Increase In Foreign Ownership Research Articles

Bank ownership around the world

This paper describes a dataset on bank ownership that covers more than 6,500 banks in 181 countries. It documents that until 2010, there was a reduction in state-ownership of banks and an increase in foreign ownership. However, the Global Financial Crisis interrupted or reversed these trends. I show that at the country level, there is no robust relationship between bank ownership and each of GDP growth and financial depth. Bank-level regressions show that state-owned banks are less profitable and have a higher share of non-performing loans than their private (domestic or foreign) counterparts. There is also evidence that state-owned banks stabilize credit in the presence of domestic shocks (more so in the presence of positive shocks). Instead, foreign banks amplify external shocks. In terms of domestic shocks, foreign banks are not significantly different from their domestic private counterparts.

Mitigating overinvestment in Japanese zombie firms: the role of foreign ownership and earnings quality

PurposeThis study investigates the relationship between foreign ownership, earnings quality and overinvestment in Japanese zombie firms.Design/methodology/approachThe study makes use of data from Japanese firms listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2019. The study employs logistic and multinomial logistic models to test whether the overinvestment behavior of zombie firms is mitigated by foreign shareholdings and earnings quality.FindingsThe results show that (1) zombie firms tend to overinvest; (2) an increase in foreign ownership mitigates the overinvestment of zombie firms and (3) the mitigation of zombie firms' overinvestment by foreign ownership is stronger with higher earnings quality.Originality/valueThis study extends the discussion of earnings quality and investment efficiency to the zombie firm setting. Previous studies in accounting suggest that high earnings quality enhances firms' investment efficiency. The findings suggest that both a change in ownership structure and high-quality accounting information are necessary to mitigate the inefficiency of zombie firms.

How Foreign Ownership and Competition Affect the Credit Growth of Commercial Banks: Evidence from A Transitional Economy

This study examines the relationship between foreign ownership and market competition, proxied by bank market power, affecting the credit growth of 32 commercial banks in Vietnam from 2010 to 2020. The Random Effects Model and the Dynamic System Generalized Method of Moments were used to analyze an unbalanced panel of 278 annual observations. The findings report that foreign ownership reduces credit growth, with each percentage increase in foreign ownership reducing credit growth by 0.74%. The results indicate an inverse U-shaped relationship between competitive advantage and credit growth, with a turning point of 0.46. The main findings were found to be robust after employing an alternative market power proxy. The study recommends that bank managers and policymakers limit foreign ownership and control commercial banks’ market power to promote sustainable credit growth.

Fan responses to ownership change in the English Premier League: Motivated ignorance, social creativity and social competition at Newcastle United F.C.

Over recent years there has been a significant increase in foreign ownership within the English Premier League, with ‘sportswashing’ being identified as a key motive for some new club owners. Whilst the effects of changes of ownership have received considerable focus, especially in terms of their impacts upon the club, less attention has been paid to the status of the owners themselves, how any perceived sportswashing strategy impacts upon fans, and how that impact is managed, especially in terms of the strategies that are used by fans to maintain a sense of identification. This paper focuses on the takeover of one Premier League football club, Newcastle United, and explores fan responses to its high-profile and controversial takeover by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF). The paper explores the identity-maintenance strategies used by fans to maintain a positive association with the club using existing frameworks related to social creativity and social competition, as well as through the application of a novel strategy that has yet to be explored within the sport fan literature, that of motivated ignorance. The results demonstrate that whilst social creativity and social competition strategies are evident, motivated ignorance also provides an additional mechanism through which social identities may be protected from identity threat.

Kepemilikan Manajerial, Kepemilikan Institusional, dan Kepemilikan Asing terhadap Manajemen Laba

Earnings management in manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2015-2019 period. The sampling technique was purposive sampling and the sample in this study was 10 samples for 5 years. Panel data regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The results of this study prove that institutional ownership and foreign ownership affect earnings management. The implication of institutional ownership is that some investors cooperate with company managers to obtain the desired profit, rather than monitoring to minimize earnings management actions, while foreign ownership which has an effect on the higher the level of foreign ownership shares in a company can reduce earnings management actions. With results indicating an increase in foreign ownership shares can affect earnings management actions.

The diversification benefits and policy risks of accessing China’s stock market

China’s stock market (the “A share market”) has a lower correlation with the global market and is less affected by international financial contagions than any other major economy. The inclusion of mainland China stocks into an international portfolio increases its Sharpe ratio. However, we find that Chinese stocks providing the most diversification benefits also carry the most policy risk for international investors. Holding Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong does not reap the same diversification benefits. While global market integration and the increase in foreign ownership can diminish diversification benefits, mainland China stocks still provide valuable diversification opportunities for international investors up till the most recent time in late 2010s.

