IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jocaae/v17y2021i1s1815566920300540.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Independent directors’ legal expertise, bank risk-taking and performance

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Guoping
  • Sun, Jerry

Abstract

This study examines whether independent directors’ legal expertise affects bank risk-taking and performance. Using a sample of U.S. banks, we document that the proportion of legal experts among independent directors is negatively related to total risk and systematic risk, suggesting that legal experts are more effective in constraining bank risk-taking activities than other independent directors. In addition, this effect of legal expertise is more pronounced for banks with high CEO risk-taking incentives. We also find that independent directors’ legal expertise is negatively associated with Tobin’s q, in contrast to the notion that legal expertise can enhance bank performance. Overall, our findings suggest that legal experts among independent directors play a more effective role in the oversight of bank risk-taking than other directors; however, the mitigation of risk-taking does not necessarily improve bank performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Guoping & Sun, Jerry, 2021. "Independent directors’ legal expertise, bank risk-taking and performance," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:17:y:2021:i:1:s1815566920300540
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcae.2020.100240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1815566920300540
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcae.2020.100240?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gulamhussen, Mohamed Azzim & Santa, Sílvia Fonte, 2015. "Female directors in bank boardrooms and their influence on performance and risk-taking," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 10-23.
    2. Panagiotis Staikouras & Christos Staikouras & Maria-Eleni Agoraki, 2007. "The effect of board size and composition on European bank performance," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-27, February.
    3. Andres, Pablo de & Vallelado, Eleuterio, 2008. "Corporate governance in banking: The role of the board of directors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2570-2580, December.
    4. Athanasoglou, Panayiotis P. & Brissimis, Sophocles N. & Delis, Matthaios D., 2008. "Bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank profitability," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 121-136, April.
    5. Adams, Mike & Jiang, Wei, 2016. "Do outside directors influence the financial performance of risk-trading firms? Evidence from the United Kingdom (UK) insurance industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 36-51.
    6. Shivdasani, Anil, 1993. "Board composition, ownership structure, and hostile takeovers," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-3), pages 167-198, April.
    7. Adams, Renée B. & Mehran, Hamid, 2012. "Bank board structure and performance: Evidence for large bank holding companies," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 243-267.
    8. Pathan, Shams, 2009. "Strong boards, CEO power and bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1340-1350, July.
    9. Liang, Qi & Xu, Pisun & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2013. "Board characteristics and Chinese bank performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2953-2968.
    10. Vallascas, Francesco & Mollah, Sabur & Keasey, Kevin, 2017. "Does the impact of board independence on large bank risks change after the global financial crisis?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 149-166.
    11. Badolato, Patrick G. & Donelson, Dain C. & Ege, Matthew, 2014. "Audit committee financial expertise and earnings management: The role of status," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 208-230.
    12. Peter Temin, 2010. "The Great Recession and the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 15645, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Kenneth M. Lehn & Sukesh Patro & Mengxin Zhao, 2009. "Determinants of the Size and Composition of US Corporate Boards: 1935‐2000," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(4), pages 747-780, December.
    14. Pathan, Shams & Faff, Robert, 2013. "Does board structure in banks really affect their performance?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1573-1589.
    15. Leung, Sidney & Richardson, Grant & Jaggi, Bikki, 2014. "Corporate board and board committee independence, firm performance, and family ownership concentration: An analysis based on Hong Kong firms," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 16-31.
    16. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Cheung, Adrian (Wai Kong) & Taylor, Grantley, 2020. "Financial statement comparability and bank risk-taking," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    17. Tao, Ngoc Bich & Hutchinson, Marion, 2013. "Corporate governance and risk management: The role of risk management and compensation committees," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 83-99.
    18. Lawrence J. Abbott & Susan Parker & Gary F. Peters & K. Raghunandan, 2003. "An Empirical Investigation of Audit Fees, Nonaudit Fees, and Audit Committees," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 215-234, June.
    19. Aebi, Vincent & Sabato, Gabriele & Schmid, Markus, 2012. "Risk management, corporate governance, and bank performance in the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3213-3226.
    20. Minton, Bernadette A. & Taillard, Jérôme P. & Williamson, Rohan, 2014. "Financial Expertise of the Board, Risk Taking, and Performance: Evidence from Bank Holding Companies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(2), pages 351-380, April.
    21. Sun, Jerry & Liu, Guoping, 2014. "Audit committees’ oversight of bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 376-387.
    22. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2006. "Managerial incentives and risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 431-468, February.
    23. Chandra S. Mishra & James F. Nielsen, 2000. "Board Independence and Compensation Policies in Large Bank Holding Companies," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 29(3), Fall.
    24. Jaywon Lee & Jongwon Park, 2019. "The Impact of Audit Committee Financial Expertise on Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) Tone," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 129-150, January.
    25. Praveen Kumar, 2008. "Who Monitors the Monitor? The Effect of Board Independence on Executive Compensation and Firm Value," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 1371-1401, May.
    26. Daniel L. McConaughy & Chandra S. Mishra, 1996. "Debt, Performance-Based Incentives, and Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 25(2), Summer.
    27. Ivan E. Brick & Oded Palmon & John K. Wald, 2012. "Too Much Pay-Performance Sensitivity?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 287-303, February.
    28. Justin J. Hopkins & Edward L. Maydew & Mohan Venkatachalam, 2015. "Corporate General Counsel and Financial Reporting Quality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(1), pages 129-145, January.
