Institutional investor horizon and bank risk-taking

Abstract

We test the effect of short-term versus long-term institutional shareholding –so-called investor horizon– on bank risk-taking. We find that in contrast to banks dominated by short-term shareholders, banks with greater long-term shareholding are associated with lower risk, better stock performance, and conservative business and compensation policies. Our results imply that bank regulators should be more vigilant over the actions of banks that heavily rely on short-term shareholding.