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Investment horizon, risk, and compensation in the banking industry

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  • Livne, Gilad
  • Markarian, Garen
  • Mironov, Maxim

Abstract

This paper examines the relation between the investment horizon of banks and their CEO compensation, and its consequences for risk and performance. We find that banks with short-term investment intensity pay more cash bonus, exhibit higher risk and perform more poorly than banks with longer-term investment intensity. This evidence is broadly consistent with the view that short-term means of compensation encouraged a short-term investment focus, which in turn led to both higher risk and resulted in poorer performance, culminating in the sub-prime crisis. The inverse risk-performance relation suggests pay schemes were incongruent with shareholders’ interest. Moreover, pay arrangements used in banks prior to the subprime crisis exposed banks to the ex-post settling up problem (the clawback problem).

Suggested Citation

  • Livne, Gilad & Markarian, Garen & Mironov, Maxim, 2013. "Investment horizon, risk, and compensation in the banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3669-3680.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:9:p:3669-3680
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.05.021
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    Cited by:

    1. Matousek, Roman & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2016. "CEO compensation and bank efficiency: An application of conditional nonparametric frontiers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(1), pages 264-273.
    2. Michael Hilmer, 2014. "Bailouts, Bonuses and Bankers' Short-Termism," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2014-17, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    3. Uri Ben Zion & Garen Markarian, 2018. "Board Size, Crisis, and Firm Performance: Evidence from Banks," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(4), pages 33-50, April.
    4. Kolasinski, Adam C. & Yang, Nan, 2018. "Managerial myopia and the mortgage meltdown," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(3), pages 466-485.
    5. Delis, Manthos D. & Karavias, Yiannis, 2015. "Optimal versus realized bank credit risk and monetary policy," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 13-30.
    6. Shasha Liu & Robin Sickles, 2021. "The agency problem revisited: a structural analysis of managerial productivity and CEO compensation in large US commercial banks," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 391-418, January.
    7. Sanders Shaffer, 2012. "Evaluating the impact of fair value accounting on financial institutions: implications for accounting standards setting and bank supervision," Supervisory Research and Analysis Working Papers QAU12-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    8. Amewu, Godfred & Alagidede, Paul, 2019. "Mergers and executive compensation changes: Evidence from African markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 397-419.
    9. Rebel A. Cole & Travis Davidson & Hongxia Wang, 2021. "Why do bank holding companies purchase bank-owned life insurance?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 29-59, July.
    10. Dong, Yizhe & Girardone, Claudia & Kuo, Jing-Ming, 2017. "Governance, efficiency and risk taking in Chinese banking," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 211-229.
    11. Pathan, Shams & Haq, Mamiza & Faff, Robert & Seymour, Trent, 2021. "Institutional investor horizon and bank risk-taking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investment horizon; Compensation; Risk; Performance; Clawback problem;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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