Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of risk disclosure and the factors determining this for all listed banks in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach Relying on a theoretical framework based on agency theory and the creation of a risk disclosure index (RDI) based on International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 7, Basel II: market discipline, and prior literature, hand-collected data from the annual reports of all 30 banks traded on the Dhaka Stock Exchange over 2007-2012, creating 180 bank-year observations, are analysed. Findings The study suggests that implementation of IFRS 7 and Basel II: market discipline standards in a non-mandated environment raised the extent of risk disclosure in every category of financial institution risk (market, credit, liquidity, operational and equities). The effect can be attributed to regulatory concerns and voluntary adoption of international disclosure standards in the banking industry in Bangladesh. Specifically, whilst the determinants of disclosure vary across types of risk, the number of risk committees, leverage, company size, the existence of a risk management unit, board size and a Big4 affiliate auditor are significant determinants of at least one category of risk disclosure. Research limitations/implications The source of risk disclosures is limited to listed banks’ annual reports. Practical implications The RDI, developed in this paper, contributes to the literature by: first, quantifying the extent of each of five types of risk disclosure; and second, identifying the factors determining them. Stakeholders, particularly depositors and investors, can use this index to select or monitor their bank of interest. Originality/value The RDI was developed according to the most relevant standards – IFRS 7 and Basel II: market discipline, plus prior scholarly literature. This type of benchmarking has not been conducted to date in previous studies. Inferences about risk disclosure are based on archival data derived from all listed banks in a virtually unregulated environment. Further, the study complements the literature by providing support for the applicability of agency theory in investigating the level of risk disclosure by banks.

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship among corporate risk disclosure, cost of equity capital and performance within banking institutions in a developing country setting. The authors argue that corporate risk disclosure reduces the cost of capital as investors attain better information and have confidence in the business and that less risk disclosure may generate ambiguity for potential stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the population of all 30 listed banks on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, Bangladesh, for the years 2006 to 2012 and uses three-stage least-squares simultaneous equations to deal with endogeneity issues. Findings There is evidence that Bangladesh has voluntarily adopted the International Financial Reporting Standard 7 – Financial Instruments: Disclosures (IFRS 7) and Basel II: Market Discipline and that these standards enhance risk disclosure even where compliance is not compulsory. The cost of capital is found to be negatively associated with risk disclosure, which has an inverse relationship with bank performance. Originality/value This study provides a link between risk disclosure, cost of capital and performance. It fills a gap in the literature by providing a longitudinal study of risk disclosure in the banking sector of Bangladesh. This research also highlights the importance of appropriate risk disclosure for banks and suggests its importance in the process of fulfilling stakeholders’ demands.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between risk governance and bank performance in a country where disclosure of risk information is virtually voluntary. Design/methodology/approach – Using 210 bank-year observations comprising hand-collected data for the period 2006-2012, the study uses regression analysis to test whether a significant relationship exists between risk governance and banks’ accounting- and market-based performance. Findings – This paper investigates risk governance in terms of risk disclosure, number of risk committees and existence of a risk management unit, controlling for other corporate governance variables. Accounting-based performance is measured by return on equity and return on assets; market-based performance is measured by Tobin’s q and buy-and-hold returns. The results show that there is a significant relationship between risk governance and bank performance measures used in this study. Research limitations/implications – This paper complements the governance literature by incorporating agency and neo-institutional theory to provide robust evidence that risk monitoring and management are associated with bank performance, which has become extremely important following the global financial crisis (2007-2008). Practical implications – Empirical evidence in this paper suggests that risk governance characteristics can be used as channels to improve bank performance. In addition, stakeholders may find these results useful in selecting their preferred bank. Originality/value – The uniqueness of this paper lies in its country setting. Most studies on governance and performance involve developed countries. This paper’s contribution is to examine the association of risk governance characteristics for both accounting-based and market-based performance in a developing economy setting, with virtually voluntary compliance mechanisms in place.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent risk disclosure is associated with banks’ governance characteristics. The research also focuses on how the business environment and culture may create a bank’s awareness of risk management and its disclosure. This study is conducted in a setting where banks are not mandated to follow international standards for their risk disclosures. Design/methodology/approach Using 300 bank-year observations comprising hand-collected private commercial bank data, the study uses regression analysis to investigate the influence of risk governance characteristics on risk disclosure. Findings This paper reports a positive relationship between risk disclosure and banks’ governance characteristics, such as the presence of various risk committees and a risk management unit. Practical implications Because studies are lacking on risk disclosure and risk governance conducted in developing countries, it is expected that this research will make a significant contribution to the literature and provide a foundation for further research in this field. Social implications This study complements the corporate governance literature, more specifically the risk governance literature, by incorporating agency theory, institutional theory and proprietary cost theory to provide robust evidence of the impact of risk governance practices in the context of a developing economy. Originality/value Previous studies on risk disclosure and governance determinants primarily involve developed countries. This paper’s contribution is to examine risk disclosure and risk governance characteristics in a developing country in which reporting according to international standards is effectively voluntary.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of rhetoric and rhetorical strategies that implicit in the standalone sustainability reporting of the top 24 companies of the Fortune 500 Global. We adopt Bormann (1972) SCT framework to study rhetorical situation and how corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) messages can be communicated to the audience (public). The concepts of SCT in the sustainability reporting's communication comes under different types of legitimacy strategies used by corporations as a validity and legitimacy claim in the reports. A content analysis has been conducted and structural coding schemes are developed based on the literature. The schemes are applied to the model of the SCT which recognises symbolic convergent processes of fantasy among communicators in a society. The study reveals that most of the sample companies communicate fantasy type and rhetorical vision in their corporate sustainability reporting. However, the disclosure or messages are different across locations and other taxonomies of SCT framework. This study contributes to the current CSR literature and how symbolic or fantasy understandings can be interpreted by the users. Also, it tells about the persuasion styles adopted by the companies for communication purposes. This study is the theoretical extensions of the SCT and researchers may be interested to further investigate other online communication path such as human rights report, director's report.

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