Impact of competition on fund disclosures and consumer search costs

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-220
Author(s):  
Sitikantha Parida

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of competition in financial markets on the frequency of portfolio disclosures by mutual funds and its implications for consumer search costs. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis merges the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) survivorship bias-free mutual fund database, the Thompson Financial CDA/ Spectrum holdings database and the CRSP stock price data. The sample covers the time period between 1993 and 2010 and OLS and logistic regressions are used to investigate the impact of competition on fund disclosures. Findings This paper finds that mutual fund disclosures decrease with market competition and this effect is amplified for funds holding illiquid assets. These results provide empirical support for the findings of Carlin et al. (2102). Mutual funds use portfolio disclosures as a marketing tool to attract investments in a tournament-like market, where superior relative performance and greater visibility are rewarded with convex payoffs. With competition, the likelihood of receiving new investments decreases for each fund and funds respond by reducing costly voluntary disclosures. The disclosure costs are higher for funds holding illiquid assets, and hence, the effect is stronger for them. Originality/value This paper has important policy implications for disclosures in a market where relative performance matters. The traditional view is that competition induces voluntary disclosure because entities would like to differentiate themselves from competitors, and hence, competition should increase market transparency. However, this paper sheds light on the negative consequence of competition in a tournament-like mutual fund market.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Aliya Zahera ◽  
Rohit Bansal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the disposition effect that is exhibited by the investors through the review of research articles in the area of behavioral finance. When the investors are hesitant to realize the losses and quick to realize the gains, this phenomenon is known as the disposition effect. This paper explains various theories, which have been evolved over the years that has explained the phenomenon of disposition effect. It includes the behavior of individual investors, institutional investors and mutual fund managers. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used the existing literatures from the various authors, who have studied the disposition effect in either real market or the experimental market. This paper includes literature over a period of 40 years, that is, Dyl, 1977, in the form of tax loss selling, to the most recent paper, Surya et al. (2017). Some authors have used the PGR-PLR ratio for calculating the disposition effect in their study. However, some authors have used t-test, ANNOVA, Correlation coefficient, Standard deviation, Regression, etc., as a tool to find the presence of disposition effect. Findings The effect of disposition can be changed for different types of individual investors, institutional investors and mutual funds. The individual investors are largely prone to the disposition effect and the demographic variables like age, gender, experience, investor sophistication also impact the occurrence of the disposition effect. On the other side, the institutional investors and mutual funds managers may or may not be affected by the disposition effect. Practical implications The skilled understanding of the disposition effect will help the investors, financial institutions and policy-makers to reduce the adverse effect of this bias in the stock market. This paper contributes a detailed explanation of disposition effect and its impacts on the investors. The study of disposition effect has been found to be insufficient in the context of Indian capital market. Social implications The investors and society at large can gains insights about causes and influences of disposition effect which will be helpful to create sound investment decisions. Originality/value This paper has complied the 11 causes for the occurrence of disposition effect that are found by the different authors. The paper also highlights the impact of the disposition effect in the decision-making of various investors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-56
Author(s):  
Hoa Thi Nguyen ◽  
Dung Thi Nguyet Nguyen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of mutual funds’ performance at both a country level and a fund level in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach The different types of funds with more than three-year operation are selected to remove outliers of the stock market boom from 2015 to 2018. The data set includes 54 mutual funds operating during the period from 2008 until November 2018. Findings The research finds that there is a positive relationship between macroeconomics and mutual funds’ performance. Furthermore, country-level governance such as regulation effectiveness, political stability, economic growth and financial development has a positive correlation with mutual funds’ performance. However, the impact of fund-level factors is diverse with the no significant impact of board size on mutual fund’s performance, while passive funds perform better than active funds in Vietnam. Practical implications The research results suggest that investors should pay attention to the types of funds and operating expense when making an investment decision in mutual funds. There are some recommendations for both government policy-makers and the mutual fund industry that are likely to facilitate the development of this field in Vietnam. Originality/value The research contributes to the understanding of what are the factors that should be considered when investing in mutual funds.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeti Goyal ◽  
Poornima Gupta ◽  
Vanita Yadav

