An Empirical Analysis on Board Monitoring Role and Loan Portfolio Quality Measurement in Banks

This paper aims to analyze the effectiveness of the board monitoring role on specific loan portfolio quality measures in banks (default rate, recovery rate and provisioning rate). We use a sample comprises a totality of Italian-based banks, listed at Borsa Italiana SpA in 2006-2008 and a number of accounting proxies to express the loan portfolio quality of a bank. The results of the analysis show an overall weakness of the board role (expressed by Independents and Audit Committee on board) in monitoring loan portfolio quality of the bank, with the subsequent damage of the interests of stakeholders. A positive contribution of board monitoring, even if partial, is highlighted in two cases: Independents seems improve recovery rate, while the Audit committee enhances provisioning rate in banks. With reference to default rate, a total negative effect of board monitoring is reported. On the base of these results, some managerial implications are proposed.Banks, Corporate governance, Board of directors, Loan Portfolio Quality

Implementing clinical guidelines in an organizational setup

Outcomes research in healthcare has been a topic much addressed in recent years. Efforts in this direction have been supplemented by work in the areas of guidelines for clinical practice and computer-interpretable workflow and careflow models.In what follows we present the outlines of a framework for understanding the relations between organizations, guidelines, individual patients and patient-related functions. The derived framework provides a means to extract the knowledge contained in the guideline text at different granularities, in ways that can help us to assign tasks within the healthcare organization and to assess clinical performance in realizing the guideline. It does this in a way that preserves the flexibility of the organization in the adoption of the guidelines

Ready for a digital Euro? Insights from a research agenda

Innovative tools—such as cryptocurrencies, electronic money, and digital payments—have enhanced the digitisation of financial system, but not without risk. To ensure financial stability and innovation, Central Banks have recently begun supporting the creation of so-called Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The present study reviews the literature around the digital transformation of the financial environment, with a specific focus on the creation of a digital Euro. A bibliometric analysis, conducted on 290 documents from the Scopus database, provides insights into the topic and its future research avenues. The results show a growing interest for CBDCs and their related issues, especially those related to the implementation of monetary policy instruments, which can hinge on issues related to the digital transformation of finance and innovation-related problems such as crime prevention and cybersecurity

Bank Size, Functional Distance and Loss Given Default Rate of Bank Loans

Most of the studies available on relationship lending focuses on the benefits for borrowers and neglects those achievable for banks. In particular, empirical studies on the benefits achieved for banks in terms of loans recovery rate, in connection with loss given default rate, are very few. In contrast, choosing the best approach to managing loans is crucial in the current credit market considering the high deterioration in quality of bank loans. This paper empirically tests whether the banks more oriented towards a relationship lending approach report a lower level of loss given default. Bank size and functional distance are used to measure the relationship lending approach in banks. This paper takes into account the Italian banking system and the effectiveness of their debt recovery processes during the 2005-2008 period. The data has been collected by ABI Banking Data and Bank of Italy. The empirical analysis highlights that banks more oriented in the relationship lending model have a greater capacity to recover bad loans. These findings have some managerial implications

An Empirical Analysis on Board Monitoring Role and Loan Portfolio Quality Measurement in Banks

This paper aims to analyze the effectiveness of the board monitoring role on specific loan portfolio quality measures in banks (default rate, recovery rate and provisioning rate). We use a sample comprises a totality of Italian-based banks, listed at Borsa Italiana SpA in 2006-2008 and a number of accounting proxies to express the loan portfolio quality of a bank. The results of the analysis show an overall weakness of the board role (expressed by Independents and Audit Committee on board) in monitoring loan portfolio quality of the bank, with the subsequent damage of the interests of stakeholders. A positive contribution of board monitoring, even if partial, is highlighted in two cases: Independents seems improve recovery rate, while the Audit committee enhances provisioning rate in banks. With reference to default rate, a total negative effect of board monitoring is reported. On the base of these results, some managerial implications are proposed

Televisione e infanzia. La parola ai protagonisti

Terzo, e ultimo, rapporto che chiude l’indagine triennale che OssCom, Centro di ricerca sui media e la comunicazione dell’Università Cattolica, ha realizzato con il supporto di Sky Italia per conto di Focus in media – Osservatorio della Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà sul tema della Children’s Television (CT), cioè della televisione rivolta ai bambini e ai preadolescenti nel nostro Paese. Dopo l’analisi dell’offerta di televisione tematica destinata a questo target specifico (primo rapporto) e la descrizione dei discorsi sociali a carattere normativo che esprimono le aspettative nutrite dai diversi attori e stakeholder nei confronti della CT (secondo rapporto), questo report presenta una raccolta ragionata di testimonianze privilegiate maturate nel contesto dell’intero ecosistema della CT. Le domande di ricerca a cui il report risponde è “quali condizioni rendono più facile che la CT risponda efficacemente a tali aspettative” e “perché la CT non è sempre in grado di soddisfarle”. Si è trattato, dunque, di cogliere punti di forza e punti di debolezza della CT in un’ottica sistemica: cercando, cioè, di prendere in considerazione la complessità delle relazioni che legano fra di loro gli attori della filiera produttiva e distributiva, le istituzioni volte alla regolamentazione e al controllo della programmazione, i pubblici diretti e indiretti di questa forma di produzione culturale

