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Journal of Financial Intermediation Vol. 47 2021

The wolves of Wall Street? Managerial attributes and bank risk

Jens Hagendorff1; Anthony Saunders2; Sascha Steffen3; Francesco Vallascas4

1 University of Edinburgh · 2 New York University · 3 Frankfurt School of Finance & Management · 4 Durham University

open access

Abstract

We find that chief executive officers and chief financial officers exert significant individual effects on bank risk. Manager transitions, including transitions generated by plausibly exogenous manager departures, lead to abnormally large changes in bank risk. We demonstrate that the effects of managers on bank risk are sizable and manager-specific. The effects are also partly anticipated by the board because they are reflected in managers’ pay. However, wide-ranging personal attributes, including biographical, experience, and compensation data, only explain a small share of managers’ impact on bank risk. This implies that attempts to rein in bank risk-taking by targeting manager characteristics will be challenging for investors and regulators.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfi.2021.100921
Volume
47
Pages
100921
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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