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how heuristics are formed and whether herding and prospect theory act as antecedents to heuristics. The relationship is explored specifically for millennials.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed relationship is explored specifically for millennials. Herding and prospect theory are modelled as antecedents to heuristics. The study uses survey data from 923 millennials from India to test the model for two financial products: equity and mutual funds. Regression analysis is used to evaluate the model.FindingsFindings support the role of herding and prospect theory as antecedents to heuristics of millennials although to varying degrees for equity and mutual fund investments. The impact of herding on heuristics is likely to be smaller for equity investments as compared to mutual fund investments.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings provide insights into how heuristics are formed for millennials. The findings add to literature by beginning a new line of inquiry on how heuristics are formed. Since the model is tested on a single generation, future research can test the model on other generations. In addition, future research can also add more antecedents to our proposed model.Practical implicationsFindings from this study can provide financial planners and marketers with an understanding of how heuristics are formed for millennials. Financial planners can use these insights while providing financial advice to this generation and marketers can use them to create more relevant outreach.Social implicationsFinancial investments are an important conduit for financial security. By understanding the cognitive processes that influence financial investment decision-making, it is possible for educators to create content appropriately and for financial planners to advise clients accordingly to enable optimal financial decisions that will be wealth-creating.Originality/valueExisting literature primarily treats heuristics, herding and prospect theory as being independent of each other. The authors take a novel approach to model the antecedents to heuristics to be herding and prospect theory. The model is tested on millennials for two financial products: equity and mutual funds.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1288-1310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Ngoc Nguyen ◽  
Muhammad Sadiq Shahid ◽  
David Kernohan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of investor confidence on mutual fund performance in two relatively vulnerable but leading emerging markets, India and Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach A pooled ordinary least squared (OLS) model is used to look at two alternative measures of investor confidence and test for the relationship between investor confidence and mutual fund returns. To check the robustness of the findings, the authors also implement two-stage least squares and generalized method of moments techniques to control for unobserved heterogeneity, simultaneity and dynamic endogeneity problems in the regressors. Findings The paper finds that the returns of mutual funds are positively associated with investor confidence and an interaction effect exists between investor confidence and persistence in performance. The paper also confirms that returns from mutual funds are associated with different fund characteristics such as fund size, turnover, expense, liquidity, performance persistence and the fund’s age. These findings remain robust to alternative model specifications and measures of investor confidence. Originality/value While the previous literature mainly focuses on mutual fund characteristics and the macroeconomic determinants of mutual fund returns, this paper demonstrates that investor confidence plays an important role in determining mutual fund performance. The authors attribute this finding to two relatively unique features of the emerging markets in the study. A lack of awareness of mutual funds as being a low-cost investment vehicle and the interplay of cultural and behavioral changes have prevented investor’s savings from being channeled into investment products, away from gold or property.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nischala P. Reddy ◽  
Ben Le ◽  
Donna L. Paul

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) impacted the likelihood and timing of the decision of leveraged buyout (LBO) firms to exit via initial public offering (IPO) (reverse-LBO) and the mediating effect of reputed private equity (PE) firms. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises firms that went private via LBO between 1990 and 2018. The authors use logistic and ordinary least square regression models to compare the effect of SOX on the re-listing decision and the time taken to re-list. Findings LBO firms were less likely to exit via public offering after SOX, and the time from LBO to IPO was significantly longer for exiting firms post-SOX. PE firm reputation partially reversed the reluctance to exit via IPO and shortened the time to exit. Research limitations/implications The primary focus is RLBOs; the authors do not directly examine other methods of LBO exit. The findings have policy implications for unintended impacts of SOX. Despite the benefits of increasing transparency and protecting investors, SOX reduced the likelihood of going public and increased the time to IPO, potentially reducing product market competition. Originality/value RLBOs present a unique experimental setting as the authors can test the impact of SOX on both the likelihood and time to go public, whereas prior literature using first-time IPO samples are able to test only the likelihood. The authors also show that the reputation of the advising PE firm attenuates the reluctance and time taken for RLBOs to re-list. The authors are, thus, able to provide a new perspective on the impact of SOX on the going public decision.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 999-1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sitikantha Parida

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there is any impact of reporting delays on profitability of front-running strategies against the mutual funds. Design/methodology/approach The author studies if freshness of mutual fund holding information from public disclosures affects precision of flow-based front-running strategies against the funds and if the allowed 60-day reporting delay is able to protect the funds from these front-running activities against them. Findings Assuming no reporting delay, the author finds that returns from hypothetical front-running strategies are significant, when these are based on the most recent holding information and are not significant, when based on relatively old holding information. Interestingly, these front-running returns appear to be mostly driven by anticipated forced buys by the mutual funds (rather than anticipated forced sales). The return from a front-running strategy long on anticipated forced buys is higher when it is based on relatively illiquid assets. The author also finds that return from a front-running strategy short on anticipated forced sales is significant, when it is based on illiquid assets from relatively old holding information. Practical implications Hence, it appears that the allowed 60-day reporting delay is able to protect most of the funds from front-running activities against them, except for the funds holding illiquid assets from anticipated forced sales motivated front-running activities against them. Originality/value The paper addresses an interesting question, which has not been studied before – if freshness of fund holding information helps the front-running strategies against the funds and if the allowed reporting delay is effective in protecting the funds from these activities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanette Carlsson Hauff ◽  
Jonas Nilsson

