NEWSLETTER of March 7, 2025

The following content has been added at finexpert:

EY
STARTUP BAROMETER
The gap is widening: female founders of start-ups receive much less venture capital than young companies founded by men or mixed teams. In figures: Just 43 million euros flowed to startups founded solely by women in 2024 - a 58 percent drop compared to the previous year, when 102 million euros went to startups with an exclusively female founding team. By contrast, EUR 6.2 billion went to startups whose founding teams consisted solely of men - an increase of EUR 1.3 billion or 25% compared to 2023. This means that the share of all-female startups in the total investment volume fell from two to one percent. >more

Deloitte
KREDITMARKT-INSIGHTS 2025
The Credit Market Insights shed light on the current challenges and opportunities in the German credit market. Managers and credit experts from 120 institutions in Germany were surveyed for the study at the end of 2024. The focus is on the development of default rates as well as economic and geopolitical conditions. This study offers valuable insights for financial institutions that want to prepare for future developments. >more

FTI Consulting
2025 GLOBAL CFO REPORT
As we enter 2025, many CFOs worldwide are playing a critical role in steering their organizations through uncertainty and transformation. The CFO’s role has shifted beyond traditional financial stewardship, becoming more strategic in navigating technological advancements, economic challenges and evolving business models. This year, 56% of surveyed CFOs are prioritizing business model optimization, underscoring the importance of adapting to market shifts and maintaining competitiveness in a fast-paced global economy. >more

Deutsche Bank Research
HAUSHALTE BEVORZUGEN WIEDER LIQUIDE EINLAGEN, SIND BEI KREDITEN ZURÜCKHALTEND
German households increased their bank deposits by almost EUR 100 billion in 2024. Their preference shifted towards liquid sight deposits. Both real estate and consumer loans developed slightly positively. Deposits are expected to grow again in 2025 due to the slowdown in the labor market. Mortgage growth could pick up slightly as demand is expected to recover further due to lower interest rates. >more

Deutsche Bank Research
THE BRILLIANT WORLD OF FX - A PRIMER
The FX market is the largest and oldest financial market in the world. Yet, FX has been undergoing dramatic change. While the exchange of one currency for another appears to be the simplest transaction, the FX market has been transformed into a highly sophisticated, competitive but also very complex ecosystem. This report discusses the significant changes to FX market structure in recent years and presents the key challenges that have emerged from this transformation. >more

SUSTAINABILITY OR GREENWASHING: EVIDENCE FROM THE ASSET MARKET FOR INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION
Ran Duchin, Janet Gao, and Qiping Xu
2024
We study the asset market for pollutive plants. Firms divest pollutive plants in response to environmental pressures. The buyers are firms facing weaker environmental pressures, with supply chain relationships or joint ventures with the sellers. While pollution levels do not decline following divestitures, the sellers highlight their sustainable policies in subsequent conference calls, earn higher returns as they sell more pollutive plants, and benefit from higher ESG ratings and lower compliance costs. Overall, the asset market allows firms to redraw their boundaries in a manner perceived as environmentally friendly without real consequences for pollution and with substantial gains from trade. >more

IN TOO DEEP: THE EFFECT OF SUNK COSTS ON CORPORATE INVESTMENT
Marius Guenzel
2025
Sunk costs are unrecoverable costs that should not affect decision-making. I provide evidence that firms systematically fail to ignore sunk costs and that this leads to significant investment distortions. In fixed-exchange-ratio stock mergers, aggregate market fluctuations after parties enter into a binding merger agreement induce plausibly exogenous variation in the final acquisition cost. These quasi-random cost shocks strongly predict firms' commitment to an acquired business following deal completion, with an interquartile cost increase reducing subsequent divestiture rates by 8% to 9%. Consistent with an intrapersonal sunk cost channel, distortions are concentrated in firm-years in which the acquiring CEO is still in office. >more