Corporate Governance, Financial Markets and Global Convergence

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxviii

   PDF

2. The Effect of Board Size and Composition on Corporate Performance

   • Ana Isabel Fernández Álvarez, Silvia Gómez, Carlos Fernández Méndez

   Pages 1-16

3. Banks and Corporate Governance in Italy: A Two-Tier Model

   • Fabrizio Barca, Giovanni Ferri, Nicola Pesaresi

   Pages 17-40

4. The New Financial Landscape and its Impact on Corporate Governance

   • Hans J. Blommestein

   Pages 41-72

5. Privatization and Corporate Governance: Some Lessons from the Experience of Transitional Economies

   • Tito Boeri, Giancarlo Perasso

   Pages 73-88

6. Corporate Governance in the Netherlands

   • Wilko Bolt, Marga Peeters

   Pages 89-112

7. Changing Corporate Governance in Japan

   • Jenny Corbett

   Pages 113-138

8. Stock Exchange Governance in the European Union

   • Guido Ferrarini

   Pages 139-162

9. Should We Trust Banks When They Sit On the Board of Directors?

   • Francesco Giavazzi, Marco Battaglini

   Pages 163-198

10. Corporate Governance, West and East: A Synthesis of the EU Framework in the Perspective of Enlargement

    • Karel Lannoo

    Pages 199-216

11. The Role of Institutional Investors in the Corporate Governance of Financial Institutions: the UK Case

    • Chris Mallin

    Pages 217-234

12. Corporate Governance, Competition and Performance

    • Colin Mayer

    Pages 235-262

13. Shareholding Concentration and Pyramidal Ownership Structures in Belgium

    • Luc Renneboog

    Pages 263-300

14. Insurance Company Ownership in the Netherlands: Implications for Corporate Governance and Competition

    • Arend Jan Vermaat

    Pages 301-322

15. Back Matter

    Pages 323-338

    PDF

for many years been heavily dependent on bank financing, and this situation has not changed fundamentally. In his paper on stock exchange governance in the European Union Guido Ferrarini discusses the relative merits of member and investor ownership and compares stock exchange regulation in a number of EU countries. Faced with increasing competition amongst themselves and against other enterprises that offer transaction services, such as proprietary trading systems, it is essential for European stock exchanges to improve their efficiency and to generate volume. Large investments in new information technology are necessary in order to preserve competitiveness in agIobaI financial market. The implementation of the ISD has accelerated cross-border transaction activity of member firms and investors and strengthened the pressure for convergence of national stock exchange laws in the EU. In their paper, Francesco Giavazzi and Marco Battaglini look at the role played by banks in privatization processes. Banks can be involved in such processes in several ways. They may themselves be the objects of privatization since in many countries a significant fraction of the banking industry is publicly owned. This is the case in France, Spain and Italy. But banks can also be important buyers of the equity of industrial firms sold by the government if they are allowed to do so. The authors characterize privatizations as a very good opportunity to set up the right environment for the development of new financial intermediaries and in general for asound corporate governance system.

• Banking
• Corporate Governance
• Finance
• Funds
• Governance

• Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus, Denmark

  Morten Balling

• Central Banking, London, UK

  Elizabeth Hennessy

• Global Business Network, London, UK

  Richard O’Brien

Policies and ethics