    29. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    30. Pi, Lynn & Timme, Stephen G., 1993. "Corporate control and bank efficiency," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 515-530, April.
    31. Kutubi, Shawgat S. & Ahmed, Kamran & Khan, Hayat, 2018. "Bank performance and risk-taking — Does directors' busyness matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 184-199.
    32. Hutchinson, Marion & Gul, Ferdinand A., 2004. "Investment opportunity set, corporate governance practices and firm performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 595-614, September.
    33. Shen, Carl Hsin-han & Zhang, Hao, 2013. "CEO risk incentives and firm performance following R&D increases," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1176-1194.
    34. Elyasiani, Elyas & Zhang, Ling, 2015. "Bank holding company performance, risk, and “busy” board of directors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 239-251.
    35. Vu Quang Trinh & Marwa Elnahass & Aly Salama & Marwan Izzeldin, 2020. "Board busyness, performance and financial stability: does bank type matter?," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(7-8), pages 774-801, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fung, Derrick W.H. & Lee, Wing Yan & Yang, Charles C. & Yeh, Jason J.H., 2024. "Risk taking, performance, and resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from public property-casualty insurers," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Na Xu & Wendong Lv & Junli Wang, 2023. "The Impact of Board Governance on Firm Risk among China’s A-Share Market-Listed Companies from 2010 to 2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Liu, Xiaomei & Li, Bin & Zhang, Shuai & Yang, Zhenhe, 2024. "Does the resignation of an independent director affect audit fees? An empirical study based on Chinese A-share listed companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    4. Guoping Liu & Jerry Sun, 2024. "Independent legal directors’ attitudes toward bank CEO stock option awards," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 149-173, August.
    5. Emmadonata Carbone & Sara Saggese & Fabrizia Sarto, 2023. "La relazione tra l?esperienza degli amministratori e il business plan: un?indagine empirica sulle imprese quotate in Italia," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(1), pages 69-94.
    6. Britney Pisani & Peter J. Baldacchino & Norbert Tabone & Lauren Ellul & Simon Grima, 2023. "Board Diversity in Selected Large Maltese Family-Controlled Businesses and its Implications on Corporate Governance," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 13(3), pages 14-49.
    7. Hearn, Bruce, 2022. "The Determinants of Foreign Multinational Enterprise Firms' Board Governance in Caribbean Offshore Island Economies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(4).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elnahass, Marwa & Alharbi, Rana & Mohamed, Toka S. & McLaren, Josie, 2024. "Women directors’ attributes and demographics: New insights into bank risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2018. "Bank governance and performance: a survey of the literature," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 236-256, July.
    3. Jayati Sarkar & Subrata Sarkar, 2018. "Bank Ownership, Board Characteristics and Performance: Evidence from Commercial Banks in India," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-30, February.
    4. Emmanuel Mamatzakis & Theodora Bermpei, 2015. "The Effect of Corporate Governance on the Performance of US Investment Banks," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2-3), pages 191-239, May.
    5. Mavrakana, Christina & Psillaki, Maria, 2019. "Do board structure and compensation matter for bank stability and bank performance? Evidence from European banks," MPRA Paper 95776, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Walter Gontarek & Yacine Belghitar, 2021. "CEO chairman controversy: evidence from the post financial crisis period," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 675-713, February.
    7. Elnahass, Marwa & Salama, Aly & Trinh, Vu Quang, 2022. "Firm valuations and board compensation: Evidence from alternative banking models," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    8. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2021. "The impact of board characteristics and CEO power on banks’ risk-taking: stable versus crisis periods," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 319-341, December.
    9. Oumeima Kacem & Sana El Harbi, 2022. "Do risk governance and effective board affect bank performance? Evidence from large banks worldwide," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(4), pages 461-483, December.
    10. Laura Baselga-Pascual & Antonio Trujillo-Ponce & Emilia Vähämaa & Sami Vähämaa, 2018. "Ethical Reputation of Financial Institutions: Do Board Characteristics Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 489-510, March.
    11. Bowo Setiyono & Amine Tarazi, 2018. "Does Diversity of Bank Board Members Affect Performance and Risk? Evidence from an Emerging Market," CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, in: Belén Díaz Díaz & Samuel O. Idowu & Philip Molyneux (ed.), Corporate Governance in Banking and Investor Protection, chapter 0, pages 185-218, Springer.
    12. 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.
    13. Zuriawati Zakaria & Noorfaiz Purhanudin & Ahmad Nazri Wahidudin, 2018. "The Role of Board Governance On Bank Performance," International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies, Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 7(4), pages 38-50, October.
    14. Walter Gontarek & Yacine Belghitar, 2018. "Risk governance: Examining its impact upon bank performance and risk‐taking," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 187-224, December.
    15. Abdelbadie, Roba Ashraf & Salama, Aly, 2019. "Corporate governance and financial stability in US banks: Do indirect interlocks matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 85-105.
    16. Marina Brogi & Valentina Lagasio, 2019. "Do bank boards matter? A literature review on the characteristics of banks' board of directors," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(3), pages 244-274.
    17. Zhou, Yifan & Kara, Alper & Molyneux, Philip, 2019. "Chair-CEO generation gap and bank risk-taking," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 352-372.
    18. Bhatia, Madhur & Gulati, Rachita, 2021. "Board governance and bank performance: A meta- analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    19. Nesrine Djebali & Khemais Zaghdoudi, 2020. "Testing the governance-performance relationship for the Tunisian banks: a GMM in system analysis," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, December.
    20. Marion Dupire & Christian Haddad & Regine Slagmulder, 2022. "The Importance of Board Risk Oversight in Times of Crisis," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 319-365, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Banks; Directors; Legal expertise; Risk-taking; Performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:17:y:2021:i:1:s1815566920300540. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-contemporary-accounting-and-economics .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.