Open Access
When is environmental performance most valued?: international evidence from the CDS market
(Elsevier, 2025-03-17) Ballester Miquel, Laura; González Urteaga, Ana; Martínez García, Beatriz; Gestión de Empresas; Enpresen Kudeaketa; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Using a sample of 516 firms with CDS data from 37 countries for the period 2010-2022, this study finds that companies with higher environmental performance, particularly in emissions reduction and product innovation, exhibit a reduction in credit risk, supporting the risk mitigation perspective. Our results also highlight the importance of considering both internal and external factors when assessing the financial impact of sustainability initiatives. Firms with initially lower environmental performance, less exposure to the environmental sector, and higher credit ratings experience a more significant reduction in credit risk as they improve their environmental performance. In addition, the CDS market places a higher value on environmental efforts for firms located in countries with lower environmental scores, credit ratings and GDP growth. Conversely, out findings support the overinvestment view for firms in sectors with high environmental risk exposure or in countries with poor climate change performance. Overall, the effect of a firm's environmental performance on credit risk is heterogeneous rather than uniform.
Open Access
Do sovereign ratings cause instability in cross-border emerging CDS markets?
(Elsevier, 2021) Ballester Miquel, Laura; González Urteaga, Ana; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE
We analyse the cross-border transmission effect of credit ratings on sovereign CDSs covering a broad sample of emerging countries during the period 2004 to 2015. This study differentiates between the spillover and competition effects between and within geographical areas of emerging countries. We find substantial evidence of cross-border effects with asymmetric responses to upgrades and downgrades. The market reaction differs across regions, reflecting how the international and local impact of rating events are due to different types of effects. At the international portfolio level, the competitive effect is dominant over the spillover effect. Negative events in Asia benefit Africa (which is also negatively affected by upgrades in Asia) and Middle East, the latter transmitting in turn to Asia with the same competitive effect. However, some spillover effects are also found both at the portfolio and intra-portfolio levels. The ones associated with downgrades are especially sensitive. In these cases, we identify the particular emerging economies that contribute to an increase in financial instability and to regional spillover effects.
Open Access
A systematic review of sovereign connectedness on emerging economies
(Elsevier, 2019) Ballester Miquel, Laura; Díaz Mendoza, Ana Carmen; González Urteaga, Ana; Enpresen Kudeaketa; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE; Gestión de Empresas
This article systematically reviews the academic literature on emerging market contagion in order to summarize what we have learnt about the transmission channels existing in these countries. Given the large body of academic research focused on this topic, we especially direct our attention to the strand of the literature that defines and empirically analyses this topic as the significant increase in the cross-market correlations between asset returns during crisis periods or when a shock occurs. The survey covers the findings on financial contagion in the stock, bond, exchange and credit default swap markets during a large period that covers several crises that have characterized the related literature, such as the currency crises of the 1990s, the global financial crisis and the Eurozone debt crisis. Finally, new topics are identified, serving as an outline for future research.
Open Access
Is there a connection between sovereign CDS spreads and the stock market? Evidence for European and US returns and volatilities
(MDPI, 2020) Ballester Miquel, Laura; González Urteaga, Ana; Enpresen Kudeaketa; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE; Gestión de Empresas; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
This study complements the current literature, providing a thorough investigation of the lead–lag connection between stock indices and sovereign credit default swap (CDS) returns for 14 European countries and the US over the period 2004–2016. We use a rolling VAR framework that enables us to analyse the connection process over time covering both crisis and non-crisis periods. In addition, we analyse the relationship between stock market volatility and CDS returns. We find that the connection between the credit and equity markets does exist and that it is time variable and seems to be related to financial crises. We also observe that stock market returns anticipate sovereign CDS returns, and sovereign CDSs anticipate the conditional volatility of equity returns, closing a connectedness circle between markets. Contribution percentages in terms of returns are more intense in the US than in Europe and the opposite result is found with respect to volatilities. Within Europe, a greater impact in Eurozone countries compared to non-Eurozone countries is observed. Finally, an additional analysis is also carried out for the financial sector, obtaining results largely consistent with those found using sovereign data.
Open Access
Green bond issuance and credit risk: international evidence
(Elsevier, 2024) Ballester Miquel, Laura; González Urteaga, Ana; Shen, L.; Gestión de Empresas; Enpresen Kudeaketa; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa, PJUPNA2023-11379
We present the first empirical study of the impact of corporate green bond issuance announcements on issuer credit risk, as measured by their CDS spreads. We use a broad international sample of 1,048 green bonds issued between 2013 and 2022 by 200 entities from 26 countries. Our analysis reveals a significant, though not uniform, reaction in the CDSs. The sector of activity emerges as a critical determinant, particularly with respect to environmental exposure. While sectors highly exposed to environmental risk exhibit a reduction in issuer credit risk, all others, especially financial entities, react in the opposite direction. Our study highlights that the impact on credit risk is influenced by several other factors, including the issuer's overall ESG score, its E score, and various country-level metrics such as development level, environmental performance and political rights. We also identify other factors that affect credit risk, such as green bond ratings and operating cash flow.
Open Access
Future directions in international financial integration research. A crowdsourced perspective
(Elsevier, 2018) Lucey, Brian M.; Vigne, Samuel A.; Ballester Miquel, Laura; Barbopoulos, Leonidas; Brzeszczynski, Janusz; Carchano, Óscar; Dimic, Nebojsa; Fernández, Viviana; Gogolin, Fabian; González Urteaga, Ana; Gestión de Empresas; Enpresen Kudeaketa
This paper is the result of a crowdsourced effort to surface perspectives on the present and future direction of international finance. The authors are researchers in financial economics who attended the INFINITI 2017 conference in the University of Valencia in June 2017 and who participated in the crowdsourcing via the Overleaf platform. This paper highlights the actual state of scientific knowledge in a multitude of fields in finance and proposes different directions for future research.
Open Access
The role of internal corporate governance mechanisms on default risk: a systematic review for different institutional settings
(Elsevier, 2020) Ballester Miquel, Laura; González Urteaga, Ana; Martínez García, Beatriz; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Recent financial downturns, characterized by the significant failures of firms, have revealed the need to control credit risk. Latest literature has shown that weak corporate governance structures are related to high levels of default risk, leading to financial instability. In this context, we aim to summarize the literature that focuses on the role that internal corporate governance plays in the credit risk of firms, specifically considering three corporate governance components: ownership structure, board structure and financial stakeholders’ rights and relations. Additionally, we analyse whether the effectiveness of the internal mechanisms depends on particular key factors, especially the institutional setting and the type of mechanisms considered. Finally, new lines of research are identified for future research.
Open Access
The nexus between sovereign CDS and stock market volatility: new evidence
(MDPI, 2021) Ballester Miquel, Laura; Escrivá, Ana Mónica; González Urteaga, Ana; Enpresen Kudeaketa; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE; Gestión de Empresas
This paper extends the studies published to date by performing an analysis of the causal relationships between sovereign CDS spreads and the estimated conditional volatility of stock indices. This estimation is performed using a vector autoregressive model (VAR) and dynamically applying the Granger causality test. The conditional volatility of the stock market has been obtained through various univariate GARCH models. This methodology allows us to study the information transmissions, both unidirectional and bidirectional, that occur between CDS spreads and stock volatility between 2004 and 2020. We conclude that CDS spread returns cause (in the Granger sense) conditional stock volatility, mainly in Europe and during the sovereign debt crisis. This transmission dynamic breaks down during the COVID-19 period, where there are high bidirectional relationships between the two markets.