Using a panel of unlisted Italian banks over the period 2006–2018, we examine the extent to which a law that mandatorily introduced female quotas in the boards of Italian listed companies in 2012 had spillover effects on the boards of unlisted banks, which were not required to comply with the quota. Our results show that both the probability of having at least one woman on the board and the proportion of women on the boards of unlisted banks have been rising significantly after the passing of the law. These findings, which are robust to estimating different specifications and to using different estimation techniques, suggest that the quota law contributed to generating a fairer attitude towards women and, more in general, a change in social norms on gender equality. This may have, in turn, generated isomorphic pressures on unlisted banks, inducing them to mimic the board composition of their listed counterparts.

Purpose Motivated by the increasing momentum of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, this research aims to test the impact of ESG-related news on stock returns, comparing different geographical areas to check whether the cultural background makes any difference. Design/methodology/approach Using a classic event–study methodology, this study measures extra returns following the broadcast of positive or negative ordinary news concerning ESG issues using a panel of major international companies located in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Findings ESG news are interpreted differently in different geographical areas. In Europe, bad news matter more than good news and produce a negative price impact. In the USA, a mirror picture emerges: good news matter more than bad news and produce a negative price impact. In the APAC area, ESG news are no news and are not correlated to significant extra returns. This study also shows that ESG reputation plays an important role and affects the impact of news on equity returns. Practical implications Both managers and equity investors need to be aware of the potential magnitude and direction of stock market’s reactions to news concerning ESG matters, taking also into consideration the location of the firm and the moderating effect of ESG reputation. Sustainability cannot be ignored anymore and need to be included into information data set and decision-making processes. Originality/value This study adds to the current literature insights on how ESG-related news impact in different geographical contexts. This study finds that news of similar tone may produce divergent effect on stock returns according to the prevailing cultural and economic interpretation of sustainability investments.

This work focuses on credit access and demand in Italian firms using the RIL dataset, a sample representative of Italian firms, for the year 2015. We investigate whether the gender of the firm’s decision-maker plays a role in requesting and obtaining a loan. Our results suggest that women are significantly less likely to ask for credit, while no significant differences in credit approval are found between the two genders. Moreover, the gender gap disappears for more educated women, as well as for firms in the north of the country.

This paper analyzes the performance of the Italian defined contribution guaranteed pension funds during the period 2008–2012 through a panel analysis. This paper is organized around three main research questions. The first one is focused on the probability of a guarantee payment in a given year. The second one deals with the determinants of the gap between actual return and minimum guaranteed yield on a yearly basis. The third one focuses on the factors affecting the weight of administrative and management costs and their relationship with the fund dimension.

After the subprime crisis, with the worsening of asset quality all around Europe, a lack of harmonization emerged concerning credit classification, monitoring, provisioning and writing-off in the banking industry. A wave of analysis and new regulations by the Supervising Authorities aimed at highlighting best practices and creating a common standard, in order to enhance transparency and accounting data comparability across the European Union. A point of particular attention concerned the usage of forbearance measures and the classification and provisioning of forborne positions. This paper deep-dives into this issue leveraging on the public dataset disclosed by the European Banking Authority, following the 2018 EU-wide Transparency Exercise. The purpose of this paper is twofold. On one side, we want to gauge the extension of the forbearance measures’ usage among a sample of major European banks and the drivers of this usage. On the other side, we want to analyze which main factors impact on the loan loss provisioning of forborne positions.