Nidhaleddine Ben Cheikh , Younes Ben Zaied , Duc Khuong Nguyen
{"title":"Financial inclusion and energy access in sub-Saharan Africa","authors":"Nidhaleddine Ben Cheikh , Younes Ben Zaied , Duc Khuong Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103032","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103032","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Improving access to adequate forms of energy in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a challenging task, and an ongoing debate has continued regarding policies and interventions that can effectively alleviate energy poverty (EP). This study contributes to the literature by conducting a state-dependent analysis using nonlinear panel data with local projections that allow the dynamics of EP to vary under different regimes. Our findings highlight the influence of financial inclusion and institutional quality on shaping the dynamics of energy affordability in SSA over the period 2004–2019. Specifically, we find that higher quality governance is required for the low-carbon transition to enhance household access to energy infrastructure. We also demonstrate an asymmetric response of EP to institutional quality related to the degree of access to finance. Overcoming governance issues and strengthening the financial system are critical for SSA to combat energy vulnerability and make the low-carbon transition viable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103032"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144571668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Supervisory independence and bank risk: Evidence from China","authors":"Pin Guo , Zhao Zhang , Ling Ling , Zhongyu Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103040","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103040","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the causal effect of supervisory independence on bank risk. Exploiting the merger of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CRIC) in 2018 as a shock to supervisory independence, we find that increased supervisory independence is significantly associated with reduced bank capital risk, credit risk, and liquidity risk. These effects are particularly prominent for unlisted banks, high-risk banks, and banks headquartered in cities with lower economic growth or fiscal deficit. We further find that supervisory independence strengthens banking stability without compromising asset growth, credit provision, profitability, and operational efficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103040"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144581410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do environmental controversies lead to lower dividend payouts? The role of environmental performance and board gender diversity","authors":"Redhwan Al-Dhamari , Saeed Rabea Baatwah , María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez , Omar Ikbal Tawfik","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103037","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103037","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the intricate relationship between environmental controversies and corporate dividend policy, while simultaneously investigating the effect of environmental performance and board gender diversity on this relationship. Existing studies identify several factors as determinants of corporate dividend policy; however, how environmental controversies affect dividend payouts remains underexplored. Using 5225 observations of publicly listed firms in European Union countries between 2016 and 2023, we find that firms involved in environmental controversies are less likely to distribute cash dividends. Moreover, we find that environmental performance significantly impacts the relationship between environmental controversies and dividend payouts. However, this effect exacerbates the detrimental impact of environmental controversies, while board gender diversity does not significantly affect this relationship. Further analyses show that the adverse effects of environmental controversies on dividend payouts are heterogeneous across various industry characteristics and levels of environmental disclosure maturity. We also find that earnings and risk are critical channels through which environmental controversies reduce dividend payouts. Finally, we find that environmental controversies predict future dividend policies. Overall, our findings offer valuable insights to numerous stakeholders regarding the influence of corporate environmental practices on financial decision-making.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103037"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144589296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Climate risk performance and tail risk contagion in energy stock markets: Evidence from China","authors":"Xiaoyun Xing , Zihan Xu , Xiuya Wang , Kun Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103035","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate change has resulted in unexpected changes to the energy market. This paper constructs a GARCH-MIDAS model to examine the impact of climate risk performance on the risk contagion within and across China’s energy markets, from both perspectives of tail risk spillovers and firm-level systemic importance. Moreover, Granger causality test is employed to capture the heterogeneity with respect to region and enterprise characteristics. The results show that climate policy significantly intensifies the risk contagion effect in China’s energy markets, in which the clean energy sectors are the most susceptible. It is further found that climate concern tends to affect the spillovers ”from” and ”to” those clean energies that are currently in high demands for funding, while climate physical risk only renders significant effects on the cross-sector connectedness related to coal industry. In addition, the results of heterogeneity analysis indicate enterprises in south China are easily affected by investors’ concern about climate change, while those in east and southwest provinces are susceptible to physical risk. Also, we find that the systemic importance of state-owned enterprises are easily altered by physical risk and climate policy, while that of private firms is vulnerable to investors’ climate concern.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103035"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144655648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Min Fan , Ruba Khalid Shira , Ahmed Imran Hunjra , Shikuan Zhao
{"title":"Climate governance actions, financing constraints, and green transformation of energy-intensive firms","authors":"Min Fan , Ruba Khalid Shira , Ahmed Imran Hunjra , Shikuan Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103041","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103041","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate governance actions are of great significance in promoting energy transition. We analyze impact of climate governance actions on green transformation of energy-intensive enterprises by using a double difference model. We find that green transformation of energy-intensive enterprises is significantly enhanced after implementation of the climate-adaptive city building pilot. Mechanism analysis shows that climate governance actions can promote green transformation by reducing financing constraints, mitigating supply chain risks and enhancing supply chain resilience. In addition, lower energy consumption intensity of enterprises located in non-resource cities or non-old industrial base cities, more significant effect of climate governance actions on green transformation of energy-intensive enterprises. Our paper contributes to climate policy and energy transition of energy-intensive enterprises in context of green transition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103041"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144571667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Artificial intelligence and corporate green innovation: Evidence from China","authors":"Lihong Guo , Huacheng Pei , Yizi Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103039","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103039","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid development of disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), provides new opportunities for corporate green transformation. Based on panel data of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2023, this study has found that: (1) An increase in corporate AI intensity significantly boosts the quantity of corporate green innovation. (2) AI primarily