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While Coronavirus somewhat overshadowed the Brexit transition period last year, the UK continues to embark on 'post-Brexit Britain' with a Free-Trade Agreement. In the years leading up to the UK's departure from the EU, the possibility of a no-deal Brexit caused great economic and political uncertainty, especially amongst investors.

In the midst of the international financial crisis, the German federal government passed the Risk Limitation Act in autumn 2007. In spring 2008 the Bundestag has finally decided on the law. The domestic private equity/buyout providers, which have not previously been subject to banking supervision, are among the main addressees of the act. Among others, "objectionable macroeconomic activities of financial investors" are to be hindered or prevented, without simultaneously "impairing efficient financial and corporate transactions". In short, the regulation of activities is intended to have a stabilizing effect in the midst of turbulent times. Private equity funds can particularly be regarded as a supplement to the traditional instruments of corporate financing. In a study recently presented by DIW Berlin, it was determined that private equity funds generally do not swarm in on German companies "like locusts". Their macroeconomic significance has so far tended to be minor. An expansion of commitment by private equity funds would be welcomed. Particularly SMEs can profit from it.

The article addresses the issue of the business climate in Russia from the Swedish investors' perspective and relates its to a general theoretical debate in the field. Statistical tests suggests that the majority of variables relating to the business climate has deteriorated between 2012 and 2014. The findings support several mainstream theories regarding the business climate but also demonstrate some contradictions that would require further investigation. These include the reaction of Swedish business to the escalation of political tensions between Russia and the West and the factor of corruption, which is not viewed as serious enough to fully discourage foreign investors from staying in Russia.

This thesis investigates how investors as shareholders can seek to have corporations respect human rights. This is an important question because corporations play a key role in the global economy. They can provide employment and thereby enhance the enjoyment of human rights. They can also adversely impact on the human rights of others, although they are not accountable for these adverse human rights impacts in international law. It is therefore necessary to investigate how investors can become the 'regulators' of corporations with respect to human rights. This is made more important because, through their own investment practices, investors can adversely impact on the human rights of others. This thesis undertakes its investigation through an examination of the current and historical practices of investors, using their position as shareholders, to seek to have corporations respect human rights. This thesis examines the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ('the Guiding Principles') as a framework to enable investors to determine whether investee corporations respect human rights. This thesis also undertakes an examination of the practices of two significant institutional investors with respect to human rights and draws comparisons between their practices and the Guiding Principles. Those two investors are the Government Pension Fund Global of Norway and the California Public Employees' Retirement System in the United States of America. By this means, this thesis identifies a model for investors to seek to have corporations respect human rights. This model is made up of four components. They are a mandate for human rights, expertise, transparency and collaboration. This thesis identifies consistency between this model and what this thesis refers to as 'Regulatory Theory'. Although this thesis focuses on investors as regulators of their investee corporations, the model advanced encompasses the regulation of investors to play this role through the application of the Guiding Principles to them and in the context of Regulatory Theory. This thesis proposes that other types of investors, apart from shareholders, could potentially adopt this model for humanising capital.

This paper investigates the relationship between subjective financial literacy, i.e. self-reported by investors, and trading behavior. In particular, we use the level of financial knowledge and experience reported in the MiFID tests by retail investors. Such tests are implemented in the EU from the so-called MiFID directive since November 2007. We show that subjective financial literacy helps explain cross-sectional variations in retail investors' behavior. Investors who report higher levels of financial literacy seem to invest smarter, even after controlling for gender, age, portfolio value, trading experience and education. They trade more and are less prone to the disposition effect. They tend to concentrate their portfolios on a small set of stocks and achieve diversification through investment funds holding. Their trading behaviors allow them to display higher gross and net returns as well as higher excess Sharpe ratios. Our findings are relevant for both policy making and understanding retail investors' behavior.

This paper investigates the relationship between subjective financial literacy, i.e. self-reported by investors, and trading behavior. In particular, we use the level of financial knowledge and experience reported in the MiFID tests by retail investors. Such tests are implemented in the EU from the so-called MiFID directive since November 2007. We show that subjective financial literacy helps explain cross-sectional variations in retail investors' behavior. Investors who report higher levels of financial literacy seem to invest smarter, even after controlling for gender, age, portfolio value, trading experience and education. They trade more and are less prone to the disposition effect. They tend to concentrate their portfolios on a small set of stocks and achieve diversification through investment funds holding. Their trading behaviors allow them to display higher gross and net returns as well as higher excess Sharpe ratios. Our findings are relevant for both policy making and understanding retail investors' behavior.

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and Management ; Over the past few years, cryptocurrencies have been increasingly spoken and have become a global phenomenon known to most people. Nowadays, banks, governments and many companies are aware of its importance. Their high volatility and lack of regulation makes these investments very risky, and even though these coins are often associated with criminal activities, an increase on the number of investors is visible every day. The blockchain technology, which serves as the basis for this type of coin, has also dismissed much curiosity from various technological giants and financial companies. Almost all major banks, big accounting firms, prominent software companies or governments already did a research related to cryptocurrencies or published a paper about it. Most of the published studies explain the technology behind cryptocurrencies, others calculate their volatility and the remaining ones list their main advantages and disadvantages. However, there was no published study that aims to understand what kind of profile these investors have and what are their motivations and expectations for the future. With the help of a questionnaire presented to the investors, this study concluded that there are two separate investor profiles and also understood what are their motivations and expectations for the future. On the other hand, through interviews with financial institutions, it was possible to see what vision regulators, private equities and corporate banking have for this new type of currency and if they consider them as a valid mean of payment.

