Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

A call auction is an order driven facility which, in contrast with continuous trading, batches multiple orders together for simultaneous execution in a multilateral trade, at a single price, at a predetermined point in time, by a predetermined matching algorithm. The chapter describes how orders are handled and clearing prices set in call auction trading, contrasts call auctions with continuous trading, and identifies different types of call auctions (including price scan auctions, sealed bid auctions, and open limit order book auctions). Attention is given to the use of information technology in call market design, the integration of an auction in a market’s micro-structure, and to the facility’s ability to deal with market quality issues such as containing intra-day price volatility, sharpening price discovery, and catering to participant demands for immediacy. To produce robust results, a call auction must attract sufficient critical mass order flow; the paper concludes by noting that, bec ause large traders in particular are reluctant to enter their orders early in the auction process, book building cannot be taken for granted.

Liquidity, which is integrally related to trading costs, refers to the ability of individuals to trade at reasonable prices with reasonable speed. As such, liquidity is a major determinant, along with risk and return, of a company’s share value. Unfortunately, an operational, generally accepted measure of liquidity does not exist. This entry considers the following proxy measures: the bid—ask spread, the liquidity ratio (which relates the number or value of shares traded during a brief interval to the absolute value of the percentage price change over the interval), and the variance ratio (which relates the volatility of short-term price movements to longer-term price movements). The determinants of liquidity considered are the size of the market for a stock and market structure. The paper concludes by stressing that illiquidity increases the cost of equity capital for firms, but that trading costs can be reduced and liquidity enhanced by the institution of a superior trading system.

The primary focus of this entry is on market maker services, revenues, and costs. A market maker’s basic function is to service the public’s demand to trade with immediacy by continuously standing ready to buy shares from customers who wish to sell, and to sell shares to customers who wish to buy. Additionally, the market maker helps to stabilize prices and to facilitate a reasonably accurate price discovery. Further, a special type of market maker — a stock exchange specialist — fulfills the role of an auctioneer. The bid—ask spread is the classic source of market maker profits, while the costs of market maker operations include: order-processing, risk-bearing (the cost of carrying an unbalanced portfolio), and adverse selection (the cost of trading with a better-informed participant). The paper further considers the competitive environment that market makers operate within, and concludes with the thought that institutionalization, the advent of electronic trading, dereg ulation, and globalization of the equity markets have led to major changes in market maker operations in the recent past, and will continue to do so in the coming years.

The entry reviews essential elements of market structure — the systems, procedures, and protocols that determine how orders are handled, translated into trades, and transaction prices determined. There are various contrasting alternatives, such as order-driven and quote-driven markets; consolidated vs fragmented markets; human intervention vs electronic trading; and continuous markets vs periodic call auctions. A major objective of market design noted in the discussion is to enhance the accuracy with which prices are discovered in a dynamic, uncertain environment. Lastly, the entry points out that market structures are rapidly changing, and that much remains to be learned about how best to structure a technologically sophisticated, hybrid market that efficiently services the varied needs of diverse participants.

We analyze the Enron case to identify the risk factors that potentially led to its collapse and specific issues relating to its aggressive accounting and highlight the lessons for independent directors. In Enron, the interactions between external stimuli, strategies, corporate culture, and risk exposures possibly created an explosive situation that eventually led to its demise. Much of the post-Enron reforms have been directed towards regulating the roles and responsibilities of executive directors and auditors. However, the role of independent directors has received relatively lesser attention. Independent directors should analyze the risks of their companies and understand the pressures that arise from market conditions and firm-specific policies and incentive structures. They also need to close the information gap between executive directors and themselves. A post-Enron era also requires independent directors to change their focus. Traditionally, independent directors have to strike a difficult balance between maximizing returns and minimizing risks. Independent directors may now have to focus on the management of risks, the design and functioning of an effective corporate governance infrastructure, and the moderation of the power bases of dominant executives. Practically, they may also have to reduce the number of independent director appointments to enable them to focus more effectively on a fewer companies.

This paper introduces the agent-based modeling methodology and points out the strengths of this method over traditional analytical methods of neoclassical economics. In addition, the various design issues that will be encountered in the design of an agent-based financial market are discussed.

One major factor that led to the 1997 Southeast Asian financial crisis was the reliance of the afflicted nations on heavy borrowing from western banks. The crisis has shown the massive need for establishing a regional bond market. Given the huge foreign reserves held by Asian central banks, at present, it is crucial to create a vehicle in order to preserve Asian capital within the region.

Recent progress has been made in the direction of creating regional bond markets in the areas of Asian Bond Fund (ABF) that deals in foreign currency and Asian Basket Currency (ABC) bonds that deals in local currency.

The past few years have seen major improvements in the issuance of Asian government bonds. Yet, the area of corporate bonds in the region still remains clearly underdeveloped due to the lack of credit ratings at investment-grade. Addressing the issue of ratings is one of the real challenges that must be overcome before the Asian region could have a viable bond market.

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions have shown tremendous growth over time primarily due to a desire to circumvent tariffs and nontariff barriers arising from arms-length international trade and taxes; to obtain new options for financing; to access technology; and to distribute research and development costs over a broader base. Several factors put in place to moderate this growth include protecting key industries, limiting controlling interest levels, and restricting remittances of profits and dividends. This paper focuses on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and their financial and economic (both macro and micro) underpinnings, which affect their direction and magnitude. In general terms, empirical analysis supports the fact that both a host country’s and the foreign country’s stock and bond prices are major causal factors that influence cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Jump diffusion processes have been used in modern finance to capture discontinuous behavior in asset pricing. Various jump diffusion models are considered in this chapter. Also, the applications of jump diffusion processes on stocks, bonds, and interest rate are discussed.

In the United States, the same stock can be traded at different locations. In the case of listed stocks, each location is a node in national network called the Intermarket Trading System (ITS). Unlisted stocks also trade at different nodes on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) network. Each node of these two networks may have rules for breaking queuing ties among competing orders. Orders may be routed on the networks according to official rules (as with ITS) or order preferencing arrangements (both networks). This paper examines the impact of priority rules on individual markets and networks. The development of the ITS and NASDAQ networks as well as the relevant literature is discussed. I conclude that network priority rules improve market quality if they result in consolidated markets.