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Geographic diversification and firm value in the financial services industry

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  • Schmid, Markus M.
  • Walter, Ingo

Abstract

This paper investigates whether geographic diversification is value-enhancing or value-destroying in the financial services sector, broadly defined. Our dataset comprises approximately 3579 observations over the period from 1985 to 2004 and covers the entire range of U.S. financial intermediaries — commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, asset managers, and financial infrastructure services firms. We use two alternative measures of geographic diversification: (1) a dummy variable whether the firm reports more than one geographic segment and (2) the percentage of sales from non-domestic operations. Our results indicate that geographic diversification is not associated with a significant valuation discount in financial intermediaries. However, when accounting for the firms' main activity-areas, we find evidence of a significant discount associated with geographic diversification in securities firms and a premium in credit intermediaries and insurance companies. All these results are robust after taking into account functional diversification of the firms, a potential endogeneity of both functional and geographic diversification, and a potential value transfer from equity to debt holders by using estimates of the market value of debt.

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  • Schmid, Markus M. & Walter, Ingo, 2012. "Geographic diversification and firm value in the financial services industry," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 109-122.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:19:y:2012:i:1:p:109-122
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2011.11.003
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Geographic diversification; Functional diversification; Organizational structure; Financial intermediaries; Firm valuation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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