Risk Shifting in Financial Markets and Sustainable Finance

The contemporary literature on financial intermediation suggests that banks play an important role in the transition towards a sustainable economy. We contribute to this debate by studying lenders' risk shifting incentives, their choices in supporting sustainable business, and how sustainable finance and legal innovations affect firms and households.

First, we analyze how banks respond to climate transition risks. Specifically, we investigate whether banks manage these risks by offloading loans to environmentally harmful firms or by incorporating sustainability pricing provisions into loan contracts. Our ongoing research delves into the role of banking supervision in facilitating the transition to net-zero, specifically by assessing the impact of climate stress tests on banks' lending practices. We also examine how depositors, firms, and financial institutions manage various forms of biodiversity risk.

Second, we illustrate the choice between risk pricing and risk shifting through securitisation by financial institutions. From a household finance perspective, we discuss how mortgage fore­closure laws and mortgage pricing policies should be designed to mitigate moral hazard of lenders and borrowers. We also highlight the effect of zombie mortgage laws on banks and non-bank lenders, and the implications arising for housing markets.

Another line of research aims to establish evidence of how financial regulation contributes to securitisation booms, which are considered to be at the root of the recent boom and bust cycles in housing markets. Specifically, we shed light on how banking deregulation and financial develop­ment increase the probability of a bank operating an originate-to-distribute model in the lead up to the financial crisis that started in 2007. 

Finally, the research group investigates the role of financial institutions in supporting firms to mitigate risk from supply chain disruptions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic

Workpackage 1: Do financial institutions provide sustainable finance?

Workpackage 2: How do banks choose between risk pricing and risk shifting?

Workpackage 3: The Impact of Banking Supervision and Regulation on Financial Intermediaries

Research Cluster
Financial Resilience and Regulation

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Professor Huyen Nguyen, PhD
Professor Huyen Nguyen, PhD
- Department Financial Markets
Send Message +49 345 7753-756 Personal page LinkedIn profile

Refereed Publications

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Global Equity Offerings and Access to Domestic Loan Market: U.S. Evidence

Iftekhar Hasan Haizhi Wang Desheng Yin Jingqi Zhang

in: International Review of Financial Analysis, March 2021

Abstract

This study examines whether and to what extend global equity offerings at the IPO stage may affect issuing firms' ability to borrow in the domestic debt market. Tracking bank loans taken by U.S. IPO firms in the domestic syndicated loan market, we observe that global equity offering firms experience more favorable loan price than that offered to their domestic counterparts. This finding holds for a set of robustness tests of endogeneity issues. We also find that, compared with their domestic counterparts, global equity offering firms are less likely to have financial distress, engage more in international diversification, and are more likely to wait a longer time to apply for syndicated loans.

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Income Inequality and Minority Labor Market Dynamics: Medium Term Effects from the Great Recession

Salvador Contreras Amit Ghosh Iftekhar Hasan

in: Economics Letters, February 2021

Abstract

Using a difference-in-differences framework we evaluate the effect that exposure to a bank failure in the Great Recession period had on income inequality. We find that it led to a 1% higher Gini, relative rise of 38 cents for high earners, and 7% decline for lowest earners in treated MSAs. Moreover, we show that blacks saw a decline of 10.2%, Hispanics 9.8%, and whites 5.1% in income. Low income blacks and Hispanics drove much of the effect on inequality.

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Local Banks as Difficult-to-replace SME Lenders: Evidence from Bank Corrective Programs

Iftekhar Hasan Krzysztof Jackowicz Robert Jagiełło Oskar Kowalewski Łukasz Kozłowski

in: Journal of Banking and Finance, February 2021

Abstract

In this study, we assess capabilities of different types of banks to cater to the financial needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Using a comprehensive dataset from an emerging economy, including the information on local banks’ corrective programs, we find that local banks remain difficult-to-replace lenders for SMEs. We show that presence of healthy local banks in an SME's vicinity immunizes the SME against the deterioration of access to bank financing linked to other local banks’ corrective programs. In contrast, large banks are unable to replace the lost lending from local competitors under corrective programs.

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Is Social Capital Associated with Corporate Innovation? Evidence from Publicly Listed Firms in the U.S.

Iftekhar Hasan Chun-Keung (Stan) Hoi Qiang Wu Hao Zhang

in: Journal of Corporate Finance, June 2020

Abstract

We find that social capital in U.S. counties, as captured by strength of social norms and density of social networks, is positively associated with innovation of firms headquartered in the county, as captured by patents and citations. This relation is robust in fixed-effect regressions, instrumental variable regressions with a Bartik instrument, propensity score matching regressions, and a difference-in-differences design that isolates the effects of over time variations in social capital due to corporate headquarter relocations. Strength of social norms plays a more dominant role than density of social networks in producing these empirical regularities. Cross-sectional evidence indicates the prominence of the contracting channel through which social capital relates to innovation. Additionally, we find that social capital is also positively associated with trademarks and effectiveness of corporate R&D expenditures.

