Topic: Concentrated Control, Regulatory Institutions, and Bank Operations: An International Study
Presenter：Simon S.M. Ho，Professor & Dean of Business School and Director of Centre for Corporate Governance and Financial Policy, Hong Kong Baptist University 
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Time: May 23, 2008（Friday）3：00—4：30 PM
Venue: Room 513, Jiageng Bld 2
Chair： Xinrong Qiang, associate professor in accounting, IFAS
Abstract：
Significant concentration of control rights in the hands of controlling owners is documented in not only industrial firms, but also banking sector. Using a broad sample of listed commercial banks in East Asia and Western Europe from 1990 to 1998, we investigate the relationships between concentrated control and banking performance, cost efficiency, and risk profile, and whether these relationships vary across legal and regulation regimes. We find that banks with concentrated control exhibit poorer performance, lower cost efficiency, as well as greater risk-taking and higher insolvency risk. Further evidence shows that both legal protection and private monitoring work most effectively in reducing the detrimental effects induced by concentrated control, while official disciplinary power plays a minor role in this setting, and government intervention aggravates these effects. Overall, our results are consistent with the contention that country-level institutions are the most critical shield against insider expropriation, and that market discipline works more effective than public rules and supervision in regulating the banking sector. We also find that a higher control concentration is associated with higher default risk in East Asian banks, but not in West European banks; and that Asian banks with concentrated control suffered more significant performance deterioration and risk escalation during the Asian financial crisis, even though they might already have reduced their expropriation behaviour in that period.
Presenter Introduction：
Simon S.M. Ho (Doctor, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor and Certified Accountant) is the Dean of Business School and Director of Centre for Corporate Governance and Financial Policy, Hong Kong Baptist University. Before he joined the University in early 2004, he served as Director of the School of Accountancy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from 1995-2002. Under his leadership, the accounting school of CHUHK became the first school outside North America to receive the AACSB international accreditation.
His major research interests include corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosures issues, agency theory, family business, ownership structure, executive performance management and compensations, and risk analysis.
He is currently Member of the Chinese Political Consultative Committee (Henan Province) and serves as Member on a number of HKSAR Government Committees. He is also Vice‑President of the International Association for Accounting Education & Research (IAAER), and Vice-President of Hong Kong Professionals and Senior Executive Association, and several international bodies. He was the Founding President of the Hong Kong Academic Accounting Association.
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