Many investors purchase mutual funds through intermediated channels, paying brokers or financial advisors for fund selection and advice. This article attempts to quantify the benefits that investors enjoy in exchange for the costs of these services. We study broker-sold and direct-sold funds from 1996 to 2004, and fail to find that brokers deliver substantial tangible benefits. Relative to dire...

Real estate is the most important alternative asset class for pension funds and represents on average more than five percent of their total holdings. We employ a previously unexplored international database to examine the investments of some 880 pension funds in direct real estate and REITs over the 1990-2009 period. We document that larger funds are more likely to invest in real estate interna...

This paper shows that foreign aid in postwar Lebanon passed through two phases with distinct features that have had far reaching implications for postwar development. In the first phase lasting from 1992-97, foreign aid was mainly channelled towards providing resources for postwar reconstruction projects. The second phase from 1997 to the present witnessed a qualitative shift in foreign aid uti...

This paper shows that foreign aid in postwar Lebanon passed through two phases with distinct features that have had far reaching implications for postwar development. In the first phase lasting from 1992-97, foreign aid was mainly channelled towards providing resources for postwar reconstruction projects. The second phase from 1997 to the present witnessed a qualitative shift in foreign aid uti...

This study investigates the performance and risk of currency hedge funds from 1999 to 2009. Our results show that a substantial number of hedge funds generate returns that exceed foreign exchange risk premia obtained through carry trades. Small funds perform better than large funds and the best alpha-generating funds exhibit a performance that persists over a one-year horizon. This performance ...

This paper proposes new performance decomposition measures that allow one to analyse the sources of returns on the international equity holdings of a large cross-section of UK pension funds. The results suggest that the pension funds earned negative returns both from international market timing and from selecting stocks within individual foreign regions. The average fund underperformed a passiv...

The fast growing EU market for investment funds is still characterised by a continuing relevance of national borders. This papers assesses this market’s degree of integration, the potential benefits from more integration and the obstacles to cross-border sales of funds. The analysis shows that markets of small member countries are particularly isolated since for suppliers of funds the market po...

in most legal systems, service consumers, as the weaker party to the contract, are covered by protective provisions. due to the particular complexity of electronic funds transactions, consumers need further protection, which should be proportionate with the requirements of this type of transactions. in some countries, such as america, independent regulations have been ratified to protect consum...

The advent of Internet has provided banks an opportunity to reduce costs, increase customer base, and mass customize by delivering their products and services through this medium. A flurry of studies on Internet banking (IB) has since emerged. The majority of these studies, however, have been directed to either IB adoption or IB service quality delivery. With few exceptions, the impact that cus...

Trading Volume (Liquidity) is the perfect complement to returns. Therefore, research regarding volume becomes an important thing in capital market. Various factors that influence Liquidity (TV) are bid-ask spread; interest rates, exchange and foreign funds. The study uses Amihud Illiquidity Ratio (AIR) as a proxy for liquidity. data Indonesian Composite Index liquidity, all variables, daily bas...