No abstract

We appreciate the valuable comments and suggestions from Georges Tannous and participants at the 2010 meeting of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC). Siham Meknassi gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the

No abstract

This paper analyses profit persistence and its determinants in Morocco's banking and insurance sectors. The solid and increasing interdependencies between both actors are becoming a matter of concern for the regulatory authorities, as they threaten the country's financial stability. Using both static and dynamic hypotheses of the competitive environment model, we study the determinants of profit persistence in eight banks and eight insurance companies for 13 years, using a random-effects panel data model. While previous articles studied banks and insurers separately, we fill the gap in the literature by exploring the profit persistence as a result of their increasing capitalistic interdependence. Our results show a very low-profit persistence level, which signals a competitive financial sector. The main determinants of this profit persistence are diversification, efficiency, size, solvency, risk, and entry barriers. However, we find no evidence of any conglomerate effect, eliminating any synergy premium through cross participation between banks and insurance companies.

This paper focuses on the extent to which personality traits, risk attitude, and demographics explain holding losses and cutting gains using survey data collected among equity and bond fund managers. For this purpose, cross-sectional multiple regressions were conducted. This paper argues that holding losses and cutting gains are two independent biases, rather than two sides of the disposition effect. The results show a significant effect of extraversion, openness, risk-taking, professional experience, and university degree on holding losses, and a significant effect of risk perception and gender on cutting gains. This paper contributes to few studies on personality traits and behavioral biases of professional investors, and it may have important practical implications in fund management companies.