This paper utilizes a very simple model to study the timing and determinants of speculationagainst a fixed exchange rate regime when investors are heterogeneous because of locationaldifferences. Location matters because resident players may incur smaller costs when takinga short-position, are less exposed to exchange rate risk, possess better information quality,have more knowledge about each others information sets, due to asymmetries in tax treatment,or because of the presence of government guarantees. Our model clarifies the respective rolesplayed by local and international investors during episodes of capital flight as well as theresulting room of maneuver for policymakers in emerging markets.

We allow the preference of a political majority to determine boththe corporate governance structure and the division of profits betweenhuman and financial capital. In a democratic society where financialwealth is concentrated, a political majority may prefer to restraingovernance by dispersed equity investors even if this reduces profits.The reason is that labor claims are exposed to undiversifiable risk, sovoters with small financial stakes may prefer lender (or large share-holder) dominance, as they choose lower risk strategies. The modelmay explain the great reversal phenomenon in the first half of the20th century (Rajan and Zingales, 2003), when some financially verydeveloped countries moved towards bank or state control as a finan-cially weakened middle class became concerned about income risk.We offer evidence using post WW1 inflationary shocks as the sourceof identifying exogenous variation.

The International Investment Regime (iir) materialises in international arbitral tribunals that protect the rights of foreign investors. Could these tribunals hamper the implementation of exceptional measures agreed to end armed conflicts? The principle of proportionality, usually employed to balance competing demands such as the interests of international investors and the right of states to self-determination, could fall short when it comes to the concept of a nation and a society's right to peace. Focusing on the Colombian peace process, this article argues that the agreement on land redistribution, a cornerstone of the peace agreements, benefits the whole society, including foreign investors. However, the colonialist nature of the iir could lead foreign investors, who see their investments and expected profits affected, to demand compensation for governmental land acquisition. The Colombian case suggests powerful lessons for the willingness of transitional states to defend their people's right to peace in international tribunals. © 2016 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Decisions made by individual investors when it comes to investing in financial instruments is often seemed as random choices because these decisions are affected by many factors. The research is done to identify various such factors that influence the investment decision of an individual investor. In this research, Descriptive research design is used. Judgemental sampling is used to collect data from 16 investors. Percentage factor analysis is performed to analyse the data. The study found that risk, economic conditions, return on investment, past performance of the company, companies balance sheet, Image of the company, volatility of the stock and government policies are the main factors that influence the investment decisions of individual investors.

Recent empirical studies claim that, in addition to levels of corruption, investors are deterred by its unpredictability. I claim instead that it is petty corruption that deters investors. I employ seven subcomponents of corruption for a sample of 102 countries that appear in the 2003 Global Competitiveness Report of the WEF. The second principal component of this data depicts a grand, political type, embracing corruption in government policymaking and in judicial decisions as opposed to corruption in public utilities and loan applications. Grand corruption less deters investors because they might feel belonging to an inner circle of insiders that can profit from hidden arrangements. Grand corruption also entails relatively smaller organizational effort.

Data show that sovereign risk reduces liquidity, increases funding cost and risk of banks highly exposed to it. I build a model that rationalizes this fact. Banks act as delegated monitors and invest in risky projects and in risky sovereign bonds. As investors hear rumors of increased sovereign risk, they run the bank (via global games). Banks could rollover liquidity in repo market using government bonds as collateral, but as sovereign risk raises collateral values shrink. Overall banks' liquidity falls (its cost increases) and so does banks' credit. In this context noisy news (announcements with signal extraction) of consolidation policies are recessionary in the short run, as they contribute to investors and banks pessimism, and mildly expansionary in the medium run. The banks liquidity channel plays a major role in the fiscal transmission.

Data show that sovereign risk reduces liquidity, increases funding cost and risk of banks highly exposed to it. I build a model that rationalizes this fact. Banks act as delegated monitors and invest in risky projects and in risky sovereign bonds. As investors hear rumors of increased sovereign risk, they run the bank (via global games). Banks could rollover liquidity in repo market using government bonds as collateral, but as sovereign risk raises collateral values shrink. Overall banks' liquidity falls (its cost increases) and so does banks' credit. In this context noisy news (announcements with signal extraction) of consolidation policies are recessionary in the short run, as they contribute to investors and banks pessimism, and mildly expansionary in the medium run. The banks liquidity channel plays a major role in the fiscal transmission.

Plastics is a group of versatile and useful materials. They are important for many industries as well as for everyday practices – and should thus be important also for investors and financial actors. A transition to sustainable plastics will require investments in production, management, and recycling – and investments need to transition towards sustainable practices as argued by many international organisations and governments. The challenge is to deal with several sustainability issues: the complete dependency on fossil resources and energy for production; low rates of recycling – also of material that is collected for recycling; unsustainable waste management which contributes to plastic pollution of terrestrial and aquatic environments. To this list could also be added health concerns related primarily to the use of different types of additives. ; Plastics are important for both industry and individuals – and should be for investors and financial actors. Responsible investors need to tackle those significant problems: • A dependence on fossil raw materials and energy which contributes to climate change. • Dysfunctional management of waste and recycling of plastics. • Littering and pollution of terrestrial and aquatic environments. This report addresses these problems and discusses emerging development pathways that have the potential to mitigate the negative effects. It also presents reasons for why the financial sector should look carefully at investments related to plastics.