Investor Relations and ESG Reporting in a Regulatory Perspective is a comprehensive and detailed practical guide for financial market participants, focusing on the stock market, written for practitioners by practitioners. The main themes of the book include the challenging integration of investor relations (IR) and the non-financial reporting of environmental, social and governance (ESG). Further, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the complex regulatory framework of the European Union (EU) related to the financial markets, including the expected global trends in this area. This includes financial legislation such as MiFID II, MiFIR and MAR along with non-financial legislation like the EU's taxonomy, CSRD and SFDR. In addition, this book explores the non-financial reporting standards of GRI, TCFD, CDSB, IBC, SASB, IRRC and the upcoming ISSB, and discusses the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, the book provides a practical guide regarding IR in special situations, e.g. in connection with takeover response manuals, M&A, investor activism, initial public offerings (IPOs), as well companies' collaboration with e.g. investment banks and corporate finance advisers, financial PR and IR advisers in such situations. The suggested audience of the book includes board members and senior management of in particular listed companies, and companies considering an IPO; professionals working in the fields of IR, ESG and communications; institutional and retail investors; private equity executives; venture capitalists; investment bankers; legal practitioners; accountants and auditors; financial journalists; and politicians. Finally, university and business students may benefit from an insight into the dynamics of the financial markets and the direction they are moving, a possible inspiration for choosing a future career.

Biases, blind spots and bonuses (or incentives more broadly) have led to numerous risk management disasters. Risk governance is a potential solution to these problems yet is not always as effective as we would like it to be. One reason for that is the current dearth of risk governance expertise. This book seeks to address this issue, providing: Understanding of the fundamental forces that cause disasters: the biases, blind spots and bonuses. This understanding is drawn from the disciplines of economics/finance and psychology; Explanation of the structures of risk governance and common challenges experienced in their use e.g. board risk committee, risk/compliance function, assurance function, risk appetite statement, risk disclosures; Thorough investigation of risk culture and its importance in risk governance, including the assessment of risk culture; Understanding of the mechanisms of executive compensation and how they link to risk management - one of the most difficult challenges confronting both risk and remuneration committees; Explanation of the risk management process (based on international standards ISO31000), including practical guidance on risk communication, analysis and treatment; Guidance on the management of strategic risk, emphasising the importance of scenario analysis; Application of these principles to cyber risk, climate risk - two pervasive risks affecting almost every organisation; Numerous case studies and examples drawn from various industries around the world; and Discussion of what has been learned about risk governance from the COVID-19 experience. The book is an essential guide for postgraduate students; participants in professional education programs in governance and risk management; directors; senior executives; risk, compliance and assurance professionals as well as conduct and prudential regulators worldwide.

Praise for Advising Ultra-Affluent Clients and Family Offices

"Michael Pompian's book Advising Ultra-Affluent Clients and Family Offices is noteworthy for its comprehensiveness. Michael combines 'the big picture' with detailed, prescriptive, and actionable strategies; advisers to wealthy families will receive a detailed understanding of how a quickly evolving landscape impacts their business and its implications for their clients."

-John Benevides, President, Family Office Exchange

"This book should be on the reading list of anyone who wants to be a full-fledged professional in our industry. Michael Pompian has wisely chosen to focus on practical descriptions and recommendations; in my view this is a great plus, as we need more educational resources in this field. Congratulations. The book is well worth reading."

-Jean L.P. Brunel, CFA, Managing Principal, Brunel Associates, LLC

"Ultra-affluent clients want information and advice integrated and in real time. So planning, investing, and measuring become a continuous process. This is very hard to do. Michael Pompian articulates a clear and insightful road map which outlines the process, components, and human factors needed to create a sustainable world-class wealth management program-both advisers and wealth owners would be wise to follow Michael's lead."

