IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dip/dpaper/2013-08.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Privatized Returns and Socialized Risks: CEO Incentives, Securitization Accounting and the Financial Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Fabrizi, M.
  • Parbonetti, A.

Abstract

The paper investigates the role of CEO’s equity and risk incentives in boosting securitization in the financial industry and in motivating executives to reduce the perceived risk while betting on it. Using a sample of US financial institutions over the period 2003-2009 we document that CEOs with high equity incentives have systematically engaged in securitization transactions to a larger extent than CEOs with low incentives. We also show that CEOs with high equity and risk-related incentives have engaged in the securitization of risky loans and have used securitization for transferring risks to outside investors. Finally, we show that executives incentivized on risk have provided outside investors with low quality disclosure about losses recorded on securitized loans thus contributing to increase the opacity of securitization transactions undertaken. Overall, we interpret our results as evidence that CEOs have foreseen in securitizations under US GAAP an opportunity for hiding risks while bearing them and generating profits and cash flows because of the risks. Our results are robust to several model specifications as well as to endogeneity concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabrizi, M. & Parbonetti, A., 2013. "Privatized Returns and Socialized Risks: CEO Incentives, Securitization Accounting and the Financial Crisis," CITYPERC Working Paper Series 2013-08, Department of International Politics, City St George's, University of London.
    • Handle: RePEc:dip:dpaper:2013-08
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/2120/1/CITYPERC-WPS-2013_08.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1997. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and The Real Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 663-691.
    3. Steven J. Carlson & Chenchuramaiah T. Bathala, 1997. "Ownership Differences and Firms' Income Smoothing Behavior," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 179-196.
    4. Raghuram G. Rajan, 2006. "Has Finance Made the World Riskier?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 12(4), pages 499-533, September.
    5. Dechow, Patricia M. & Myers, Linda A. & Shakespeare, Catherine, 2010. "Fair value accounting and gains from asset securitizations: A convenient earnings management tool with compensation side-benefits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 2-25, February.
    6. John E. Core & Wayne R. Guay & David F. Larcker, 2003. "Executive equity compensation and incentives: a survey," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 27-50.
    7. Larcker, David F. & Rusticus, Tjomme O., 2010. "On the use of instrumental variables in accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 186-205, April.
    8. 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.
    9. Rogers, Daniel A., 2002. "Does executive portfolio structure affect risk management? CEO risk-taking incentives and corporate derivatives usage," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(2-3), pages 271-295, March.
    10. Daniel A. Rogers, 2005. "Managerial Risk-Taking Incentives and Executive Stock Option Repricing: A Study of US Casino Executives," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 34(1), Spring.
    11. Ashcraft, Adam B. & Schuermann, Til, 2008. "Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 2(3), pages 191-309, June.
    12. Yermack, David, 1995. "Do corporations award CEO stock options effectively?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 237-269.
    13. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    14. John Core & Wayne Guay, 2002. "Estimating the Value of Employee Stock Option Portfolios and Their Sensitivities to Price and Volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 613-630, June.
    15. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2006. "Managerial incentives and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 431-468, February.
    16. Smith, Clifford W. & Stulz, René M., 1985. "The Determinants of Firms' Hedging Policies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 391-405, December.
    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. Hyungshin Park & Dimitris Vrettos, 2015. "The Moderating Effect of Relative Performance Evaluation on the Risk Incentive Properties of Executives’ Equity Portfolios," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 53(5), pages 1055-1108, December.
    2. Timothy King & Jonathan Williams, 2013. "Bank Efficiency and Executive Compensation," Working Papers 13009, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    3. Michele Fabrizi, 2018. "Executive compensation in banks: insights from CEO equity incentives and securitization transactions," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(4), pages 891-919, December.
    4. Al-Own, Bassam & Minhat, Marizah & Gao, Simon, 2018. "Stock options and credit default swaps in risk management," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 200-214.
    5. Chengru Hu & Wei Jiang, 2019. "Managerial risk incentives and accounting conservatism," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 781-813, April.
    6. Gormley, Todd A. & Matsa, David A. & Milbourn, Todd, 2013. "CEO compensation and corporate risk: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 79-101.
    7. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Hunter, Delroy M. & Zhu, Yun, 2017. "Do managerial risk-taking incentives influence firms' exchange rate exposure?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 154-169.
    8. Julia Grant & Garen Markarian & Antonio Parbonetti, 2009. "CEO Risk†Related Incentives and Income Smoothing," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 1029-1065, December.
    9. King, Timothy & Srivastav, Abhishek & Williams, Jonathan, 2016. "What's in an education? Implications of CEO education for bank performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 287-308.
    10. O’Connor, Matthew & Rafferty, Matthew & Sheikh, Aamer, 2013. "Equity compensation and the sensitivity of research and development to financial market frictions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2510-2519.
    11. Hagendorff, Jens & Vallascas, Francesco, 2011. "CEO pay incentives and risk-taking: Evidence from bank acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1078-1095, September.
    12. Krapl, Alain A. & White, Reilly S., 2016. "Executive pensions, risk-shifting, and foreign exchange exposure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 376-392.
    13. Carola Frydman & Dirk Jenter, 2010. "CEO Compensation," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 75-102, December.
    14. Caliskan, Deren & Doukas, John A., 2015. "CEO risk preferences and dividend policy decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 18-42.
    15. Shen, Carl Hsin-han & Zhang, Hao, 2013. "CEO risk incentives and firm performance following R&D increases," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1176-1194.
    16. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2017_016 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Min Jung Kang & Andy (Y. Han) Kim, 2017. "Bankers on the Board and CEO Incentives," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 23(2), pages 292-324, March.
    18. Arif, Salman & Donovan, John & Gopalan, Yadav & Morris, Arthur, 2024. "Pay for prudence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1).
    19. Joshua D. Anderson & John E. Core, 2018. "Managerial Incentives to Increase Risk Provided by Debt, Stock, and Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4408-4432, September.
    20. Bulan, Laarni & Sanyal, Paroma & Yan, Zhipeng, 2010. "A few bad apples: An analysis of CEO performance pay and firm productivity," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 273-306, July.
    21. Jens Hagendorff & Francesco Vallascas, 2012. "CEO Pay and Risk-taking in Banking: The Roles of Bonus Plans and Deferred Compensation in Curbing Bank Risk-taking," Chapters, in: James R. Barth & Chen Lin & Clas Wihlborg (ed.), Research Handbook on International Banking and Governance, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:dip:dpaper:2013-08. 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: Research Publications Librarian (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cpcituk.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.