NEWSLETTER of April 29, 2022

The following content has been added at finexpert:

Deloitte
STIMMUNGSUMSCHWUNG IN DEN DEUTSCHEN UNTERNEHMEN – FLASH-ERGEBNISSE DES DELOITTE CFO SURVEY FRÜHJAHR 2022
Actually, 2022 was supposed to be the year of normalization after the Corona pandemic. The omens seemed favorable, consumer sentiment was good, companies were positive about investments, and even the pressure on supply chains eased at the beginning of the year. Economically, it was expected that the economy would experience a strong rebound as the Omicron wave subsided. However, the war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed this situation and the outlook for 2022. In this context, the latest Deloitte CFO Survey Spring 2022 reveals a deep downturn in sentiment among German companies. 140 CFOs of large German companies participated in the survey, which was conducted between March 25 and April 15. >more

White & Case
INSIGHT: TRENDS IN THE GERMAN PUBLIC M&A MARKET IN 2021
The overall boom in M&A in 2021 was confirmed in Germany's public M&A sector, with a total volume of EUR 67.3 billion. Despite being influenced mainly by several special factors – including the trend towards delisting and realignment of the real estate market – this development is notable due to the very high company valuations seen in 2021. The DAX 30 (or the expanded DAX 40 since September 2021) increased by almost 16% over the course of the year, from 13,718 points at the beginning of the year to 15,884 points at the end of the year. The Coronavirus-related low of 8,441 points in mid-March 2020 was offset by almost continuous price increases in 2021. If and how the boom of 2021 will continue in 2022 remains to be seen in light of geopolitical turmoil due to the Ukraine crises and rising interest rates. >more

Horváth
ACCOUNTING STUDIE 2022: INTEGRATION VON ACCOUNTING & CONTROLLING
The digital transformation is not stopping at accounting and is changing accounting in companies for the long term. In our current Accounting Study 2022, we focus on the increasing integration between external and internal accounting and the resulting impact on accounting departments. >more

Insight Investment
GLOBAL MACRO RESEARCH: CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) represent a new and safer form of digital payment, which are being investigated and developed by central banks around the world. From the various implications of CBDCs for economies and markets, we believe the most significant is the ability to target fiscal policy in unprecedented ways. In the race for implementation, China and Sweden are currently ahead of the pack with the US moving only slowly. Over the long term, this could lead to pressure on the US dollar as it loses market share as the predominant reserve currency. >more

DOES MANDATORY BOARD GENDER-BALANCING REDUCE FIRM VALUE?
B. Espen Eckbo, Knut Nygaard, and Karin S. Thorburn
2022
Mandated board gender-balancing is a social-policy instrument, which in principle is unrelated to concerns about firms' economic performance. Nonetheless, imposing such a policy may have unintended consequences (positive or negative) for firm value, which is important for all of the firm's constituencies - not only shareholders. In this paper, we highlight and extend our recent research on the economic effects of Norway's pioneering gender-quota law, which forced board gender balancing of all domestic public limited corporations by early 2008. This research subsumes and econometrically corrects controversial conclusions of extant studies. Most important, our research shows that quota-induced changes in market valuations and operating performance were both economically and statistically negligible. Furthermore, we show that corporate conversions to a legal form that prevents the firm from raising public equity capital---but does not require gender-balancing - were unrelated to the company's pre-quota female director shortfall. We also present new evidence that boards managed to preserve directors' large-firm CEO experience, without increasing director busyness. We conclude that the supply of qualified female director candidates was sufficiently large to avoid board concentration and negative economic effects of the quota restriction. >more

BANK GREEN BONDS
Mascia Bedendo, Giacomo Nocera, and Linus Siming
2022
We analyze the characteristics of banks that issue green bonds to understand: (i) why some banks are more likely than others to resort to these funding instruments, and (ii) if the issuance of green bonds translates into an improvement in a bank’s environmental footprint. We find that large banks and banks that had already publicly expressed their support for a green transition are more likely to issue green bonds. Conditional on being a green bond issuer, smaller banks tend to resort to green bonds in a more persistent manner and for larger amounts, while larger banks issue green bonds on a more occasional basis and for smaller amounts. This heterogeneity is also reflected in our findings that only banks that issue green bonds more intensively increase their environmental and emissions scores, and reduce lending to polluting sectors. >more