Date of Award

2012

Degree Type

Dissertation

Department

Monte Ahuja College of Business

First Advisor

Bathala, Chenchu

Subject Headings

United States. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Financial services industry -- Risk management, Corporate governance, Banks and banking, Banking law -- United States, corporate governance, banking regulation, GLBA

Abstract

The impact of regulation and corporate governance on banks' risk profiles has gained greater importance with the passage of new legislations starting late 1990s and the recent global turmoil in the financial services industry. The extant literature indicates that the effects of corporate governance mechanisms differ between financial and non-financial firms. Yet, the effects on risk-taking have been less conclusive for financial firms primarily because of changing regulations impacting incentives and risk-taking patterns of banks. While the objective of regulation in the banking industry is to preserve the stability of the financial sector and the economic system, corporate governance mechanisms help mitigate agency problems. As such, regulation and governance mechanisms are set to ensure that bank managers serve the best interests of stakeholders. This dissertation examines the risk profiles of banks in the context of recent legislations concerning bank regulations and corporate governance. The methodology includes univariate and multivariate analyses. The study, which covers a 13 year period, examines the impact of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) of 1999, on banks' risk profile. The findings suggest that governance structures comingle with regulation to determine the risk profile of banks, specifically corporate governance and the risk profile of banks vary by bank size. This dissertation finds evidence that the deregulation experienced by the banking industry with the passage of the Act has had a diminishing impact on banks' risk, owing to diversification of revenues through nontraditional activities

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