-Stephen Martiros, founder, Summitas (www.summitas.com) Managing Partner, CCC Alliance (www.cccalliance.com)

"As wealthy families become more globalized, their needs for wealth preservation and growth have become more complex and sophisticated in times of financial uncertainty. Michael Pompian has crafted an insightful and comprehensive guide for enhancing your own capabilities and awareness on how to advise the most demanding clients. A must-read for all financial advisers "

-Dr. Kurt Moosmann, MBA TEP CFP; cofounder and Managing Partner of Dara Capital Ltd., Zurich, Switzerland

"Without incorporating the critical components of effective family governance and the awareness of generational and behavioral issues, families of wealth and their advisers are operating blind in their wealth management pursuits. Michael Pompian's book gives both advisers and family members essential insights for discovering the risk factors they must consider in today's environment and in finding the resources required to provide consummate solutions."

-Lisa Gray, graymatter Strategies LLC, author of The New Family Office and Generational Wealth Management

"Advising Ultra-Affluent Clients and Family Offices is a valuable 'handbook' that covers all the major areas of wealth management. While Mr. Pompian has written the book primarily for wealth advisers, Advising Ultra-Affluent Clients and Family Offices will provide invaluable insights to ultra-affluent individuals and families, particularly those who are thinking about setting up a family office or becoming clients of a multifamily office."

-Paul R. Perez, CFA, Managing Director, Family Advisory Services, Northern Trust

"I like the way Michael Pompian presents this material. It covers the waterfront with a clear, concise, and compelling treatment. This book will prove useful for family members and family office executives. I especially admire the multigenerational orientation."

-Bradley G. Fisher, CEO, Springcreek Advisors LLC (Multi-Family Office), Corte Madera, California

Credit rating agencies have been criticized for their role in the financial crisis by understating credit risk. The US subprime mortgage crisis highlighted the systemic relevance of the rating agencies and the deficiencies in their activities; this led to an international consensus to regulate the rating business. Written by those involved in developing European Legislation, this book explains EU Regulation in the context of global initiatives undertaken by the G-20, the Financial Stability Board, and IOSCO to address failures within the rating industry. Through an in-depth analysis of the EU Regulation's requirements on governance, conflicts of interest, methodologies, and transparency, the book provides a clear explanation of how rating agencies operate and how the identified failures have been addressed. Moreover, it examines the supervisory and enforcement powers of ESMA, the EU authority in charge of the registration and oversight of rating agencies. This is complemented with an analysis of guidance from supervisors (ESMA and EBA), IOSCO's recommendations, and US legislation. The book discusses possible new regulatory developments in areas such as the agencies' business model, competition, civil liability, and ratings of sovereign debt, in light of the Euro debt sovereign crisis. It concludes with the authors' support for an enhanced regulatory and oversight coordination at international level and for the implementation of the necessary steps to reduce the existing over-reliance on ratings.

A how to guide to avoiding the mistakes ineffective financial advisors most often make

Based on a 15-year consulting program that author Steve Moore has led for financial advisors, "Ineffective Habits of Financial Advisors (and the Disciplines to Break Them): A Framework for Avoiding the Mistakes Everyone Else Makes" details proven techniques which allow advisors to transform their business into an elite practice: business analysis, strategic vision, exceptional client service, and acquiring high net worth clients. Told through the story of a purely fictional and completely average financial advisor, each chapter begins with an ineffective habit that is then countered with a discipline that improves business results and adds value. The book
Details a step-by-step strategy for working through current clients, rather than relying on cold calling to form new relationshipsIncludes anecdotes collected through both personal experience and stories relayed to him by clients and colleaguesProvides question and answer segments, examples, and homework assignments

"Ineffective Habits of Financial Advisors (and the Disciplines to Break Them" shows you how to deliver exceptional service while generating higher revenue per client.

