This collection considers the financial crisis from a managerial perspective, focussing on the business implications for the financial industry. Topics examined include governance, information needs and strategy of financial intermediaries and investors. The contributions build on the existing literature and present some unique insights on governance, credit quality evaluation and performance measurement. In a fast growing or steady market, it is possible for even an inefficient financial system to satisfy investors' and firms' needs. However, the current financial crisis has brought into sharp relief the limits of the inefficient practices adopted by the market, and made clear the importance of developing more effective governance mechanisms, more detailed and complete information databases and new strategies. The crisis has also brought to the fore issues about the governance of financial intermediaries that had not been previously addressed. These include board diversity, internal monitoring procedures and the existence of interlocking directorates. More broadly, the financial crisis has radically altered the international framework, with an increasingly consolidated financial sector, and the rise of new markets (such as China) that now play a predominant role in the worldwide market. Studies on the competition and on the performance in this new scenario are essential in order to understand the implications of recent events.
Introduction Part I: Governance is not at issue, or is it? 1. Boards of Directors in Troubled Waters: Enhancing the survival chances of distressed firms Gianpaolo Abatecola, Vincenzo Farina, and Niccolo Gordini 2. Can Interlocking Directorates Be Good? Insight from problem loans in Italian listed banks Marina Brogi and Valeria Stefanelli 3. Corporate Governance and Bank Performance in Italy Candida Bussoli 4. Does Governance Structure Affect Insurance Risk-Taking? Antonio Meles and Maria Grazia Starita 5. The Advantages of Board Diversity: An empirical analysis of the Italian market Paola Schwizer, Maria-Gaia Soana and Doriana Cucinelli Part II: New tasks of information in credit quality assessment 6. Can Peer Monitoring Improve Loans Quality? Empirical evidence from Italian cooperative banks Vittorio Boscia, Matteo Cotugno and Valeria Stefanelli 7. Loan Selection and Access to Contractual Information Massimo Caratelli and Ornella Ricci 8. The Impact of Discount Rate Choice in Estimating the Workout LGD for Corporate and Retail Portfolios Lucia Gibilaro And Gianluca Mattarocci 9. Does Relationship Lending Alleviate the Credit Crunch? Stefano Monferra and Gabriele Sampagnaro 10. Credit Quality and Economic Development in China Loris Nadotti, Manuela Gallo and Valeria Vannoni 11. Financial Education Online: Does it work? Gianni Nicolini Part III: Competition and efficiency: Do they still work in addressing performance? 12. Too Small to Be Compliant? Size and scale economies in the compliance cost structure of Italian banks Simona Cosma, Gianfausto Salvadori and Paola Schwizer 13. Intellectual Capital and Bank Performance: Key issues related to intellectual capital disclosure Gimede Gigante and Daniele Previati 14. Discussing Value Relevance of Earnings and Book Value: Evidence from the Italian context Alessandro Giosi, Emiliano Di Carlo and Bianca Stagliano 15. Determinants of Local Banks' Performance: An overview Elvira Anna Graziano 16. Activity Based Costing in Banking: Reasons for the use and perceived usefulness by Italian banks Alessandro Montrone and Antares D'achille 17. The Relationship between Corporate Reputation and Risk in Financial Intermediaries Maria-Gaia Soana and Paola Schwizer 18. The Evolution of Competition in EU-15 Banking Market Francesco Saverio Stentella Lopez
