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Governing Fintech: Evidence from Female Directors in Italian Banks
No full textBank-specific corporate governance research has revealed that optimal design of bank governance and bank regulation, implies the convergence of objectives of bank shareholders, depositors, and society-at large. Financial institutions are more likely to hold greater liability risk and to be much more accountable to their stakeholders and banking regulators. Empirical evidence reports a link between the structure and features of boards of directors and the performance of banks. In particular, past research has demonstrated
that a bigger board improves the efficacy of monitoring and control operations, allowing for improved risk management decision-making. More recently, the debate on the complexity of corporate governance principles for banks has been enriched with the issue related to gender diversity. The topic of gender diversity in banks relates to the broader debate in corporate governance research over the effects of women on the firm calling the need to expand the presence of women in the governance bodies. At the same time, as the banking industry adapts to Industry 4.0’, the complexity of the bank corporate governance principles increases and the authorities urge banks to take all necessary steps to create a more equal composition of their boards of directors and management structures. Anecdotal evidence suggests that FinTech firms have problems in the compliance with corporate governance code and have been charged with financial frauds (e.g., Revolut corp). FinTech’s is an essential expression of financial sector innovation, and it is having a significant influence on the banking industry. It has reduced trhariaction
costs and mitigated the information asymmetry problem caused by distance restrictions. On the one hand, FinTech development helps banks grow their operations, which in turn likely enhances bank performance. On the other hand, FinTech development may wreak havoc on bank performance, as internet lending and investing platforms eat into their profits. Despite the fast move in the current bank practices, there is a lack of evidence
to establish a univocal relationship between FinTech, competitiveness, and performance in the banking industry and our understanding of the factors driving FinTech impacts is quite limited. Moving from these arguments, this research examines the effect of FinTech
on Italian banks’ performance, taking into account the monitoring role of female
directors. Relying on the agency perspective of shareholder, debtholder and societal governance in banks we hypothesize that a diverse composition of governance bodies positively moderates the relationship between FinTech and bank performance. To this aim, we rely on a sample of Italian banks observed during the period 2016-2020 and measure FinTech using the collaborations between banks and FinTech companies and a combined index of FinTech services offered by the bank. Then we run fixed-effects regression models.
We find that board gender diversity led to an effective provision of FinTech
in-house solutions with positive implications on the bank performance while it
does not affect the effectiveness of the collaboration with Fintech. This study makes several contributions to theory and practice. First, it puts the research on gender diversity in governance forward by spotlighting the role of women directors in the provision of effective new business models that boost bank performance
Set in their ways: the role of cognitive flexibility in LGBTQ+ stigma
Get PDFBackground: Despite progress in recent decades, growing stigmatisation presents increasing issues for minority groups. Through its negative effects on the mental and physical health of those affected it also presents a growing issue of public health[1]. Recent literature demonstrates a role of cognitive inflexibility, the rigid adherence to internally driven states and beliefs, in underpinning extremes of individuals’ attitudes and ideologies[2]. This raises the question as to whether similar patterns of inflexibility underpin nascent social stigmatisation. Ideological and social cognition are ontologically distinct, however, with social judgements known to be mediated by individual traits; factors including empathy, compulsivity, tendency to stigmatise, and familiarity to affected groups all naturally affect interpersonal social judgements. The aim of this study was to measure cognitive inflexibility using a set-shifting task in an LGBTQ+-related context. We hypothesise that cognitive inflexibility in socially polarising LGBTQ+ contexts is significantly predicted by individual level factors related to social prejudices; this is reflective of a role of cognitive inflexibility in underpinning polarised social views towards LGBTQ+ groups.
Methods: Our final sample (n=115) had a mean age of 50.1 (SD±13.0) and was predominantly White British (95.7%). Cognitive inflexibility was measured in an extra-dimensional set-shifting task. Participants were required to learn sorting rules by trial-and-error for LGBTQ+/ heterosexual contexts and four coloured gift stimuli, where sorting rules changed across three phases. Behavioural data were collected to assess participant inflexibility across their responses. Participants completed independent questionnaires on empathy, compulsivity, and tendency to stigmatise. Data were collected online via Prolific Academic, with inclusion criteria of British residency and a minimum age of 18 years old. Participants were carefully selected for their familiarity to LGBTQ+ people, being either non-familiar (n=41), familiar (n=33), or LGBTQ+ themselves (n=41). Behavioural data were computationally modelled for parameter extraction, identifying two suitable parameters; an applied measure of inflexible perseverative errors made specifically in LGBTQ+ contexts, and a neutral measure of latent participant response ‘stickiness’[3]. Data were analysed initially using group comparisons, and then via regression analysis on each of our extracted inflexibility parameters, using measures of our trait-level correlates of stigmatisation as predictors.