Impact of foreign ownership on firm productivity: evidence from Japanese manufacturing firms

This article presents the methodology to examine the impact of foreign ownership on firm productivity using firm-level data of Japanese manufacturing firms from 2000 to 2016, which include 1,458 listed companies in Japan. Firm productivity is represented by total factor productivity (TFP), which is estimated by the Olley–Pakes semiparametric estimation method to minimize the simultaneity problem in production function estimation. In the estimation of the impact of foreign ownership on firm productivity, system GMM estimation is applied to address a possible reversal causality problem between foreign ownership and firm productivity. Based on the case of the manufacturing firms in Japan, this article shows that 1 percentage point increase in foreign ownership increases the firm productivity by 0.06 percent. The evidence of this article supports the positive impact of foreign ownership on firm productivity and further implies that the promotion of foreign investment could be a policy option to improve firm productivity. Highlights This study analyzes the impact of foreign ownership on firm productivity. Firm-level data of the Japanese manufacturing firms from 2000 to 2016 are analyzed. The result supports the positive impact of foreign ownership on firm productivity.

The Diversification Benefits and Policy Risks of Accessing China's Stock Market

China's stock market (the 'A share market') has lower correlation with the global market and is less affected by international financial contagions than any other major economies. The inclusion of mainland China stocks into an international portfolio increases its Sharpe Ratio. However, we find that Chinese stocks providing the most diversification benefits also carry the most policy risk for international investors. Holding Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong does not reap the same diversification benefits. While global market integration and the increase in foreign ownership can diminish diversification benefits, mainland China stocks still provide valuable diversification opportunities for international investors up till most recent time in late 2010s.

Accounting Standards Harmonization and Financial Integration

ABSTRACTWe empirically examine whether adopting a uniform set of accounting standards mitigates information frictions in financial markets and facilitates market integration. Using a difference‐in‐difference design, we find that after the mandatory adoption of IFRS local stock returns incorporate more global information and at a faster speed. The effect of IFRS adoption is stronger in countries where there are larger improvements in accounting comparability and for firms with a larger increase in foreign ownership. Overall, our results suggest that accounting standards harmonization facilitates financial market integration.

Foreign ownership and stock market liquidity

In this study we analyze how the price impact of trades and the bid-ask spread are related to foreign stock ownership using data from 20 emerging markets. We show that while the price impact of trades increases with the percentage of shares held by foreign investors, the bid-ask spread decreases with foreign ownership. We interpret these results as evidence that although foreign investors increase adverse selection risks for liquidity providers, they bring net benefit to the market in terms of lower trading costs by increasing competition in the price discovery process. The general increase in foreign ownership in emerging markets after the global financial crisis resulted in higher price impacts and lower spreads. The two-stage least squares regression analysis suggests that our results are unlikely to be driven by reverse causality.

Are Corporate Tax Reductions Real Benefits under Imputation Systems?

Imputation systems integrate corporate and shareholder personal income taxes to alleviate double taxation of dividend income. In this study, we empirically examine whether a corporate tax rate reduction under an imputation tax system benefits shareholders. Using Taiwan as a setting, our analyses indicate that decreasing the corporate tax rate is associated with an increase in dividend payout ratio and foreign investment. Moreover, the increase in dividend payout ratio is even greater for firms that have a higher increase in foreign ownership. Additionally, the market reacts positively to an announcement of a tax rate reduction; specifically, positive stock price reactions are stronger for firms that experienced a greater increase in foreign ownership in response to the tax rate reduction, for firms with greater liquidity constraints and more growth opportunities before the tax rate reduction, and for firms with a bigger decrease in effective tax rates after the tax rate reduction. Overall, we provide evidence that a tax rate reduction is associated with economic impacts and that foreign shareholders appear to be the main beneficiaries of a tax rate reduction under an imputation tax system.

Foreign Ownership, Legal System and Stock Market Liquidity (((( )

In this study we analyze how the price impact of trades and the bid-ask spread are related to foreign stock ownership using data from 20 emerging markets. We show that while the price impact of trades increases with the percentage of shares held by foreign investors, the bid-ask spread decreases with foreign ownership. We interpret these results as evidence that although foreign investors increase adverse selection risks for liquidity providers, they bring net benefit to the market in terms of lower trading costs by increasing competition in the price discovery process. The general increase in foreign ownership in emerging markets after the global financial crisis resulted in higher price impacts and lower spreads. The two-stage least squares regression analysis suggests that our results are unlikely to be driven by reverse causality.

Corporate governance, regulation and foreign equity ownership: Lessons from Korea

We investigate whether the introduction of a mandated independent director system affected firm ownership structure in South Korea, where the governance system changed significantly after the 1997 financial crisis. Results indicate that foreign investors place considerable value on the appointment of independent directors. An increase in foreign ownership, associated with an improvement in the corporate governance system, occurred after controlling home bias and firm size. Further, the positive effect of an outside director system on foreign ownership was greater for independent firms than it was for conglomerates (chaebols) and their affiliates. The results are robust under a range of endogeneity tests.

