Journal article
Does one size fit all? Determinants of insurer capital structure around the globe
Journal of banking & finance, Vol.61, pp.251-271
12/01/2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2015.09.012
Abstract
As financial markets become more global, the question arises whether any country specific considerations are still relevant for insurance companies’ capital structure. This research examines this question with firm-level data across a broad range of countries including those in developing markets. What we find is that the optimal capital structure of insurance companies is not homogeneous across countries. We find that country-level factors explain a substantial fraction of the cross-sectional variation in insurance companies’ capitalization levels. Our results add to the current policy discussion on global regulatory capital requirements. If insurer capital structure is not homogeneous across countries, a global capital standard – if desired – should take differences in the institutional environments across countries into account to avoid market distortions.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Does one size fit all? Determinants of insurer capital structure around the globe
- Creators
- Muhammed Altuntas - University of CologneThomas R. Berry-Stölzle - University of IowaSabine Wende - University of Cologne
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of banking & finance, Vol.61, pp.251-271
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2015.09.012
- ISSN
- 0378-4266
- eISSN
- 1872-6372
- Grant note
- Terry-Sanford
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2015
- Academic Unit
- Finance
- Record Identifier
- 9984380449702771
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