Results: Non-parametric group comparisons showed that LGBTQ+ participants were significantly younger and held lower tendencies to stigmatise others, and that non-familiar participants had significantly lower empathy scores. There were no significant group differences in either of our computationally extracted parameters of cognitive inflexibility. Contrary to our hypothesis, neither our model of inflexible perseverative errors [F(5,109)=0.78 p=0.63] or participant ‘stickiness’ [F(5,109)=2.60, p<.01] demonstrated significant predictive relationships of either our individual trait-level variables, or LGBTQ+ familiarity.
Conclusion: Despite a strong rationale, we did not find evidence for our hypothesis supporting a role for cognitive inflexibility in underpinning social polarisation towards LGBTQ+ people. This finding promotes new understanding on modern polarisation and stigma, indicating it may not follow analogous neuropsychological patterns as other extreme beliefs. It remains unclear what may underpin this stigma, which warrants further socio-cognitive research, in light of increasing social polarisation and its impacts on public health
How cities are striving to cope with ever-increasing temperatures
Get PDFPurpose: This study looks at the growing trend of higher temperatures in cities during the summer months. This rise in temperature leads to various environmental and health issues. This research aims to identify the major risks posed by extreme heat, especially for vulnerable communities. It also evaluates how well the current measures in different cities around the world address this increasing problem. Design/methodology/approach: The research adopts a comparative analysis approach, examining and contrasting specific measures and strategies adopted across different cities worldwide to address rising urban heat. The study reviews existing literature and real-world examples from 2023 and 2024 to explore how cities are coping with extreme temperatures, focusing on solutions such as green infrastructure, early warning systems and water management strategies. Findings: The results reveal that, while some cities have made considerable progress in enhancing their heat resilience, including the implementation of urban greening and improved early warning systems, there remains a pressing need for more targeted measures to address urban heat effectively to strategically protect human well-being in a context where excess heat conditions migrate from exception to occurrence. The study emphasises that metropolitan areas and expanding megacities worldwide require comprehensive strategies to manage summer heatwaves and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate posing novel, compounded hazards to human health. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on urban heat resilience by highlighting the emerging patterns of extreme temperatures and their effects on public health and well-being. It underscores the urgency for cities to adopt adaptive strategies to cope with rising temperatures, offering insights into the potential trajectory of heatwaves in 2024 and beyond. The study provides a timely and relevant analysis of the global urban heat challenge, urging policymakers and urban planners to prioritise sustainable and effective interventions demanded by populations across the full complex spectrum of contemporary societies
Book Review: Healthcare and the Troubles: the conflict experience of the Northern Ireland health service, 1968–1998
No full textLightning-caused disturbance frequency and severity varies with topography in an Afromontane forest
Get PDFLightning is an important agent of tropical tree mortality, but field data on lightning-caused disturbances is largely restricted to one lowland tropical forest in Panama.
Here we quantified variation in the frequency and severity of visually detectable lightning-caused disturbances across topography in the montane forests of Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda. This was the first systematic assessment of lightning-caused disturbance in any African tropical forest and a preliminary exploration of the association between lightning disturbance frequency and forest tolerance to lightning.
Lightning-caused disturbances were observed six times more frequently on ridges (19 strikes across 4.5 km of transects) than in valleys (2 strikes across 2.9 km), but lightning-caused disturbances in valleys tended to cause more tree-level damage than those on ridges (and also kill a higher proportion of the trees affected within each lightning disturbance, although the rarity of disturbances in valleys meant the latter effect was not statistically significant). Overall, lightning disturbances tended to kill a lower proportion of trees in this Afromontane forest than in previously documented lightning disturbances in tropical America.
We also observed less tree-level damage to ridge-dominant Syzygium spp. (Myrtaceae) compared to the community-wide average, providing support for taxonomic differences in lightning tolerance.
