Do financial conglomerates create or destroy economic value?
Author: Schmid, Markus M. ; Walter, IngoINSEAD Area: Economics and Political Science Series: Working Paper ; 2006/65/EPS Publisher: Fontainebleau : INSEAD, 2006.Language: EnglishDescription: 53 p.Type of document: INSEAD Working Paper Online Access: Click here Abstract: This paper attempts to ascertain whether or not functional diversification is value-enhancing or value-destroying in the financial services sector. Based on a US dataset comprising approximately 4,060 observations covering the period 1985-2004, we report a substantial and persistent conglomerate discount among financial intermediaries. Our results suggest that it is diversification that causes the discount, and not that troubled firms diversify into other more promising areas. We also investigate the geographic dimension of diversification, as well as the interaction between geographic scope and functional diversification, and find that the value-destruction associated with functional diversification is not apparent in geographic diversification. A further finding is that there is a significant premium for the very largest of our sample firms (with total assets above $100 billion), indicating that there are "too big to fail" guarantees for very large financial conglomerates.| Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
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Digital Library | Available | BC007756 |
This paper attempts to ascertain whether or not functional diversification is value-enhancing or value-destroying in the financial services sector. Based on a US dataset comprising approximately 4,060 observations covering the period 1985-2004, we report a substantial and persistent conglomerate discount among financial intermediaries. Our results suggest that it is diversification that causes the discount, and not that troubled firms diversify into other more promising areas. We also investigate the geographic dimension of diversification, as well as the interaction between geographic scope and functional diversification, and find that the value-destruction associated with functional diversification is not apparent in geographic diversification. A further finding is that there is a significant premium for the very largest of our sample firms (with total assets above $100 billion), indicating that there are "too big to fail" guarantees for very large financial conglomerates.
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