This volume covers the proceedings of the ZAFIN Finance and Sustainability conference, organized by the Wroclaw University of Economics in cooperation with the Corvinus University of Budapest and the University of Economics in Prague. The authors analyze a variety of issues related to recent finance problems, including corporate finance, public finance, monetary and fiscal policy issues, and risk management. The book also discusses topics related to sustainable finance, the transition to green economies, corporate sustainability and sustainable development. The target audience for this book includes researchers at universities and research and policy institutions, graduate students, and practitioners in economics, finance and international economics working for private or government institutions.

This volume includes a selection of the contributions presented at the Wroclaw conference in Finance, covering a wide range of topics in the area of finance. The articles reflect the extent, diversity and richness of research areas in the field. Discussing both fundamental and applied finance, it offers a detailed analysis of current financial-market problems including specifics of Polish and Central European markets. It also examines the results of advanced financial modeling. These proceedings are a valuable resource for researchers in universities and research and policy institutions, graduate students and practitioners in economics, finance and international economics in both private and government institutions.

In 1921 Austria became the first interwar European country to experience hyperinflation. The League of Nations, among other actors, stepped in to help reconstruct the economy, but a decade later Austria's largest bank, Credit-Anstalt, collapsed. Historians have correlated these events with the banking and currency crisis that destabilized interwar Europe-a narrative that relies on the claim that Austria and the global monetary system were the victims of financial interlopers. In this corrective history, Nathan Marcus deemphasizes the destructive role of external players in Austria's reconstruction and points to the greater impact of domestic malfeasance and predatory speculation on the nation's financial and political decline. Consulting sources ranging from diplomatic dossiers to bank statements and financial analyses, Marcus shows how the League of Nations' efforts to curb Austrian hyperinflation in 1922 were politically constrained. The League left Austria in 1926 but foreign interests intervened in 1931 to contain the fallout from the Credit-Anstalt collapse. Not until later, when problems in the German and British economies became acute, did Austrians and speculators exploit the country's currency and compromise its value. Although some statesmen and historians have pinned Austria's-and the world's-economic implosion on financial colonialism, Marcus's research offers a more accurate appraisal of early multilateral financial supervision and intervention. Illuminating new facets of the interwar political economy, Austrian Reconstruction and the Collapse of Global Finance reckons with the true consequences of international involvement in the Austrian economy during a key decade of renewal and crisis.

This book provides an advanced guide to correlation modelling for credit portfolios, providing both theoretical underpinnings and practical implementation guidance. The book picks up where pre-crisis credit books left off, offering guidance for quants on the latest tools and techniques for credit portfolio modelling in the presence of CVA (Credit Value Adjustments). Written at an advanced level, it assumes that readers are familiar with the fundamentals of credit modelling covered, for example, in the market leading books by Schonbucher (2003) and O'Kane (2008). Coverage will include the latest default correlation approaches; correlation modelling in the 'Marshall-Olkin' contagion framework, in the context of CVA; numerical implementation; and pricing, calibration and risk challenges. The explosive growth of credit derivatives markets in the early-to-mid 000's was bought to a close by the 2007 financial crisis, where these instruments were held largely to blame for the economic downturn. However, in the wake of increased regulation across all financial instruments and the challenge of buying and selling bonds in large amounts, credit derivatives have once again been found to be the answer and the market has grown significantly. Written by a practitioner for practitioners, this book will also interest researchers in mathematical finance who want to understand how things happen and work 'on the floor'. Building the reader's knowledge from the ground up, and with numerous real life examples used throughout, this book will prove a popular reference for anyone with a mathematical mind interested credit markets.

This book provides an introduction to the state of the art in financial technology (FinTech) and the current applications of FinTech in digital banking. It is a comprehensive guide to the various technologies, products, processes, and business models integral to the FinTech environment. Covering key definitions and characteristics, models and best practice, as well as presenting relevant case studies related to FinTech and e-Business, this book helps build a theoretical framework for future discussion.

