This book analyses the connections between the banking industry in Europe and the companies it finances. Ferretti specifically studies how these bonds have evolved over time and questions whether now is the time for a change in the relationship’s dynamics. Chapters discuss the role of bank lending in firms’ financing during the recent financial crisis, as well as issues in credit risk management. The discussion also examines regulatory requirements impacting banks and firms (Basel III) and how they intersect with banks’ internal purposes. Moreover, the book explores how the financial crisis has impacted the relationship between banks and businesses, and seeks to identify the strengths and weaknesses inherent to it. Through this timely discussion, Ferretti looks to the future of the relationship between banks and non-financial organizations to see how they can be revitalised, adapted and reimagined in a post-crisis economy.

This book explores the role of the rating system in creditworthiness assessment, looking into its current status, strengths and weaknesses and possible evolution in the light of Basel 3 and the Global Economic Crisis.

This book provides the foundational knowledge essential for comprehending the functioning of financial markets and institutions and their current challenges. First, the book provides a general overview on the functioning of the EU financial system, examining financial markets and financial intermediaries’ features and activity and their contribution to economic growth. It also outlines the evolution of the EU integration process, giving an overview of the most important regulatory steps related to the banking and financial system culminated in the creation of the Banking Union. Banking activity is also examined in the most important business areas: commercial versus investment banking. Lastly, the book introduces two important phenomena, which are currently characterizing the financial environment: FinTech and sustainable finance. Both FinTech and sustainable finance represent significant opportunities for the market and the operators, even if the challenges and risks associated are also relevant. This underlines the need to understand their intensity and their potential impact on the functioning of the financial system as a whole.

This book is the English edition of the German third edition, which has proven to be a standard work on the subject of risk management. The English edition extends the scope of use to the English-language bachelor's and master's degree courses in economics and for potential use (especially as a reference work) in the professional practice of risk management. The subject of the book is company-wide risk management based on the Value at Risk concept. This includes quantitative and qualitative risk measurement, risk analysis based on the RoRaC and various management tools for risk control. Other topics covered are the peculiarities of the various risk types, e.g. risk management of the effects of climate change, the global financial crisis and risk reporting. The book is rounded off by a comprehensive case study, in which all aspects are summarized. The volume is thus an indispensable standard work for students and practitioners.

Globalization no longer means simply finding low-cost countries for sourcing, but has involved to include the opportunity for growth in Asia’s emerging domestic markets, specifically China. This development results in extended, truly global supply chains and thus places a higher pressure on working capital. Therefore, several definitions of Supply Chain Management already encompass financial aspects and demand a more integrated consideration of material, information, and financial flows within supply chains. However, more precise theory on “Supply Chain Financing” is understudied and initial implementation of related solutions in industry has only gained momentum during and after the economic and financial crises of 2008 and 2009. In contrast to traditional financial instruments for supply chains – for instance trade finance products which have been around for more than a century – Supply Chain Financing leverages larger and influential members of supply chains. These firms might, for instance, provide easier and cheaper access to financing for smaller supply chain members supporting their profitability through renegotiated and reduced purchasing prices. Echoing recent research results on supply chain risk management, other firms may prefer to take on a supply chain perspective and work on creating agile and resilient supply chains. In this context, Supply Chain Financing can be employed to ensure liquidity for crucial upstream and downstream supply chain partners thereby allowing a firm to effectively control risk while making the most of remaining growth opportunities in emerging markets like China!

Financial intermediation is currently a subject of active research on both sides of the Atlantic. The integration of European financial markets, in particular, highlights several important issues. In this volume, derived from a joint CEPR conference with the Fundacion Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV), leading academics from Europe and North America review 'state-of-the-art' theories of banking and financial intermediation and discuss their policy implications. The principal focus is on the risks of increased competition, the appropriate regulation of banks, and the differences between Anglo-American and Continental European forms of financial markets. Relationship banking, stock markets and banks, banking and corporate control, financial intermediation in Eastern Europe, monetary policy and the banking system, and financial intermediation and growth are also discussed.

The realities of the recent financial crisis have intensified theoretical modeling, empirical methodologies, and debate on policy issues surrounding asset price bubbles. Choosing to take a novel approach, the editors of this book have selected five classic papers that represent accepted thinking about asset bubbles prior to the financial crisis. They also include original papers challenging orthodox thinking and presenting new insights. A summary essay by the editors highlights the lessons learned and experiences gained since the crisis.

This book provides the conceptual and operational tools for understanding the mechanisms for assigning a rating to a network of companies. In it, the author explores the rating systems of corporate networks and analyses the link between rating and an enterprise network.

As an experiment in reconnecting academia to the broader democracy, this work is designed to invigorate public policy debate by rededicating academic work to the pursuit of solutions to society's great problems.

In a first approximation, profit may seem like a simple and intuitive concept, but the definition is not limited to a single conceptual category. Analysis of the definition and role of profit must be implemented with a study at the corporate level. This book discusses the phenomenon of profit smoothing, implemented by management, which aims to maintain a constant flow of profit over time. On an operational level, the phenomenon of profit smoothing analyses and determines the correlation existing between a shock to a variable at the corporate level and the relationship between this shock and profit. This book discusses the main reasons, at the strategic level, of the phenomenon of profit smoothing and summarizes this into three groups. Firstly, the functionality of this phenomenon for corporate management is to transmit to the external environment, and especially to external investors, a business reality devoid of crisis and imbalances. Secondly, this initial motivation engages basically the second. In fact, levelling the trend of profit from year to year, top management can reduce the risk perceived from the outsiders and as from the company’s insiders. Thirdly, this justification is related to the stability of the flow of dividends. Profit smoothing places great emphasis on the phenomenon of dividends. It should be note how in fact the profit smoothing is used to keep the expectations of shareholders profit from one period to another. This book is focused on the profit smoothing and, in particular, how this phenomenon is established in developing-economies like the Chinese one, and will be of interest to academics, researchers, and students of corporate finance.