The Impact of Foreign Banks on Monetary Policy Transmission: Evidence from the Bank-Level Panel Data in Korea

This paper examines the impact of foreign banks on the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the Korean economy during the period from 2000 to 2012, with a specific focus on the lending behavior of banks with different types of ownership. The recent global financial crisis of 2008-2009 provides a case for the first significant test for evaluating the stabilizing/destabilizing role of foreign banks in an emerging Asian economy, Korea, after experiencing a steady increase in foreign ownership in its banking sector. Using the bank-level panel data of the banking system in Korea, we present consistent evidence on the buffering impact that the foreign banks on the effectiveness of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in Korea from the bank-lending channel perspective during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Our further analyses show that this buffering effect is mostly driven by foreign bank branches whose parent banks are located in the U.S. One of the underlying reasons for the buffering effect by foreign bank branches including U.S. bank branches is the existence of internal capital markets operated by multinational banks to overcome capital market frictions faced when the foreign banks finance their loans. Our findings suggest an important policy implication for policy-makers as well as banking regulators in Korea that, when the Bank of Korea conducts monetary policies -- expansionary or contractionary -- during crisis periods to bail them out from the credit crunch and spillover effects of financial shocks from abroad, it must take into account the buffering or hampering effects of foreign banks on the effectiveness of the monetary policy transmission mechanism.

Foreign Ownership, Legal System, and Stock Market Liquidity

In this study we analyze how the price impact of trades and the bid-ask spread are related to foreign stock ownership using data from 21 emerging markets. We show that while the price impact of trades increases with the percentage of shares held by foreign investors, the bid-ask spread decreases with foreign ownership. We interpret these results as evidence that, although foreign investors increase adverse selection risks for liquidity providers, they bring net benefit to the market in terms of lower trading costs by increasing competition in the price discovery process. Both the price impact of trades and the bid-ask spread are smaller for companies in the common law countries, and the general increase in foreign ownership in emerging markets after the global financial crisis resulted in higher price impacts and lower spreads.

Do Foreign Investors Improve Informational Efficiency of Stock Prices? Evidence from Japan

This study investigates the impact of foreign investors on the informational efficiency of stock prices in local markets. Using a large sample of Japanese firms over the period 1975 to 2008, we find that prices deviate less from a random walk for stocks with a large change in foreign ownership. This relation is robust to controls for local institutional ownership, stock liquidity, and firm fixed effects. Granger causality tests show that changes in foreign investor trading predict changes in price efficiency in the next period, but not vice versa. Finally, we use a quasi-natural experiment to show that an increase in foreign ownership causes an improvement in price efficiency. Collectively, these results suggest that foreign investors improve price efficiency in local stock markets.

Do foreign investors improve informational efficiency of stock prices? Evidence from Japan

This study investigates the impact of foreign investors on the informational efficiency of stock prices in local markets. Using a large sample of Japanese firms over the period 1976 to 2008, we find that prices deviate less from a random walk for stocks with a large change in foreign ownership. This relation is robust to controls for local institutional ownership, stock liquidity, and firm fixed effects. Granger causality tests show that changes in foreign investor trading predict changes in price efficiency in the next period, but not vice versa. Finally, we use a quasi-natural experiment to show that an increase in foreign ownership causes an improvement in price efficiency. Collectively, these results suggest that foreign investors improve price efficiency in local stock markets.

UK Ownership and Control: A Transformational Analysis

This study presents a transformational analysis of corporate ownership and control in the UK. Using a sample of 643, UK listed non-financial companies and relying on data from the Office for National Statistics, this analysis revealed a declining ownership by major institutional domestic ownership coupled with an increase in foreign ownership. The study further found 42% of UK companies having multiple large shareholders and that about 40% of the sampled firms separated cash flow-rights from control-rights, confirming the presence of controlling block holders. This is contrary to the traditional understanding that UK ownership structure is dispersed. These findings are significant given the little attention in literature examining corporate ownership and control structures of corporations in the UK. Key words: Ownership structure, Institutional ownership, cash flow rights, control rights

How do foreign investors affect corporate policy?: Evidence from Korea

This paper focuses on a mechanism through which foreign investors affect corporate policy in emerging economies. We hypothesize that foreign investors who provide effective monitoring may affect corporate policy through pushing for a greater proportion of outsiders or foreigners on the board of directors who are less affiliated with controlling shareholders. Using the unique features of foreign ownership in Korea, we find that firms with an increase in foreign ownership are more likely to increase the fraction of outsiders and foreign directors on the board in the subsequent year. Increased board independence in response to a pressure from foreign investors results in a significant change in payout and investment policy.

Employment effects of foreign acquisition

This paper investigates the employment effects of foreign acquisitions in acquired firms in Swedish manufacturing during the 1990s; a period characterized by a dramatic increase in foreign ownership. We find some evidence of positive employment effects in acquired firms and it seems that the employment of skilled labor increases more than that of less-skilled labor. Our results indicate that the positive employment effects are more pronounced in acquired non-MNEs than in Swedish MNEs. Furthermore, we observe shifts in skill intensities toward higher shares of skilled labor in non-MNEs taken over by foreign MNEs, but not in acquired Swedish MNEs.