The book explores the endogenous creators of inside money, the commercial banks, and their key role in igniting the 2007-8 monetary crisis and the aftermath of the Great Recession. This is an area of study overlooked by the traditional approach in the form of neo-classical analysis, a body of theory based on a barter system of exchange. Money has evolved from a construct of barter to become a medium of exchange based on fiat money and loan creation by the banking system, underpinned by legal tender, and therefore, a creature of law. It is not a phenomenon exogenously controlled by the monetary authorities and simply assumed to be a "veil" over the real economy, which just determines the absolute price level. This monograph, in the eyes of the student, represents critical thinking and the realization of a more precise formulation of the endogenous money supply with various features systematically added in an attempt to derive a fully dynamic model of the monetary system, which will be straightforward to visualize and contrast with the benchmark approach.

This book reports on the results of an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary workshop on provenance that brought together researchers and practitioners from different areas such as archival science, law, information science, computing, forensics and visual analytics that work at the frontiers of new knowledge on provenance. Each of these fields understands the meaning and purpose of representing provenance in subtly different ways. The aim of this book is to create cross-disciplinary bridges of understanding with a view to arriving at a deeper and clearer perspective on the different facets of provenance and how traditional definitions and applications may be enriched and expanded via an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary synthesis. This volume brings together all of these developments, setting out an encompassing vision of provenance to establish a robust framework for expanded provenance theory, standards and technologies that can be used to build trust in financial and other types of information.

Blockchain and artificial intelligence are perhaps the two most significant disruptive technologies this century and both will significantly rewire the world of global financial markets and the world in which we live. While blockchain offers a number of significant advantages over traditional forms of finance including lower cost and massive increases in operational efficiencies of traded markets, property records and a whole host of transaction processes, artificial intelligence is moving fast from basic structured machine learning doing menial yet important big data tasks like credit card fraud detection to predictive analysis and real-time real-world risk management and investment decision making. There is still a lot of confusion in the market about cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology. Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence highlights the underlying technologies of blockchain and the differences between cryptocurrencies and blockchain financial applications. It explores the current AI offerings and gives a vision of the fast-moving developments in this area including the many solutions that are expected to revolutionize the way financial and commodity markets will operate in the future.

This book focuses on market developments of crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, crowdlending, social trading, robo-advice, personal financial management, online payment and mobile payment in Germany. FinTech companies are an important driver of innovation in the financial industry. By making financial transactions more user-friendly and transparent, these firms potentially contribute to financial stability and economic growth. The authors define and categorize the different market segments that have emerged. They further provide an assessment of current market volumes and make forecasts for the next 5, 10 and 20 years. Particular attention is given to the empirical findings resulting from scholarly research. Furthermore, the authors evaluate how the German FinTech market ranks relative to international standards. This book will appeal to finance and entrepreneurship researchers as well as practitioners from banking and tech industries. "This book offers a fresh and fascinating look at the FinTech market. The authors provide a rigorous economic analysis of the FinTech market in Germany and offer many insights that are of interest to practitioners, academics, and policymakers alike." -Professor Douglas Cumming, Schulich School of Business "Germany is one of the fastest growing FinTech markets in Europe. This book not only provides a comprehensive and systematic overview on the developments and actors, but undertakes a visionary outlook on the forthcoming decades based on scientific methods." -Dr. Thomas Puschmann, Head of Swiss FinTech Innovation Lab

This book explores how, through spirituality and the development of character, Islamic financial institutions and Muslim communities can integrate their businesses with contemporary social responsibility initiatives to produce positive social and environmental impact. From the looming environmental crisis to the divide between mainstream and extremist interpretations of Islam, the book addresses significant questions facing Muslim communities - and humanity - and demonstrates why Islam should sit 'at the table' with other faiths and ethical traditions discussing humanity's great obstacles. Unlike existing literature, this work explores the intersections between classical Islamic ethics and spirituality, contemporary Islamic finance and economic markets, and select sustainability and impact initiatives (such as the Equator Principles and UN Principles of Responsible Investment) designed to make the worlds of business and finance responsible for the environments in which they operate and the communities that support them. Drawing on his years of experience in Islamic banking, Moghul addresses these applications in light of real-world practices and dilemmas, demonstrating how Islamic organizations and Muslim communities should embrace the broad range of stakeholders countenanced by the Shari'ah in conversations that affect them. By situating his exploration of Islamic finance in the light of the much larger critical issues of balance, justice, and moderation in Islamic praxis, Moghul creates an interdisciplinary book that will appeal to academics and researchers in economics, finance, business, government and policy, and law.