Synthesis. Our results indicate that lightning disturbance severity differs within and among sites, potentially mediated by differences in lightning tolerance among tree species and provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that disturbance severity declines with disturbance frequency
Addressing the no-dialect policy in the TV series My Brilliant Friend
No full textThe (un)translatability of the linguistic varieties of a geographical, ethnic and social type is particularly felt in the field of audiovisual translation (Longo 2009; Cavaliere 2010, 2019, 2021). Particularly in subtitling, due to the well-known space and time constraints, dialects (Hatim and Mason1997; Díaz-Cintas and Remael 2007), for instance, are generally translated into standard target language. A case in point is the conservative approach (Berezowski 1997) adopted in My Brilliant Friend TV series, the recent television adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s hugely successful Neapolitan Novels. Differently from the tetralogy – where very little dialect appears – the TV series restored 1950s dialect-speaking, which is a compelling narrative device instrumental to represent/develop characters and elaborate their feelings. Yet, the Tv series only airs standard Italian subtitles for non-Neapolitan Italians and standard English subtitles for English-speaking audience, which makes differences in speech no longer noticeable. By investigating the role of Neapolitan dialect in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels and the no-dialect policy of its TV series subtitles, this study addresses (some of) the theoretical and practical problems faced by screen translation of regional varieties and to offer a contribution to the underdeveloped area of study of dialects and languages of minorities in AVT
La valutazione integrata dei wastescape: Un framework metodologico per l'analisi e la rigenerazione circolare di Napoli Est
No full textVerso un impiego eccezionale del remand? Riflessioni a margine di CGARS, sezione giurisdizionale, ordinanza 28 novembre 2025, n. 378
No full textL’ordinanza del Consiglio di giustizia amministrativa per la Regione siciliana offre lo
spunto per una riflessione di carattere sistematico sul rapporto tra tutela cautelare
e giudizio di merito, con specifico riferimento alla tecnica del remand.
Il Collegio richiama l’attenzione sulle criticità di uno strumento che, sebbene
formalmente configurato dal legislatore come misura interinale ai sensi dell’art. 55
c.p.a., risulta idoneo a produrre effetti sostanzialmente definitivi.
L’analisi muove dalla distinzione tra le misure cautelari a contenuto meramente
anticipatorio e quelle dotate di effetti anticipatori non reversibili, segnatamente
quelle conseguenti a un ordine di riesame. Successivamente, si analizza il quadro normativo delineato dal codice del processo
amministrativo e si ricostruiscono le principali tendenze giurisprudenziali, con
particolare attenzione alla compatibilità del remand con il principio del giusto
processo.
Dalla disamina emerge come l’istituto – pur definito dal CGARS come
«dogmaticamente fuori sistema» – non appaia, di per sé, incompatibile con
l’impianto del Codice del processo amministrativo, richiedendo tuttavia un impiego
particolarmente prudente e circoscritto, limitato ai soli casi in cui esso si riveli
indispensabile per garantire l’effettività della tutela giurisdizionale.
In tale prospettiva, la pronuncia in commento può essere interpretata come un
invito a restringere l’ambito applicativo del remand alle ipotesi in cui la situazione di
urgenza non risulti adeguatamente fronteggiabile mediante gli strumenti
processuali tipici già previsti dal Codice, quali, in particolare, la fissazione
ravvicinata dell’udienza di merito ai sensi dell’art. 55, comma 10, c.p.a., ovvero
l’adozione di una sentenza in forma semplificata all’esito dell’udienza cautelare ex
art. 60 c.p.a
Multi-Layered 3D Survey Process to Represent Visible and Invisible Data
No full textOver the last 25 years, active and passive 3D survey techniques applied in the Cultural Heritage domain have achieved a high degree of reliability. The degree of maturity in the integrated use of these methodologies is well exemplified by their broad application, across the public and private sectors. Nevertheless, surveying techniques able to acquire non-visible data (thermography, sonar, radar, etc.) related to wall packages, floors, foundations, etc.) remain little known in terms of data integration and representation. The latter in particular is crucial for the interpretation of signals at different frequencies that pass through the material, yielding responses that provide information on the type of material or on transitions between different dielectric properties. Often the experience has a basic role in understanding the significance of the maps and radargram, because it lacks the comparison and validation phase with the visible information. It leads to the paradox that to fully understand a complex architecture, analysing both its external and internal consistency, must be integrated data that presents different levels of uncertainty in its interpretation and representation, combining understandable information with others that require complex and non-immediate reading. The research work presented here focuses precisely on this dichotomy. Starting from heterogeneous data obtained from 3D laser scanners, photogrammetry, and ground-penetrating radar, this contribution offers a reflection on the management of this information and its possible integrated representation to make its interpretation more accessible, promoting its integration for a comprehensive understanding of the building