This paper examines how Chinese firms use WeChat for voluntary disclosure. Using a topic model, we classify over 1.6 million WeChat articles into two categories: “relevant” and “noise” articles. We find that on days when firms publish value-relevant articles, there is a significant increase in abnormal returns and stock liquidity. Further analyses reveal that WeChat serves as an alternative disclosure channel for providing new information. Firms also use WeChat to complement mandatory disclosure. However, we find that firms with negative earnings tend to issue more noise articles around earnings announcements. These noise articles are associated with higher short-term announcement returns in cases of significantly negative earnings events. These results suggest that firms may engage in opportunistic WeChat disclosure behavior. Collectively, our study highlights the significant role of WeChat in the voluntary disclosure practices of Chinese companies.

This paper investigates the effect of the “First Financial Restructuring” (FFR) on the operating efficiency of commercial banks in Taiwan. Applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) to operations data for 40 commercial banks over the 6-year period 2000–2005, we find that while the banks have lower operating efficiency on average during the reform period (2002–2003) compared to the pre-reform period (2000–2001), improved operating efficiency is reflected in the post-reform period (2004–2005). Our results remain unchanged even after controlling for the non-performing loan ratio, capital adequacy ratio, bank ownership, size, and GDP growth rate. These results suggest that the improved efficiency in the post-reform period is possibly due to enhanced banking and risk management practices and benefits obtained from compliance with the FFR.