The effect of cyberattacks on European financial institutions: An event study approach

The purpose of this research is to test the efficiency of market with respect to announcements of mergers and acquisitions using an event study methodology. Specifically, this study analyzed the effects of banks mergers and their announcements on the prices of stocks, in Europe. We study 18 deals that involve banks in Merger and Acquisition from year 2001 to 2010 in order to investigate the returns of shareholder of the targets and acquirers. Evidence here supports that significant cumulative abnormal returns were short lived for the acquirers. At the end of the event window, the cumulative abnormal returns were 0. Evidence of excess returns after the merger announcement was also observed along with the leakage of information that resulted in the rise of stock prices few days before the announcement of merger or acquisition. At the same time, the results of cumulative abnormal returns showed that target banks earned abnormal returns on the merger announcement day.

Although a considerable number of empirical studies have been conducted in developed markets to examine dividend signaling effects, very few comparable studies have been carried out in the Saudi market context. This study deeply investigates how the Saudi exchange market may have reacted to dividend news during an eight-year study period from a total sample of 280 dividend announcements made by 99 Saudi-listed companies. Results demonstrate that a company’s share price reacts to the announcement of a cash dividend during the event window. Besides, findings reveal a significant positive reaction in the share price at the time of the announcement of an increase in the dividend payment level. Furthermore, results demonstrate that the abnormal return is negative but not significantly different from zero at the time of the announcement of a decrease in the dividend payment level. Likewise, findings show that the shareholders earn just normal returns on the announcement day and that the abnormal return is not statistically different from zero for the dividend, not change group. The findings suggest potential information leakage before dividend announcements, raising concerns about insider trading. This highlights the need for stronger regulatory oversight and stricter disclosure enforcement. Companies should also use alternative communication channels to improve transparency and consider corporate social responsibility initiatives to signal their quality to investors.

The efficient market hypothesis states that in the efficient markets, participants cannot make extra-normal returns by exploiting any publicly available information. However, traders are constantly looking to exploit publicly available information to generate abnormal returns for themselves and their clients. One such event is share buyback announcement, which traders can utilize to create profitable trading strategies. The authors undertake the present study to examine if share buyback announcements provide profitable trading strategies to traders. Event study methodology has been adopted to analyze buyback announcements by Indian companies from January 2012 to December 2018. Forty-one (41) day window period comprising of 20 days pre-event, an announcement day, and 20 days post-event period is created to analyze the risk-adjusted average abnormal returns. The empirical findings suggest that there are negligible trading opportunities available for investors post announcements. However, significant risk-adjusted returns are found in the pre-event window, indicating that if investors can predict buyback announcements, they may earn extra-normal returns. The study confirms that Indian stock markets are in the semi-strong form of efficiency. The study also provides a profitable trading strategy for investors in the pre-event window. Finally, it also draws the regulators’ attention to see if insider trading could be the reason for abnormal returns in the pre-event window. The authors conclude the results by confirming that Indian markets are semi-strong in market efficiency and by indicating regulatory interventions to control insider trading. AcknowledgementThe infrastructural support provided by FORE School of Management, New Delhi in completing this paper is gratefully acknowledged.

The primary objective of this study is to examine whether there is a market reaction around the announcement day of an outside Chief Executive Officer (CEO) appointment. A significant market reaction around the announcement would indicate the strategic importance of a CEO and his/her contribution to future firm prospects. Our dataset consists of 158 US firms over the period 1993 to 2005 that appointed an outside CEO. Using an event study methodology, our results indicated that there exist abnormal stock returns around the appointment day of an outside CEO. The results of this study should be of great importance to organizations and capital market participants, such as investors, analysts, bankers, simply because firms will give more emphasis on the selection criteria of an outside CEO appointment, which subsequently affects shareholders’ wealth. Key words: Abnormal returns, CEO appointment, market reaction.

