The presence of sound corporate governance in a financial institution is important in maintaining the confidence of both the market and the public. The power that corporate governance holds over the success of some of the largest financial institutions in the world is not to be downplayed. This book methodically assesses the quality of corporate governance and mechanisms of accountability disclosures to various stakeholders. It is further intended to provide fresh insights into some specific corporate governance recommendations to help improve good governance in financial institutions, particularly in the United Kingdom and the EU but will also be applicable to other major economies. It explores what, when and how corporate governance has changed the financial institution functions and corporate executive behaviour by critically reviewing the pre- and post-financial crisis theoretical and empirical literature. Increasingly driven by the nature of complications, complexities and opacity in the operations of financial systems, corporate governance reporting plays an important role in the financial sector. It will provide insights into corporate governance disclosures over a long-term basis. This book should be a valuable asset to support the research of practitioners, students and all academics due to its stimulating and reflective insights into this fascinating topic.

The global financial crisis has led to more and more focus on corporate governance and financial institutions. There has been much coverage in the media about various corporate governance related issues in banks and other financial institutions, such as executive directors' remuneration and bankers' bonuses, board composition and board diversity. This book, dedicated to the corporate governance of banks and other financial institutions, makes a timely and accessible contribution to the literature in this area. The contributors are experts in their field with in-depth knowledge of the various countries including Italy, the UK, Germany, the US, China, Japan, Brazil, Russia, Australia and Nigeria, plus a chapter on Islamic financial institutions, covered in this book. Overall, the engagingly written chapters highlight many of the shortcomings of corporate governance which have led to financial scandals, whilst indicating areas where corporate governance can be strengthened and improved. Adding depth and accessibility to existing corporate governance books, this Handbook is ideal as a teaching and learning tool for undergraduate and postgraduate students. For directors and the general business and wider stakeholder communities concerned with corporate governance, it is an essential resource. Contributors:C.L. Ahmadjian, K.-J. Chang, M.J. Conyon, F. Cuomo, H. Farag, L. He, H.-Y Liang, I. Love, C.A. Mallin, C. Ogbechie, B. Okhunjanov, G. Pearson, S. Prigge, R.F. Schiozer, O.K. Tam, P.R.S. Terra, A. Zattoni

The behavior of managers-such as the rewards they obtain for poor performance, the role of boards of directors in monitoring managers, and the regulatory framework covering the corporate governance mechanisms that are put in place to ensure managers' accountability to shareholder and other stakeholders-has been the subject of extensive media and policy scrutiny in light of the financial crisis of the early 2000s. However, corporate governance covers a much broader set of issues, which requires detailed assessment as a central issue of concern to business and society. Critiques of traditional governance research based on agency theory have noted its "under-contextualized" nature and its inability to compare accurately and explain the diversity of corporate governance arrangements across different institutional contexts. The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Governance aims at closing these theoretical and empirical gaps. It considers corporate governance issues at multiple levels of analysis-the individual manager, firms, institutions, industries, and nations-and presents international evidence to reflect the wide variety of perspectives. In analyzing the effects of corporate governance on performance, a variety of indicators are considered, such as accounting profit, economic profit, productivity growth, market share, proxies for environmental and social performance, such as diversity and other aspects of corporate social responsibility, and of course, share price effects. In addition to providing a high level review and analysis of the existing literature, each chapter develops an agenda for further research on a specific aspect of corporate governance. This Handbook constitutes the definitive source of academic research on corporate governance, synthesizing studies from economics, strategy, international business, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, business ethics, accounting, finance, and law.

A heavily researched text especially for advanced students, scholars, and professionals in the field, highly recommended for the economics studies shelves of college libraries. Midwest Book Review While corporate governance in general has received considerable attention from economists in recent years, governance of banks specifically has received relatively little. Yet this is an important area both because banking is a large and important sector and because it is highly regulated so that the stakeholders and directors must share their governance authority with government regulators. This volume helps fill the gap. The 13 chapters, primarily by economists from a number of different countries, analyze governance in banking in both the US and other countries. Thus the reader can evaluate both the quality and effectiveness of bank governance across different economic environments. This makes the volume highly valuable to corporate investors and managers as well as researchers and government policymakers. George Kaufman, Loyola University, US Recent corporate scandals, together with the effects of globalization, have led to an increasing interest in corporate governance issues. Little attention has been paid, however, to international laws and recommendations dealing with corporate governance in banking from a global perspective. This impressive international set of expert contributors academics, practitioners and regulators remedies the lack of attention by examining the various issues and concerns of this important topic. The regulation of corporate banking and accounting is increasingly promoted through various international bodies. Against this background, the contributors explore such aspects of corporate governance as: bank regulation and activity expansion in the US, board structure, community banks, the Enron and WorldCom corporate governance failures, a survey of characteristics of the top 100 world banks, as well as case studies of Australian, German and Hungarian banks. Scholars, regulators, and those on the boards of financial institutions will find the analysis of this understudied area of great interest.

This book presents an overview of corporate governance and risk management, analyzing their interdependence and particularly their relevance in banking. It discusses current trends in corporate governance, such as stakeholder management, financial performance and the cost of equity, compensation schemes, board structures and shareholder activism. Further, it reviews some of the most important regulatory changes introduced since the latest financial crisis and highlights their impact on the annual reports of the banks under analysis. Lastly, the book assesses and compares major banks in Brazil and Germany with special emphasis on the aspects mentioned above, revealing surprising similarities between the banking systems of these otherwise disparate countries.

The recent financial crisis has stimulated much debate on the governance of financial institutions, as well as research on the effects of governance arrangements on risk-taking, performance and financial institutions more generally. Furthermore, researchers are asking how regulation, legislation, politics and other factors influence the governance of financial institutions and their behavior in different dimensions. The specially commissioned contributions featured in this timely Handbook confront these complex issues. The contributors – top international scholars from finance, law and business – explore the role of governance, both internal and external, in explaining risk-taking and other aspects of the behavior of financial institutions. Additionally, they discuss market and policy features affecting objectives and quality of governance. The chapters provide in-depth analysis of factors such as: ownership, efficiency and stability; market discipline; compensation and performance; social responsibility; and governance in non-bank financial institutions. Only through this kind of rigorous examination can one hope to implement the financial reforms necessary and sufficient to reduce the likelihood and severity of future crises. Bringing the reader to the frontier of research on governance of financial institutions, this volume is sure to inspire future research in scholars and students of financial institutions, governance and banking as well as all those involved with private financial institutions and public regulatory and supervisory authorities.

There are many deep-seated reasons for the current financial turmoil but a key factor has undoubtedly been the serious failings within the corporate governance practices of financial institutions. There have been shortcomings in the risk management and incentive structures; the boards’ supervision was at times weak; disclosure and accounting standards were in some cases inadequate; the institutional investors’ engagement with management was at times insufficient and, last but not least, the remuneration policies of many large institutions appeared inappropriate. This book will provide a critical overview and analysis of key corporate governance weaknesses, focusing primarily on three main areas: directors’ failure to understand complex company transactions; the poor remuneration practices of financial institutions; and, finally, the failure of institutional investors to sufficiently engage with management. The book, while largely focused on the UK, will also consider EU and Australian developments as well as offering a comparative angle looking at the corporate governance of financial institutions in the US.