1,720,969 research outputs found
Socially Responsible Investments. The Crossroads Between Institutional and Retail Investors
No full textIntroduction
No full textThe aim of this chapter is to introduce the aim and structure
of the book. Speci!cally, the aim of the book is to build a bridge between
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable !nance in !nancial markets. Classic CSR topics have been investigated in the light of a
modern conception of sustainability. The book is organized in two main
blocks. The !rst block emphasizes four relevant topics in the CSR panorama of !nancial institutions: banks remuneration practices; human capital disclosure; the impact of environmental performance on banks, and
!nally, the institutional investors’ attitude towards socially responsible
investments (SRIs). The second block looks to CSR practices within the
!nancial markets and discusses risk-return pro!les of SRI and non-SRI
indexes in different time frames; it investigates whether thematic social
responsible funds obtain different risk-return than traditional funds,
and !nally, assesses whether equity crowdfunding could foster social
innovation
Do Impact Investments Contribute to Portfolio Performance? A Preliminary Investigation
Full text linkSocial Impact Investments (SII) intentionally generate social impact and financial return. Portfolio diversification is one of the under-investigated areas in SII literature. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by conducting a preliminary investigation of social impact firms (SIF) contribution to portfolio risk and performance. For the purpose of this paper, we use a sample of SIF members of the London Social Stock Exchange who are publically listed and two contrast samples with traditional firms (non-SIF). To carry out the analysis, we employed methodology based on Markowitz (1952a, 1952b) and Sharpe (1963). The paper may provide useful insights for asset managers and investors involved in portfolio choice evaluation and policy makers interested in fostering development of the social impact market
Environmental Impact Investments in Europe: Where Are We Headed?
No full textThis chapter explores the environmental impact on investment panorama in light of the new European regulatory process on sustainable finance and of worldwide impact on investing practices.
The main results can be summarised as follows. First, the emergent European regulation on sustainable finance seems to be going in the direction of impact investing. Second, green bonds and environmental funds fall within the perimeter of impact investing, while crowdfunding shows similarities with sustainable finance. Third, the European panorama—pioneering in regulation—does not appear equally innovative from the perspective of financial models. Environmental impact investing is experiencing a delay in Europe in terms of innovative financial models such as environmental impact bonds (EIBs). Finally, the study suggests that European governments should consider EIBs within models able to finance environmental strategies
Enhancing Efficiency in Sustainable Markets
No full textInterest in sustainable finance—and any other investment supporting the creation of positive social and environmental effects—has grown over the last ten years. Following the global financial crisis, investors and policy makers reconsidered common financial schemes, business models and products through the lens of sustainability issues. Policy makers intercepted the growing trend and moved on with a set of new regulatory proposals. This was particularly true in the European Union where several regulations were proposed by the European Commission. Many of these issues are still open on both the theoretical and practical side.
This chapter aims to summarize some of the main trends, opportunities and risks linked with sustainability and, in turn, with sustainable finance. The chapter is structured as follows. Section 11.2 outlines recent trends in sustainable finance. Section 11.3 discusses some of the main opportuni- ties and risks linked with sustainable finance
Cessione degli Npl e reazione dei mercati: c’è un vuoto a rendere?
No full textObiettivo del presente lavoro è quello di testare empiricamente la reazione del mercato
azionario alla cessione degli Npl da parte delle banche italiane, nell’orizzonte temporale
2014-2017. La metodologia utilizzata è l’event study. Il paper contribuisce alla letteratura
esistente dimostrando che il trasferimento di Npl produce un wealth effect positivo
per le banche cedenti, creando valore per gli azionisti. Il mercato sembra, dunque, apprezzare
il trasferimento degli Npl, valutando in modo favorevole gli effetti positivi a
essi legati, tra i quali la riduzione dell’assorbimento patrimoniale, l’afflusso di liquidità
e la possibilità di sostenere un nuovo ciclo di attività creditizia. Per contro, il mercato
sembra non mostrare preoccupazione per il possibile reinvestimento della liquidità ottenuta
in attività più rischiose o per gli effetti negativi connessi allo smobilizzo di crediti
a prezzi inferiori rispetto a quelli di bilancio
Intellectual capital disclosure: Some evidence from healthy and distressed banks in Italy
Full text linkThe article investigates the intellectual capital disclosure of Italian banks over the years 2016–2017, applying the specific lens of healthy and distressed banks. To this end, we used content analysis and encoding techniques. The main results point out that intellectual capital (IC) disclosure is generally poor and that the intensity of disclosure varies slightly between healthy and distressed banks. Regarding the quality of disclosure, healthy banks present a higher, albeit modest, tendency to disclose non-qualitative and forward-looking information, maybe due to the fact that they are more focused on the strategies and the relationships with stakeholders as opposed to a more short-term approach of the distressed banks. To complement our study on healthy and distressed banks, we repeated the analysis focusing on bank size and independent directors. In this case, results do not show relevant differences in terms of IC disclosure. Hence, our findings suggest the need to consider banks’ IC disclosure as a strategic asset for increasing, among others, transparency and reputation
Business models for sustainable finance: The case study of social impact bonds
Full text linkBusiness models for sustainability (BMfS) are relevant topics on research agendas, given their orientation toward sustainability issues. However, traditional versions of these models are often ill-equipped at solving complex social problems. Cross-sector partnerships for sustainability (CSPfS) have been recognized as a new paradigm that mitigates the failure of traditional models. Impact investing, and social impact bonds (SIBs) in particular, represent an interesting field of research in innovative business models for sustainable finance, even though the literature does not consider SIBs within this broader field. We propose an exploratory study based on qualitative methods aimed at conceptualizing SIBs within the framework of BMfS and understanding how SIB collaboration varies across social sectors and geographical areas. Our study identifies three different models of SIBs characterized by the different degrees of collaboration between actors: (i) SIB as a fully collaborative partnership; (ii) SIB as a low-collaborative partnership; and (iii) SIB as a partially collaborative partnership. Our findings are useful to policy makers and practitioners involved in the SIB design, suggesting that a fully collaborative SIB model may stand a better chance of achieving the expected social impacts
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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