The aim of this study is to determine the market reaction to insider trades on the Romanian stock market for the January 2017–December 2019′ time horizon. The focus is on individual insider trades, especially on management trades, directors having access to private as well as to price-sensitive information, therefore having an advantage over other investors when they trade their company’s shares. Using an event study approach, abnormal returns are determined on a 41 days’ window. We check for any evidence on inside information known prior to the disclosure of insider trades and analyze the market response to the information quality of the event, respectively, the stock price behavior around the event. Empirical results suggest that these insiders reveal some significant pieces of information to the market through both their acquisitions and sales of shares. Abnormal returns are registered prior to the event date, especially in the case of CEOs, supporting our belief that this category of insiders possesses superior information. Significant abnormal returns are also obtained in the 20 days’ window following the event date. Results are significant from a statistical point of view and in line with correspondent work of other researchers on different stock markets.

This study examined the effect of corporate governance variables of board independence, institutional ownership, managerial ownership, board size, and director expertise on the market reaction to seasoned equity offering (SEO) announcements by firms in the Nigerian stock market. The event study methodology was employed, and abnormal returns were computed using the market model. A total of 62 announcements by 38 firms listed on the Nigerian stock exchange from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2016 were included in the analysis. The study recorded significant positive cumulative abnormal returns before and after the announcement day, and a significant negative cumulative abnormal return upon the announcement day of SEOs. Similarly, significant positive cumulative abnormal returns were recorded six months before the SEO announcement day and negative significant cumulative abnormal returns six, twelve, and twenty-four months after the announcements. Furthermore, there were significant cumulative abnormal returns upon SEO announcements for all the proxies of corporate governance assessed by the study. The implication of the findings of negative significant cumulative abnormal returns on the day of the announcement and beyond was consistent with previous arguments that firms issuing SEOs earn negative abnormal returns on the day of the announcement was the result of the information asymmetry between managers and investors. By contrast, the significant cumulative abnormal returns based on corporate governance suggested that corporate governance significantly impacted on SEO announcement returns in Nigeria. These findings suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to directors’ expertise, institutional ownership, board independence, and board size, as our results showed that investors might view them as dependable pointers of positive corporate information for the market, thus guaranteeing the best use of SEO proceeds.

The main objective of this study is to examine empirically the signalling theory for a sample of firms listed at Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2005 to 2010. The sample consists of 183 observations and 132 observations for dividend release sample and no-dividend release sample, respectively. Event Study Methodology (ESM) is applied to examine the market reaction to dividend release announcements. The market model is used to generate the expected returns. Also, the t-test is used to examine the significance of the mean and cumulative abnormal returns. Results from the dividend release sample shows that there is a significant positive abnormal return on the announcement days. Also, it shows that there is an overreaction straight after the announcement day, then a correcting attempt in the post event and then it goes back to normal, which is consistent with the signalling hypothesis. For the no-dividend release sample, the results show no significant abnormal return on and around the announcement days which is again consistent with the signalling hypothesis. Our results are consistent with Al-Shattarat et al. (2012) suggestions that there could be value relevance for dividends rather than dividends change. Our findings show that there is value relevance for dividends and thus supporting the signalling hypothesis.

This study examines the signaling hypothesis of dividends by testing empirically the market reaction to dividends announcements. Furthermore, this study examines the information content of dividends announcements with respect to future earnings changes for a sample of firms listed at Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2005 to 2010. The sample consists of 183 observations and 132 observations for dividend release sample and no-dividend release sample, respectively. The Event Study Methodology (ESM) is applied to examine the market reaction to dividend release announcements. The market model is used to generate the expected returns. Also, the t-test is used to examine the significance of the mean and cumulative abnormal returns. Furthermore, a regression model is used to examine the signaling hypothesis. To test the information content of dividend changes on earnings prospects, we individually incorporate the linear model with CAR to form the model. The findings of the information content of dividends applying the ESM methodology show that there is a significant positive abnormal return on the announcement days. Also, it shows that there is an overreaction straight after the announcement day, then a correcting attempt in the post event and then it goes back to normal, which is consistent with the signaling hypothesis. For the no-dividend release sample, the results show no significant abnormal return on and around the announcement days which is again consistent with the signaling hypothesis. Our results are consistent with AlShattarat et al. (2012) suggestions that there could be value relevance for dividends rather than dividends' change. Also, the findings present a strong relationship between dividends announcements and the profitability mainly in the year of announcements and the subsequent year, whereas this relationship does not exist in the second year of announcements. The findings of this study could have significant policy implications for Jordan's existing corporate governance practices and firms' disclosure environment. The results are specific to Jordan, but they do shed light on the generality of the rival models of dividend policy.

