Many investors purchase mutual funds through intermediated channels, paying brokers or financial advisors for fund selection and advice. This article attempts to quantify the benefits that investors enjoy in exchange for the costs of these services. We study broker-sold and direct-sold funds from 1996 to 2004, and fail to find that brokers deliver substantial tangible benefits. Relative to direct-sold funds, broker-sold funds deliver lower risk-adjusted returns, even before subtracting distribution costs. These results hold across fund objectives, with the exception of foreign equity funds. Further, broker-sold funds exhibit no more skill at aggregate-level asset allocation than do funds sold through the direct channel. Our results are consistent with two hypotheses: that brokers deliver substantial intangible benefits that we do not observe and that there are material conflicts of interest between brokers and their clients. The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]., Oxford University Press.

Using a new database, we document the determinants of involuntary consumer bank account closures. During 2001–2005, approximately 30 million debit accounts were involuntarily closed for excessive overdrafting. We focus on multiple factors to explain this phenomenon: household economics and financial decision-making ability, social capital, bank policies, and the alternative financial services sector. Involuntary closures are more frequent in US counties with a larger fraction of single mothers, lower education levels, lower wealth, and higher unemployment. Closures are higher in communities with high property crime rates and low electoral participation. Bank policies have an independent relation to closures, with counties having more competitive banking markets and more multi-market banks experiencing higher closure rates; bank structure also seems to affect the speed at which banks adjust their policies to changes in household income. Finally, using both national data and a state-level shift in regulation, we find evidence that access to payday lending leads to higher rates of involuntary account closure.

We survey chief financial officers from 29 countries to examine whether and why firms use lines of credit versus non-operational (excess) cash for their corporate liquidity. We find that these two liquidity sources are employed to hedge against different risks. Non-operational cash guards against future cash flow shocks in bad times, while credit lines give firms the option to exploit future business opportunities available in good times. Lines of credit are the dominant source of liquidity for companies around the world, comprising about 15% of assets, while less than half of the cash held by companies is held for non-operational purposes, comprising about 2% of assets. Across countries, firms make greater use of lines of credit when external credit markets are poorly developed.

1. Financial Innovation and The Financial System. 2. Securities Innovation: A Historical and Functional Approach. CASES. 1. Financial Engineering and Debt Securities. 1.1 Arbitrage Fundamentals. Cougars. RJRCHC 1991. Arb in Government Bonds. Coca Cola--Harmless Warrants.1.2 Taxes, Regulation and Accounting: Stimuli to Innovation. Citicorp 1985. Note: Eurodollar Bond. New England Property and Casualty. Schroeders Perpetual. Metromedia.1.3 Securitization. Travelers. Note: MBS. Amex TRS Case. Lehman Case.2. Financial Engineering and Equity Securities. 2.1 Addressing Information Asymmetries. Arley. Avon PERCs. GM PERCs. ALZA series (A-B1-B2-C). British Telecom. RJR 1990. Sally Jameson.2.2 Taxes, Regulation and Accounting: Stimuli to Innovation. ARPPS. MMP. Dart and Kraft. Waste Management.3. Managing Issuers' Exposures. 3.1 Managing Issuers' Exposures. B.F. Goodrich-Rabobank. GM--Liab Management. State of CT Muni Swap. Walt Disney. Gaz de France. American Barrick. Enron.3.2 Managing Investors' Exposures. SLH (A&B). Goldman Sachs Nikkel Put Warrants. Commodity Linked Debt. Note: Commodity Futures. Fidelity Case. Diamond Shamrock Natomas. BEA Associates. LOR: Portfolio Insurance. LOR: SuperTrust.FOUNDATION NOTES. Note: U.S. Government Debt Markets. Note: Foreign Exchange. Note: FX Swaps. Note: Introduction to Options. Note: Option Pricing. Note: Contingent Claims Analysis. Note: Financial Futures. Note: Interest Rate Derivatives.

Leading financial scholars present essays examining the performance of the basic financial functions underlying global financial systems: payments, lending and investing, pooling funds, allocating risk, providing information, and dealing with incentive issues - with particular emphasis on how their performance is changing and implications for the future.