Purpose Choosing how to invest one’s assets is one of the more important decisions consumers are faced with. However, determining the objective financial quality of complex investment products such as mutual funds is not an easy task for consumers. Against this background, this study aims to clarify the potential impact of one, not necessarily rational, cue on consumer perceptions of financial quality in the investment context: the country-of-origin (COO) of the mutual fund or stock. Design/methodology/approach Two Web-based experiments are used to test the study’s hypotheses. Findings COO is found to impact investors’ evaluation of the financial metrics of mutual funds, both in terms of perceived risk and potential return. Moreover, the results of Experiment 2 show that although a strong financial brand can partially overcome the COO effect, the extent of this effect is moderated by whether the fund utilizes an active or passive management style. Research limitations/implications Although mutual fund providers with a strong financial country image (CI) may leverage that image and build on their home country’s brand, providers from countries with a poor financial CI may do well focusing on passive management to minimize negative COO influence. Originality/value The results highlight that COO can be an important source of sub-optimal investment decisions. These insights are of high importance for efforts to improve consumer decision-making and for individual service providers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Dah ◽  
Monzurul Hoque ◽  
Song Wang

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Shariah guidelines on the performance of the Dow Jones Islamic Index (DJIM-US). Shariah or Islamic law is a set of rules that determines Islamic allowed activities including socially and ethically acceptable investments. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply four risk-adjusted methodologies and co-integration analysis to investigate whether limited asset universe Shariah investments limit investment opportunities and impose an opportunity cost on investors given the prediction of conventional portfolio theories. Findings – In contrast to the prediction of conventional portfolio theories, the findings suggest no apparent opportunity cost for Shariah compatible investments. In particular, Dow Jones Islamic Mutual Funds do not under-perform the broader market US benchmarks nor do they have any co-integration with the broader indexes. Moreover, the authors find similar evidence in the studies of Islamic mutual funds in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Kuwait. Research limitations/implications – The findings will be reinforced when the authors will look into long run performance of Shariah compliant funds in future. Using non-linear approach will add further clarity to the findings. Practical implications – The results provide an insight suggesting that successful mutual fund managers are able to overcome Shariah restrictions and constraints through creative investment strategies. In the data set, the Amana Trust Growth fund and the Amana Trust Income fund were always the best performers with a highly significant abnormal return, no matter what the methodology was. Social implications – The performance of Islamic funds during the approximately seven-year period covered by the study is very promising. Popularity of Islamic Investment is expected to grow as Muslim population represents about 25 percent of the world population and the possibility for the Muslim funds to be considered as viable alternative by non-Shariah abiding or non-Muslim investors. The empirical results in the paper provide evidence that lack in diversification did not constrain the performance of Islamic funds. Originality/value – This paper applied comprehensive risk-adjusted methodologies and co-integration analysis to Islamic Funds for a seven-year period for multiple countries. The findings confirm previously obtained results and highlight the fact that constrained Islamic Funds may not under-perform as per conventional portfolio theories.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ratish C Gupta ◽  
Dr. Manish Mittal

The Indian mutual fund industry is one of the fastest growing and most competitive segments of the financial sector. The extent of under-penetration in the market is a sore point with the financial services industry, with a large amount of savings being channelized into fixed deposits, gold and real estate rather than the capital markets. The mutual fund industry is yet to spread its reach beyond Tier I cities. The top fifteen cities contribute to 85% of the pie, with the remaining 15% distributed among other cities. The study seeks to determine the impact of decision making of investors on current situation of mutual fund industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahar Tayachi ◽  
Ahmed Imran Hunjra ◽  
Kirsten Jones ◽  
Rashid Mehmood ◽  
Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan

Purpose Ownership structure deals with internal corporate governance mechanism, which plays important role in minimizing conflict of interests between shareholders and management Ownership structure is an important mechanism that influences the value of firm, financing and dividend decisions. This paper aims to examine the impact of the ownership structures, i.e. managerial ownership, institutional ownership on financing and dividend policy. Design/methodology/approach The authors use panel data of manufacturing firms from both developed and developing countries, and the generalized method of moments (GMM) is applied to analyze the results. The authors collect the data from DataStream for the period of 2010 to 2019. Findings The authors find that managerial ownership and ownership concentration have significant and positive effects on debt financing, but they have significant and negative effects on dividend policy. Institutional ownership shows a positive impact on financing decisions and dividend policy for sample firms. Originality/value This study fills the gap by proving the policy implications for both firms and investors, as managers prefer debt financing, but at the same time try to ignore dividend payment. Therefore, investors may not invest in firms with a higher proportion of managerial ownership and may choose to invest more in institutional ownership, which lowers the agency cost.


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