This book traces the development and analyses the performance of life insurance industry in India, since inception of this sector, using different business indicators over the years. It discusses the evolution and changing features of the Indian insurance industry in 3 phases: phase I from 1818 to 1956, phase II from 1956 to 2000 (known as the nationalisation period) and phase III post 2000 (called the post reform period). The book also measures the relative efficiency and productivity of the life insurance industry in India for the post-reform period, by employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Despite the fact that the life insurance sector recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% in terms of total premiums and 21% in terms of new business premium collections during the post reform period, the insurers continue to grapple with the issue of profitability. Against this background, the book presents results on the factors determining profitability of the life insurance companies using measures of efficiency and competition. By helping regulatory authorities determine the future course of action in the context of entry of foreign insurers and also in establishing a level playing field, the book has important policy implications.

This book demonstrates how the global market for Islamic financial services has shown strong growth in recent years and shown remarkable resilience during the global financial crisis. Drawing on a range of international perspectives from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Malaysia, Pakistan, Australia and Europe, this book explores the characteristics and performance of Islamic finance and banking and discusses future prospects. It offers a comprehensive theoretical framework for Shariah governance in Islamic financial institutions, explores Shariah-compliant equities, as well as issues in productivity, technology and efficiency. It includes a number of comparative studies on Islamic and conventional banks, Islamic and conventional unit trusts, and Islamic and conventional banks' product mixes. The challenges and opportunities for the expansion of Islamic finance and banking into Europe are explored through the contexts of the UK, Germany and Italy.

This book analyzes the whole path to justice: from the decision to enter the path to justice until justice is achieved and applies a mixed-methods approach using quantitative and qualitative data. It deliberately takes the consumer's perspective and, beyond the scope of existing studies, does not only take into account the existence of mechanisms and forums to claim justice, but their appropriateness for vulnerable target groups. The book sheds more light on microfinance and other vulnerable clients who, due to existing barriers, cannot access grievance, redress or complaint mechanisms. Eliminating these access barriers would cater to the achievement of the 16th Sustainable Development Goal by increasing vulnerable consumers' Access to Justice. This book will be of interest to academics researching access to justice, researchers focusing on consumer protection issues in developing countries, and practitioners working in financial inclusion.

This volume brings together some of the most important articles on the topic of financial intermediaries. Financial Intermediaries puts recent developments into an appropriate historical setting, with seminal works by Edgeworth, Arrow, Gurley, Shaw, Baumol, Tobin and Stigler combined with more recent ones by Fischer, Black, Weiss and Stiglitz.

This book explores the issue of consumer financial education, responding to increased interest in, and calls to improve peoples' financial literacy skills and abilities to understand and manage their money. New conceptual frameworks introduced in the book offer academic audiences an innovative way of thinking about the project on financial literacy education. Using the concepts of 'edu-regulation' and 'financial knowledge democratisation' to analyse the financial education project in the UK, the book exposes serious, and often ignored, limitations to using information and education as tools for consumer protection. It challenges the mainstream representation of financial literacy education as a viable solution to consumer financial exclusion and poverty. Instead, it argues that the project on financial literacy education fails to acknowledge important dependences between consumer financial behaviour and the socio-economic, political, and cultural context within which consumers live. Finally, it reveals how these international and national calls for ever greater financial education oversimplify and underestimate the complexity of consumer financial decision-making in our modern times.

