banking," NBER Working Papers 10571, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Puri, Manju, 1996. "Commercial banks in investment banking Conflict of interest or certification role?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 373-401, March.
    10. Kofman, Fred & Lawarree, Jacques, 1996. "On the optimality of allowing collusion," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 383-407, September.
    11. George J. Benston, 1994. "Universal Banking," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 121-143, Summer.
    12. Diamond, Douglas W, 1998. "Comment on "Moral Hazard under Commercial and Universal Banking."," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(3), pages 469-471, August.
    13. Hoernig, Steffen H., 2002. "Mixed Bertrand equilibria under decreasing returns to scale: an embarrassment of riches," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 359-362, February.
    14. Joel S. Demski, 2003. "Corporate Conflicts of Interest," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 51-72, Spring.
    15. Ber, Hedva & Yafeh, Yishay & Yosha, Oved, 2001. "Conflict of interest in universal banking: Bank lending, stock underwriting, and fund management," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 189-218, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matteo Bugamelli & Alfonso Rosolia, 2006. "Productivity and foreign competition," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 578, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    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. Al-Jarhi, Mabid Ali, 2005. "The Case For Universal Banking As A Component Of Islamic Banking," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 13, pages 2-65.
    2. Focarelli, Dario & Pozzolo, Alberto Franco, 2005. "Conflicts of Interest in Financial Markets - Evidence from Bond Underwriting in the Nineties," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp05023, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    3. Cyree, Ken B., 2000. "The erosion of the Glass-Steagall Act:: Winners and losers in the banking industry," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 343-363.
    4. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2007. "Is there a diversification discount in financial conglomerates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 331-367, August.
    5. Klein, Peter G. & Wuebker, Robert & Zoeller, Kathrin, 2016. "Relationship banking and conflicts of interest: Evidence from German initial public offerings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 210-221.
    6. João Santos, 1998. "Commercial Banks in the Securities Business: A Review," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 14(1), pages 35-60, July.
    7. Yasuda, Ayako, 2007. "Bank relationships and underwriter competition: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 369-404, November.
    8. Berger, Allen N. & Demsetz, Rebecca S. & Strahan, Philip E., 1999. "The consolidation of the financial services industry: Causes, consequences, and implications for the future," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(2-4), pages 135-194, February.
    9. Stefano Battilossi, 2009. "Did governance fail universal banks? Moral hazard, risk taking, and banking crises in interwar Italy1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(s1), pages 101-134, August.
    10. Gorton, Gary & Winton, Andrew, 2003. "Financial intermediation," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 431-552, Elsevier.
    11. Tatiana Damjanovic & Vladislav Damjanovic & Charles Nolan, 2020. "Default, Bailouts and the Vertical Structure of Financial Intermediaries," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 154-180, October.
    12. Hamao, Yasushi & Packer, Frank & Ritter, Jay R., 2000. "Institutional affiliation and the role of venture capital: Evidence from initial public offerings in Japan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 8(5), pages 529-558, October.
    13. Jussi Keppo & Josef Korte, 2018. "Risk Targeting and Policy Illusions—Evidence from the Announcement of the Volcker Rule," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 215-234, January.
    14. Philip E. Strahan, 2013. "Too Big to Fail: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 43-61, November.
    15. Yoshiaki Ogura, 2017. "The Certification Role of pre-IPO Banking Relationships: Evidence from IPO Underpricing in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 68(2), pages 257-278, June.
    16. Wolfgang Bessler & Andreas Kurth, 2007. "Agency Problems and the Performance of Venture-backed IPOs in Germany: Exit Strategies, Lock-up Periods, and Bank Ownership," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 29-63.
    17. Sayuri Shirai, 2001. "Searching for New Regulatory Frameworks for the Intermediate Financial Structure in Post-Crisis Asia," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 01-28, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    18. Ber, Hedva & Yafeh, Yishay & Yosha, Oved, 2001. "Conflict of interest in universal banking: Bank lending, stock underwriting, and fund management," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 189-218, February.
    19. Puri, Manju, 1999. "Commercial banks as underwriters: implications for the going public process," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 133-163, October.
    20. Dietrich, Diemo & Vollmer, Uwe, 2012. "Are universal banks bad for financial stability? Germany during the world financial crisis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 123-134.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Common Agency; Collusion; Conflicts of Interest; Universal Banks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bdi:wptemi:td_572_06. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    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.