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Bank affiliations and corporate dividend policy in pre-World War I Belgium

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Deloof, Marc [UCL] Roggeman, Annelies Van Overfelt, Wouter

We investigate the impact of universal banks on the dividend policy of affiliated companies, in an environment characterised by poor investor protection, booming stock markets and strong banks. Our results, based on a unique sample of 428 listed companies in pre-World War I Belgium, are consistent with the hypothesis that companies with good investment opportunities and a bank director on their board paid higher dividends to establish a good reputation with investors. However, our results also indicate that companies with several bank directors and companies in which the bank had an equity stake paid lower dividends.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Publication date 2010
Language Anglais
Journal information "Business History" - Vol. 52, no. 4, p. 590-616 (2010)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd (Abingdon)
issn 0007-6791
e-issn 1743-7938
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SSH/LouRIM - Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations
Keywords corporate finance ; corporate governance ; financial history
Links
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Bibliographic reference Deloof, Marc ; Roggeman, Annelies ; Van Overfelt, Wouter. Bank affiliations and corporate dividend policy in pre-World War I Belgium. In: Business History, Vol. 52, no. 4, p. 590-616 (2010)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34446