IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/trf/wpaper/474.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Similarities and Differences between U.S. and German Regulation of the Use of Derivatives and Leverage by Mutual Funds – What Can Regulators Learn from Each Other?

Author

Listed:
  • GaÅ‚kiewicz, Dominika

Abstract

This study analyzes current regulation with respect to the use of derivatives and leverage by mutual funds in the U.S. and Germany. After presenting a detailed overview of U.S. and German regulations, this study thoroughly compares the level of flexibility funds have in both countries. I find that funds in the U.S. and Germany face limits on direct leverage (amount of bank borrowing) of up to 33% and 10% of their net assets, respectively. Funds can extend these limits indirectly by using derivatives beyond their net assets (e.g., by selling credit default swaps protection with a notional amount equal to their net assets). Additionally, issuer-oriented rules in the U.S. and Germany account for issuer risk differently: U.S. funds have greater discretion to undervalue derivative exposure compared to German funds. All analyses of this study reveal that under existing derivative and leverage regulation, funds in both countries are able to increase risk by using derivatives up to the point at which it is possible for them to default solely due to investments in derivatives. The results of this study are highly relevant for the public and regulators.

Suggested Citation

  • GaÅ‚kiewicz, Dominika, 2014. "Similarities and Differences between U.S. and German Regulation of the Use of Derivatives and Leverage by Mutual Funds – What Can Regulators Learn from Each Other?," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 474, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:trf:wpaper:474
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21401/1/474.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kempf, Alexander & Ruenzi, Stefan & Thiele, Tanja, 2009. "Employment risk, compensation incentives, and managerial risk taking: Evidence from the mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 92-108, April.
    2. Alexander Kempf & Stefan Ruenzi, 2008. "Tournaments in Mutual-Fund Families," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 1013-1036, April.
    3. Stulz, Rene, 2010. "Credit default Swaps and the Credit Crisis," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 6, pages 157-175.
    4. Patrick Bolton & Martin Oehmke, 2011. "Credit Default Swaps and the Empty Creditor Problem," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(8), pages 2617-2655.
    5. Taylor, Jonathan, 2003. "Risk-taking behavior in mutual fund tournaments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 373-383, March.
    6. Brown, Keith C & Harlow, W V & Starks, Laura T, 1996. "Of Tournaments and Temptations: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives in the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 85-110, March.
    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. Galkiewicz, Dominika Paula, 2014. "Similarities and differences between U.S. and German regulation of the use of derivatives and leverage by mutual funds: What can regulators learn from each other?," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2014-047, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    2. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2014-047 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Galkiewicz, Dominika Paula, 2014. "Manager Characteristics and Credit Derivative Use by U.S. Corporate Bond Funds," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 495, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    4. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2015-018 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Gałkiewicz, Dominika Paula, 2015. "Manager characteristics and credit derivative use by U.S. corporate bond funds," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2015-018, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    6. Galkiewicz, Dominika Paula, 2014. "Manager Characteristics and Credit Derivative Use by U.S. Corporate Bond Funds," Discussion Papers in Economics 24445, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    7. Gałkiewicz, Dominika Paula, 2015. "Loss potential and disclosures related to credit derivatives: A cross-country comparison of corporate bond funds under U.S. and German regulation," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2015-017, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    8. Debapriya Jojo Paul & Julia Henker & Sian Owen, 2019. "The aggregate impacts of tournament incentives in experimental asset markets," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 22(2), pages 441-476, June.
    9. Alexander Swade & Gerrit Köchling & Peter N. Posch, 2021. "Managerial behavior in fund tournaments—the impact of TrueSkill," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(1), pages 62-75, February.
    10. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2015-017 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Chia-Ying Chan & Christine W. Lai & Liang-Chung Lee, 2017. "Strategic Choice of Risk: Evidence from Mutual Fund Families," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 125-163, February.
    12. Chua, Angeline Kim Pei & Tam, On Kit, 2020. "The shrouded business of style drift in active mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. Zhichao Zhang & Li Ding & Si Zhou & Yaoyao Fu, 2014. "Fund Family Tournament and Performance Consequences: Evidence from the UK fund industry," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 18(1-2), pages 43-84, March - J.
    14. Aymen Karoui & Iwan Meier, 2015. "Fund performance and subsequent risk: a study of mutual fund tournaments using holdings-based measures," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 29(1), pages 1-20, February.
    15. Emmanuel Mamatzakis & Mike Tsionas, 2018. "A Bayesian dynamic model to test persistence in funds' performance," Working Paper series 18-23, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    16. Yang, Qin, 2024. "Performance ranking, regulatory penalty, and improper risk adjustment behavior of fund managers," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 261-279.
    17. Gennaro Bernile & Vineet Bhagwat & Ambrus Kecskés & Phuong‐Anh Nguyen, 2021. "Are the risk attitudes of professional investors affected by personal catastrophic experiences?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(2), pages 455-486, June.
    18. Li, C. Wei & Tiwari, Ashish & Tong, Lin, 2022. "Mutual fund tournaments and fund Active Share," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    19. Gu Wang & Jiaxuan Ye, 2023. "Fund Managers’ Competition for Investment Flows Based on Relative Performance," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 198(2), pages 605-643, August.
    20. Jennifer Huang & Clemens Sialm & Hanjiang Zhang, 2011. "Risk Shifting and Mutual Fund Performance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(8), pages 2575-2616.
    21. Hallahan, Terrence & Faff, Robert, 2009. "Tournament behavior in Australian superannuation funds: A non-parametric analysis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 307-322.
    22. Fabrice Hervé, 2008. "Fonds de retraite et performance:la famille compte-t-elle ?," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 11(2), pages 79-104, June.
    23. Tao Shu & Johan Sulaeman & P. Eric Yeung, 2012. "Local Religious Beliefs and Mutual Fund Risk-Taking Behaviors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(10), pages 1779-1796, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regulation; mutual funds; leverage; derivative; credit default swaps;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - 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:trf:wpaper:474. 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: Tamilla Benkelberg (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.