promotes substantive green innovation, but has little influence on strategic green innovation, that is, AI enhances the quality of corporate green innovation. (3) AI stimulates green innovation by improving data-driven decision-making, facilitating human-AI collaboration, and reducing information asymmetry. (4) The impact of AI on green innovation varies significantly across firms with different ownership properties, industries and regions. (5) AI ultimately increases corporate value by promoting green innovation. These findings offer valuable insights into the economic implications of corporate AI investments and the factors driving green transformation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103039"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144589267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The fintech revolution: Exploring the potential of fintech finance in reducing corporate credit constraints","authors":"Habib Hussain Khan, Mohammad Rais Ahmad","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103033","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103033","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the role of fintech financing in alleviating firms' credit constraints across 66 developing and developed countries from 2013 to 2020. In this framework, we also examine various firm and country-level factors, including size, age, industry, ownership structure, financial development, bank competition, and the legal and institutional environment. Our findings indicate that fintech financing reduces investment-to-cash flow sensitivity, suggesting a decrease in financing constraints for firms. This effect is consistent across subcomponents of fintech financing, such as fintech lending and fintech capital raising. Furthermore, small, young, and private firms exhibit greater sensitivity of investment to cash flows. The impact of fintech financing is more pronounced for these entities. Additionally, financial development and a robust legal and institutional environment enhance the positive effects of fintech financing in mitigating firms' financing constraints. Moreover, firms in less competitive banking environments face more significant financing constraints, where fintech financing flourishes and exerts a more considerable impact. While fintech financing generally reduces firms' financing constraints, its effect is more prominent in developing countries. The results remain consistent when utilizing a direct measure of financial constraints and excluding countries with extreme fintech values. The analysis of transmission channels reveals that fintech lessens firms' credit constraints by reducing information asymmetry. The study discusses the implications of these findings for regulators, fintech firms, and small businesses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103033"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144548451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jun Wen , Umar Farooq , Abdulrahman Alomair , Abdulaziz S. Al Naim
{"title":"ESG performance and capital investment: Understanding the role of bank financing in BRICS countries","authors":"Jun Wen , Umar Farooq , Abdulrahman Alomair , Abdulaziz S. Al Naim","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103058","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103058","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices into financial decision-making has become increasingly notable. This study examines the impact of ESG performance on corporate capital investment, as well as the intervening role of bank financing, in BRICS countries. The study utilizes a comprehensive dataset over the period 2010–2022 and employs fixed effect and system generalized method of moments (GMM) models to analyze the data. The empirical findings reveal a positive impact of corporate ESG performance and bank financing on capital investment. Notably, bank financing emerges as a significant factor positively influencing capital investment decisions, suggesting a crucial role in bridging sustainable finance and capital allocation. The study identifies a mediating relationship, emphasizing that the positive effect of ESG performance on capital investment remains consistent in the presence of bank financing. Corporate investors, financial institutions, and policymakers can gain actionable insights from the findings. It guides corporate investors in understanding how ESG performance influences investment attractiveness, assists financial institutions in refining lending practices, and provides policymakers with insights for shaping regulations that foster sustainable practices. As businesses and investors recognize the imperative of integrating ESG considerations, the insights from this study contribute to a more sustainable and resilient global financial system. This study contributes to existing literature by addressing gaps in understanding the nuanced impact of ESG performance on capital investment decisions and the mediating role of bank financing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103058"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144694502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jianhao Xue , Xingyu Dai , Ling Xiao , Qunwei Wang , Matthew C. Li
{"title":"Multi-objective carbon-energy portfolio optimization under investment horizon heterogeneity","authors":"Jianhao Xue , Xingyu Dai , Ling Xiao , Qunwei Wang , Matthew C. Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103036","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103036","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>European geopolitical risks and financial systemic risks have led to significant long-term and short-term fluctuations in global carbon and energy markets. This creates challenges for portfolio managers with different investment horizons. This study uses a multivariate variational mode decomposition (MVMD) based Vine-Copula model to perform multi-objective portfolio optimization. There are ten optimization objectives and different measures, including Mean, Variance, Skewness, Kurtosis, VaR, CVaR, and HMCR. This study analyzes carbon, natural gas, oil and coal futures assets data from December 31, 2009 to October 21, 2022, and finds the following. First, portfolios with investment horizons over 20 weeks- and less than 2 weeks-length outperform portfolios with other investment horizons. Second, the optimized Mean-Skewness-CVaR portfolio has the greatest number of optimal timings for portfolio managers at investment horizons over 20 weeks and less than 2 weeks. Portfolio performance does not necessarily improve by including more optimization objectives within portfolio strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103036"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144623827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Higher-order co-moment contagion during Trump’s second presidential term: A trade policy uncertainty perspective","authors":"Elie Bouri , Naji Jalkh , Ender Demir","doi":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103028","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103028","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Donald Trump's second presidential term continues to shape economic and trade policies as well as the dynamics of financial markets. In this paper, we examine whether U.S. trade policy uncertainty (TPU) under Trump’s second term triggers financial contagion with asset classes through higher-order moments of asset returns. Our analysis extends recent studies that consider abnormal returns and the dynamics of asset correlations around the tariffs announcements and contributes to the literature that links political transitions and trade policy uncertainty with financial markets beyond the first and second moments by considering higher-order comoment contagion. Using daily data on U.S. equities, U.S. treasury and corporate bonds, U.S. dollar index, gold, crude oil, and Bitcoin, we consider the 2024 U.S. presidential election, 2025 presidential inauguration, and liberation day. Overall, the results show evidence of contagion in co-volatility, co-skewness, and co-kurtosis between US trade policy uncertainty and each of the examined assets following the three events. This highlights the substantial exposure of these assets to Trump's proposed tariffs, which has important implications for the decision-making processes of various economic actors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51430,"journal":{"name":"Research in International Business and Finance","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 103028"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}