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Managing mutual funds or managing expense ratios? Evidence from the Greek fund industry

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  • Babalos, Vassilios
  • Kostakis, Alexandros
  • Philippas, Nikolaos

Abstract

This study examines the expense ratio policy of Greek equity funds operating in a small emerging market with an oligopolistic, bank-dominated financial system. Constructing a unique dataset of non-publicly available expense ratios charged by these funds, we examine the impact these expenses have on funds' performance and flows. The main conclusion is that funds' performance is negatively related to their expenses, while investors' flows are not directly affected by expenses. Furthermore, the funds affiliated with one of the three dominant domestic banking groups achieve higher performance and attract higher net flows in comparison to their competitors.

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  • Babalos, Vassilios & Kostakis, Alexandros & Philippas, Nikolaos, 2009. "Managing mutual funds or managing expense ratios? Evidence from the Greek fund industry," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 256-272, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:mulfin:v:19:y:2009:i:4:p:256-272
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    7. Babalos, Vassilios & Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Philippas, Nikolaos, 2012. "Efficiency evaluation of Greek equity funds," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 317-333.
    8. Mansor, F. & Bhatti, M.I. & Ariff, M., 2015. "New evidence on the impact of fees on mutual fund performance of two types of funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 102-115.
    9. Athanasios Tsagkanos & Konstantinos Gkillas & Christoforos Konstantatos & Christos Floros, 2021. "Does Trading Volume Drive Systemic Banks’ Stock Return Volatility? Lessons from the Greek Banking System," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-13, April.
    10. Farah Naz & Hafsa Khan & Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad & Ramiz Ur Rehman & Muhammad Akram Naseem, 2019. "Productivity and efficiency analysis of Pakistani mutual funds using Malmquist index approach," International Journal of Financial Engineering (IJFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(03), pages 1-21, September.
    11. Tao, Ran & Su, Chi-Wei & Xiao, Yidong & Dai, Ke & Khalid, Fahad, 2021. "Robo advisors, algorithmic trading and investment management: Wonders of fourth industrial revolution in financial markets," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    12. Salganik, G., 2010. "Essays on investment flows of hedge fund and mutual fund investors," Other publications TiSEM e5953fbe-064e-4647-9353-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    13. Mamatzakis, Emmanuel & Xu, Bingrun, 2016. "Managerial attributes and equity mutual fund performance: evidence from china," MPRA Paper 76139, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    15. Dariusz Filip, 2018. "The impact of fund attributes on performance: Empirical evidence for Polish equity funds," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 36(2), pages 465-488.
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