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Profit Shifting and Tax‐rate Uncertainty

Manthos D. Delis Iftekhar Hasan Panagiotis I. Karavitis

in: Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 5-6 2020

Abstract

Using firm‐level data for 1,084 parent firms in 24 countries and for 9,497 subsidiaries in 54 countries, we show that tax‐motivated profit shifting is larger among subsidiaries in countries that have stable corporate tax rates over time. Our findings further suggest that firms move away from transfer pricing and toward intragroup debt shifting that has lower adjustment costs. Our results are robust to several identification methods and respecifications, and they highlight the important role of tax‐rate uncertainty in the profit‐shifting decision while pointing to an adjustment away from more costly transfer pricing and toward debt shifting.

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Working Papers

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Real Estate Transaction Taxes and Credit Supply

Michael Koetter Philipp Marek Antonios Mavropoulos

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 26, 2022

Abstract

We exploit staggered real estate transaction tax (RETT) hikes across German states to identify the effect of house price changes on mortgage credit supply. Based on approximately 33 million real estate online listings, we construct a quarterly hedonic house price index (HPI) between 2008:q1 and 2017:q4, which we instrument with state-specific RETT changes to isolate the effect on mortgage credit supply by all local German banks. First, a RETT hike by one percentage point reduces HPI by 1.2%. This effect is driven by listings in rural regions. Second, a 1% contraction of HPI induced by an increase in the RETT leads to a 1.4% decline in mortgage lending. This transmission of fiscal policy to mortgage credit supply is effective across almost the entire bank capitalization distribution.

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Carbon Transition Risk and Corporate Loan Securitization

Isabella Müller Huyen Nguyen Trang Nguyen

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 22, 2022

Abstract

We examine how banks manage carbon transition risk by selling loans given to polluting borrowers to less regulated shadow banks in securitization markets. Exploiting the election of Donald Trump as an exogenous shock that reduces carbon risk, we find that banks’ securitization decisions are sensitive to borrowers’ carbon footprints. Banks are more likely to securitize brown loans when carbon risk is high but swiftly change to keep these loans on their balance sheets when carbon risk is reduced after Trump’s election. Importantly, securitization enables banks to offer lower interest rates to polluting borrowers but does not affect the supply of green loans. Our findings are more pronounced among domestic banks and banks that do not display green lending preferences. We discuss how securitization can weaken the effectiveness of bank climate policies through reducing banks’ incentives to price carbon risk.

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To Rent or not to Rent: A Household Finance Perspective on Berlin's Short-term Rental Regulation

Antonios Mavropoulos

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 1, 2021

Abstract

With the increasing concerns that accompany the rising trends of house sharing economies, regulators impose new laws to counteract housing supply scarcity. In this paper, I investigate whether the ban on short-term entire house listings activated in Berlin in May 2016 had any adverse effects from a household finance perspective. More specifically, I derive short-term rental income and counter-factually compare it with long-term rental income to find that the ban, by decreasing the supply of short-term housing, accelerated short-term rental income but did not have any direct effect on long-term rental income. Commercial home-owners therefore would find renting on the short-term market to be financially advantageous.

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Real Estate Transaction Taxes and Credit Supply

Michael Koetter Philipp Marek Antonios Mavropoulos

in: Deutsche Bundesbank Discussion Paper, No. 4, 2021

Abstract

We exploit staggered real estate transaction tax (RETT) hikes across German states to identify the effect of house price changes on mortgage credit supply. Based on approximately 33 million real estate online listings, we construct a quarterly hedonic house price index (HPI) between 2008:q1 and 2017:q4, which we instrument with state-specic RETT changes to isolate the effect on mortgage credit supply by all local German banks. First, a RETT hike by one percentage point reduces HPI by 1.2%. This effect is driven by listings in rural regions. Second, a 1% contraction of HPI induced by an increase in the RETT leads to a 1.4% decline in mortgage lending. This transmission of fiscal policy to mortgage credit supply is effective across almost the entire bank capitalization distribution.

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Housing Consumption and Macroprudential Policies in Europe: An Ex Ante Evaluation

Antonios Mavropoulos Qizhou Xiong

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 17, 2018

Abstract

In this paper, we use the panel of the first two waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey by the European Central Bank to study housing demand of European households and evaluate potential housing market regulations in the post-crisis era. We provide a comprehensive account of the housing decisions of European households between 2010 and 2014, and structurally estimate the housing preference of a simple life-cycle housing choice model. We then evaluate the effect of a tighter LTV/LTI regulation via counter-factual simulations. We find that those regulations limit homeownership and wealth accumulation, reduces housing consumption but may be welfare improving for the young households.

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