Purpose: In this paper I investigate the information fl ow between the credit default swap market and the stock market as well as insider trading in the credit default swap market. Methodology: For my analysis I use the event study methodology. Using the event study methodology I calculate abnormal stock returns and abnormal credit default swap premium changes. The analysis is based on 175,874 observations collected for 92 companies between the years 2001 and 2010. Findings: The results show that the information fl ow from the credit default swap market to the stock market is the most signifi cant in terms of negative rating outlooks. The information fl ow is much less signifi cant in relation to negative surprises during announcements of annual fi nancial results and rating upgrades. Evidence of insider trading is also most evident with reference to negative rating outlooks. Additionally, a distinctive feature of the credit default swap market and the stock market is the asymmetric response to negative and positive credit information. Research limitations: The event study methodology does not consider other potentially important reasons for the information fl ow between markets than the ones actually investigated. The credit events and credit risk information used in this research are just a proposal and can be extended by future researchers. Originality: This paper discusses a new research area. The main research area in terms of insider trading is still the stock market, with special focus on the US market. I decided to explore the insider trading phenomenon in the credit default swap market. I only considered contracts that are quoted with reference to European underlying assets. This part of the fi nancial market is attractive in terms of economic research as credit derivatives are more commonly used not only in North America but also in Europe.

The main goal of this paper is the empirical examination of the Polish stock market reactions to dividend announcements and dividend payouts made by the companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). The research sample comprises 56 companies (WIG index constituents) that announced dividend payments and completed the payout during 2013. In the analysis, event study methodology is employed including either calculating abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal returns around the event day or testing their statistical significance using parametric and nonparametric tests. The average cross-sectional abnormal return calculated for the entire sample is found to be significant on the dividend announcement day (t = 0, 0.86%) and on one day after (t = 1, 0.59%) at the 1% and 10% significance levels, respectively. The outcomes of the analysis conducted within the three distinguished subsamples are rather more diverse. In the subgroup of the first announced dividends (or dividends announced after a minimum one-year break), the significant average abnormal return is found on day t = 1 (0.90%, 5% significance level), whereas in the case of the dividend decreases subsample, the significant average abnormal returns (at the 10% significance level) occur on days t = −4 (-1.44%) and t = 2 (-1.15%). The average abnormal return calculated within the subsample of dividend increases turns out to be positive and significant on day t = 1 (1.03%, 10% significance level). The results obtained for the average cumulative abnormal returns corroborate the findings reached for the average cross-sectional abnormal returns in the case of the first dividend and dividend increase subsamples. However, the average cross-sectional abnormal returns calculated within the eleven-day-long event window around the dividend payment day turn out to be statistically insignificant. The obtained results provide evidence that the Polish stock market reaction to dividend announcements is positive and immediate. However, the market does not significantly react to dividend payouts, which may lead to the conclusion that the WSE directly incorporates news on dividends into stock prices. Moreover, the reaction of the market for dividend announcements is consistent with the sign of the dividend change: dividend-increase (-decrease) announcements are interpreted as a positive (negative) signal by the investors. Such results support both the informational content of the dividend hypothesis and the dividend signaling hypothesis. Considering that the observed abnormal market behavior disappears within two days at most after the announcement date, the results of the study can be useful for financial practitioners only with regard to short-term investment decisions.