Televisione e infanzia. Le aspettative nei confronti dell'offerta televisiva per i bambini

Secondo report dell’indagine triennale che OssCom, Centro di ricerca sui media e la comunicazione dell’Università Cattolica, sta realizzando per Focus in Media, l’osservatorio sulla comunicazione e i media della Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà. In questo report si presenta l’analisi delle aspettative che i diversi soggetti sociali interessati (mercato, istituzioni, società civile, ricercatori) nutrono nei confronti della programmazione della Children’s Television

Caratterizzazione dell’ambiente marino dei Campi Flegrei. Risultati preliminari della campagna oceanografica RICAMAR 2013

The caldera of the Phlegraean Fields (also known as Campi Flegrei) is one of the most dangerous and populated volcanic area in the world, covering an area that comprises the western part of Naples and the Gulf of Pozzuoli. The main peculiarity of current volcanic activity is the gradual and periodic lift (positive or negative) of part of the Earth\u27s surface (bradyseism) combined, only during the positive phase, with a strong sismicity and surficial hydrotermal activity. Deformative models, calibrated using land-based measurements, highlighted the Gulf of Pozzuoli as the area with the largest deformation. Although the network of monitoring sensors on land is well developed and structured, there is a lack of sensing systems for the marine deformation. The activities of RIlievi per la Caratterizzazione dell’Ambiente MARino nel Golfo di Pozzuoli 2013 (RICAMAR2013) project - sinergically conducted by the Italian Navy\u27s Survey Vessel Ammiraglio Magnaghi , the Italian Hydrographic Office (IIM) and the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)- were targeted to fulfill this gap. In fact, the creation of marine observatories about the caldera\u27s phenomena will be based on the data collected during these bathymetric, magnetometric, stratigrafic and hydrologic surveys

MiR-494 induces metabolic changes through G6pc targeting and modulates sorafenib response in hepatocellular carcinoma

BackgroundMetabolic reprogramming is a well-known marker of cancer, and it represents an early event during hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. The recent approval of several molecular targeted agents has revolutionized the management of advanced HCC patients. Nevertheless, the lack of circulating biomarkers still affects patient stratification to tailored treatments. In this context, there is an urgent need for biomarkers to aid treatment choice and for novel and more effective therapeutic combinations to avoid the development of drug-resistant phenotypes. This study aims to prove the involvement of miR-494 in metabolic reprogramming of HCC, to identify novel miRNA-based therapeutic combinations and to evaluate miR-494 potential as a circulating biomarker.MethodsBioinformatics analysis identified miR-494 metabolic targets. QPCR analysis of glucose 6-phosphatase catalytic subunit (G6pc) was performed in HCC patients and preclinical models. Functional analysis and metabolic assays assessed G6pc targeting and miR-494 involvement in metabolic changes, mitochondrial dysfunction, and ROS production in HCC cells. Live-imaging analysis evaluated the effects of miR-494/G6pc axis in cell growth of HCC cells under stressful conditions. Circulating miR-494 levels were assayed in sorafenib-treated HCC patients and DEN-HCC rats.ResultsMiR-494 induced the metabolic shift of HCC cells toward a glycolytic phenotype through G6pc targeting and HIF-1A pathway activation. MiR-494/G6pc axis played an active role in metabolic plasticity of cancer cells, leading to glycogen and lipid droplets accumulation that favored cell survival under harsh environmental conditions. High miR-494 serum levels associated with sorafenib resistance in preclinical models and in a preliminary cohort of HCC patients. An enhanced anticancer effect was observed for treatment combinations between antagomiR-494 and sorafenib or 2-deoxy-glucose in HCC cells.ConclusionsMiR-494/G6pc axis is critical for the metabolic rewiring of cancer cells and associates with poor prognosis. MiR-494 deserves attention as a candidate biomarker of likelihood of response to sorafenib to be tested in future validation studies. MiR-494 represents a promising therapeutic target for combination strategies with sorafenib or metabolic interference molecules for the treatment of HCC patients who are ineligible for immunotherapy

Televisione e Infanzia. Rapporto sull’offerta televisiva per bambini in Italia

Il presente report restituisce i risultati della prima annualità (2011-2012) della ricerca denominata “Televisione e Infanzia”, realizzata da OssCom – Centro di ricerca sui media e la comunicazione dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore per conto della Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà, nel quadro delle attività di Focus in Media, al fine di ricostruire e descrivere l’offerta televisiva specificamente rivolta al pubblico dei bambini e dei preadolescenti