This book is about the growth of shadow banking in China and the rise of China's free markets. Shadow Banking refers to capital that is distributed outside the formal banking system, including everything from Mom and Pop lending shops to online credit to giant state owned banks called Trusts. They have grown from a fraction of the economy ten years ago to nearly half of all China's annual Rmb 25 trillion ($4.1 trillion) in lending in the economy today. Shadow Banks are a new aspect of capitalism in China - barely regulated, highly risky, yet tolerated by Beijing. They have been permitted to flourish because many companies cannot get access to formal bank loans. It is the Wild West of banking in China. If we define capitalism as economic activity controlled by the private sector, then Shadow Banking is still in a hybrid stage, a halfway house between the state and the private economic. But it is precisely this divide that makes Shadow Banking an important to the rise of capitalism. How Beijing handles this large free market will say a lot about how the country's economy will grow - will free markets be granted greater leeway?

This book investigates how the Blockchain Technology (BCT) for Supply Chain Finance (SCF) programs allows businesses to come together in partnerships and accelerate cash flows throughout the supply chain. BCT promises to change the way individuals and corporations exchange value and information over the Internet, and is perfectly positioned to enable new levels of collaboration among the supply chain actors. The book reveals new opportunities stemming from the application of BCT to SCF financing solutions, particularly reverse factoring - or approved payables financing. To do so, it first identifies the principal barriers and pain points in delivering financing solutions. Then, a possible blockchain-driven supply chain model is defined. Using this framework, the book subsequently discusses relevant use cases for the technology, which could open up new opportunities in the SCF space. It demonstrates that blockchain and distributed ledgers technologies could deliver substantial benefits for all parties involved in SCF transactions, promising to expedite the processes and lower the overall costs of financing programs. Industry giants such as IBM, Maersk, China-based Dianrong and FnConn (a Foxconn subsidiary) are currently working to digitize the global, cross-border supply chain using blockchain technology, and will likely soon create blockchain platforms for supply chain finance. These solutions aim to reduce complexity and make data sharing more secure, accurate and efficient. This book offers a highly topical resource for stakeholders across the entire supply chain, helping them prepare for the upcoming technological revolution.

This book provides insight into the multi-dimensional process of coordinating and supervising mutual funds. This book focuses on the management of mutual funds within financial markets, with an emphasis on how corporate governance and benchmarking influence asset and portfolio management. Chapters explore four important aspects of this process in particular detail: corporate governance, benchmarking, asset management and portfolio management. The author shows that the mutual fund industry provides wider access to payment systems and to a savings safety-net that operates similarly to deposit insurance. Furthermore, he demonstrates that the Indian government's focus is on establishing the right of every person to have access to affordable basic financial services offered by banks and non-banks.

This book provides insight into current research topics in finance and banking in the aftermath of the financial crisis. In this volume, authors present empirical research on liquidity risk discussed in the context of Basel III and its implications. Chapters also investigate topics such as bank efficiency and new bank business models from a business diversification perspective, the effects on financial exclusion and how liquidity mismatches are related with the bank business model. This book will be of value to those with an interest in how Basel III has had a tangible impact upon banking processes, particularly with regard to maintaining liquidity, and the latest research in financial business models.

This book presents selected papers on the factors that serve to influence an individual's capacity in financial decision-making. Initial chapters provide an overview of the cognitive factors affecting financial decisions and suggest a link between limited cognitive capacity and the need for financial education. The book then expands on these cognitive limitations to explore the tendency for overconfidence in decision-making and the interplay between rational and irrational factors. Later contributions show how credit card companies benefit from limitations in consumer financial literacy, how gender and cognition intersect to play an important role in financial decision-making, and how to improve financial capacity through financial literacy and education campaigns, including those addressing developed marketplaces. This comprehensive collection of papers will be of value to all readers who seek to better understand the multi-factorial and complex nature of personal financial management in today's economic climate.