The Market Abuse Directive came into effect on 1 October 2005. One of its purposes is to reduce illegal insider trading and leakage of information prior to official releases by increasing penalties. Applying an event study approach to a dataset of almost 5,000 corporate news announcements, the analysis reveals that the information value of announcements, measured by the announcement day abnormal return and abnormal volume, is not significantly different after the new regulation than it was before although the number of releases has increased significantly. Trading suspicious of illegal insider trading and leakage of information, measured in terms of cumulative average abnormal returns and volumes for the 30 days prior to the news announcement, has significantly declined for small capitalization firms, for announcements containing information about alliances and mergers and acquisitions and for firms in the technology sector.

Objective of this study is to analyze the impact of policy rate changes on bank stock returns in Pakistan by using daily stock returns from 1998 to 2011. We used event study approach by constructing the estimation window of 250 days and an event window of 31 days (15 pre-event days, event day and 15 post event days. The daily stock returns from 1998 to 2011 have been used to analyze the impact of policy rate changes by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on banking stock returns. The study used ARIMA model to estimate the normal returns by using estimation window of 250 days. Since Monetary Policy committee decides changes in policy rate, we have used date of MP Committee meeting as an event. Reportedly, 35 meetings were conducted during study period from Jan 1998 to Dec 2011. Abnormal returns are calculated by taking the difference of actual daily stock returns and estimated daily stock returns. Abnormal daily stock returns are aggregated as cumulative abnormal returns (CAR). The CAR at 0.6340 showed a significant impact of policy rate changes on banks stock returns. The study finds 31 out of all 35 events have significant impact on banks stock returns and returns were normal at 4th day of MP announcement. Further, we analyzed the impact with respect to expansionary and contractionary monetary policy and observed that the highest positive impact on banks stock returns was due to expansionary monetary policy.

PurposeThis paper investigates if investors consider legal insider trading data while making investment decisions. If any investment decision is based on insider transactions, then it will result in abnormal stock characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if insider trading affects stock characteristics like price, return and volume. The paper further investigates the effect on stock characteristics after the trade of different types of insiders and the relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the event study method to measure the abnormal price, return and volume. Two-stage least square regression is used to investigate the relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume.FindingsThe insider trades affect price, return and volume. The results are identical for both buy and sell transactions. The trades of different types of insiders have diverse effects on stock characteristics. The trades of substantial shareholders give rise to the highest abnormal price and return, whereas the promoters' trades result in the highest abnormal volume. No relationship is detected between abnormal return and volume.Originality/valueA novel method to calculate the abnormal price is proposed. The effect of trading of all types of insiders on stock characteristics is analyzed. The relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume, after an insider trade, is investigated.

ABSTRACT: The study examined the effectiveness of the signaling theory and the efficient market hypothesis in Nigeria during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic which has been an underexplored investigation in the Nigerian capital market. The broad objective of the study was to assess how earning announcements could affect the stock prices of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to analyse the trend of stock prices and examine the reactions of stock prices of quoted DMBs to earnings announcements during a pandemic period in Nigeria. The study employed secondary data from daily closing stock prices of 13 selected banks and the All Share Index (ASI) between 2019 and 2020, sourced from the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The Log-in model, Event-study methodology and the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test were used to analyse the data. The event-study methodology employed the market model to estimate the expected returns and abnormal returns during the event window. For the weak form of the market efficiency test, ADF was used to test for the presence of unit roots in the time series. Findings from the study showed that 69.23% of banks' stocks in the Nigerian capital market had negative growth, while 30.77% had positive growth during the period. That abnormal returns around announcement days were not statistically significant as abnormal returns of banks that announced an increase or decrease in earnings were -0.01007 (-0.00533) with t-stat values of -0.30355 (-0.16428) respectively. The implication of the findings is that investors could not earn cumulative abnormal returns during the event window and the abnormal returns of most of the banks had an inverse relationship with earnings announcements. Based on these findings, the study recommended, amongst others, that investors should avoid mispriced stocks while investing in index funds in order to earn market average returns and that regulatory authorities should monitor banks listed on the Nigerian stock exchange to guard against abuse of insider information to the detriment of investors.

The Analysis of Insider Trading on Credit Derivatives Market by Means of the Event Study Methodology