Professor Jonathan Williams
About
Biography
Professor Jonathan Williams joined the University of Surrey in June 2022 as Professor of Finance and Accounting. A banking and finance specialist, he is also Visiting Professor at the University of Turin, the University of Malta, and formerly at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. Professor Williams is the Chair of the European Association of Teachers of Banking and Finance (The Wolpertinger Group), Treasurer of the Financial Markets and Institutions Special Interest Group of BAFA (British Accounting and Finance Association), and a member of the Chartered Banker Institute’s Quality and Standards Committee.
Professor Williams publishes in leading international journals including the Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Stability, and Regional Studies amongst others. He has presented his research at institutions including The World Bank and Deutsche Bundesbank and at conferences and universities in countries across the world. His current research interests include executive compensation and corporate governance in banking, deregulation and competition in financial markets including ownership and structure, and FinTech.
Areas of specialism
University roles and responsibilities
- Director of Postgraduate Research
My qualifications
ResearchResearch interests
Professor Williams' research interests include executive compensation and corporate governance; financial deregulation, competition, efficiency and stability; FinTech; M&A and the internationalisation of banking.
Research interests
Professor Williams' research interests include executive compensation and corporate governance; financial deregulation, competition, efficiency and stability; FinTech; M&A and the internationalisation of banking.
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
I am willing to supervise research students in my areas of research interest.
Teaching
MANM521 Cases in FinTech and Policy (PGT)
MAN3124 Banking and Money (UG)
Publications
FinTech has garnered the interest of the public, industry practitioners, regulators, researchers and policy makers worldwide. Its disruptive and transformative potential transcends country borders and is having real impact on the way financial services are provided and forcing existing financial institutions to adapt. FinTech can enhance competition and financial inclusion to deliver tailored financial services at more affordable prices and at greater convenience. The emergence of FinTech directly challenges the business models of incumbent financial intermediaries like banks, which are adapting through in-house patents, acquisition of emerging FinTech firms and partnering with FinTech and large technology firms. This chapter provides the reader with a short overview of key trends and a preview of the content in the reminder of the book, organized according to chapters.
This book exemplifies the potential of FinTech to deliver important economic and societal gains, such as enhancing competition and financial inclusion to deliver tailored financial products and services at more affordable prices and at greater convenience. The emergence of FinTech directly challenges the business models of incumbent financial intermediaries like banks, which are adapting by developing their own FinTech offerings and partnering with FinTech and large technology firms. FinTech also constitutes both known and unknown risks to financial stability and challenges regulators to evaluate whether existing regulations are sufficient. The emergence of FinTech as a global phenomenon requires insightful cross-country analysis and different perspectives to evaluate its development and associated opportunities and challenges. This book will be of interest to practitioners, regulators and students of this essential enabling technology that is a major component of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
This chapter examines the light and dark sides of fintech through the lens of the supranational agencies responsible for monitoring the impact of developments in market structure on the stability of the global financial system. While fintech is fast growing and offers opportunities to enhance quality of financial services, improve customer satisfaction, increase financial inclusion, support economic growth and welfare gains, the potential exists for known and new risks to emerge and threaten financial stability, economic growth, and social welfare. This chapter discusses how fintech is challenging incumbent financial institutions and identifies benefits and risks associated with the democratisation of financial services. Assessing the effect of fintech on market structures is rendered difficult by a paucity of established data; therefore, the second part of this chapter syntheses relevant data from various sources with predictions from theoretical models alongside empirical and survey evidence to shed light on how markets are evolving and participants are behaving.
We investigate earnings management (EM) behaviour at failed banks by examining the intensity and direction of EM around FDIC-insured commercial bank failures. Our empirical analysis indicates that failing banks engage in EM to a significantly greater extent than non-failing banks. Our results show that failing banks’ discretion over loan loss provisions ranges from aggressive (upwards EM) to conservative (downwards EM).
We offer early evidence on the impact of negative interest rate policy (NIRP) on banks’ risk-taking. Our primary result shows banks in NIRP-adopter countries reduce holdings of risky assets by around 10 percentage points following implementation of NIRP in comparison to banks in non-adopter countries. We augment this result by identifying NIRP’s impact on other aspects of banks’ risk-taking behaviour; NIRP is associated with reductions in banks’ loan growth and average loan price (by 3.7 percentage points and 59 basis points) and a rebalancing of asset portfolios towards safer assets. Secondly, we find the NIRP-effect is heterogeneous; post-NIRP risk-taking increases at strongly capitalised banks and at banks operating in less competitive markets that exploit market power to insulate net interest margins and profitability. Our robust empirical evidence supports the “de-leverage” hypothesis which suggests that banks acquire safer, liquid assets to bolster their capital positions rather than searching for value by acquiring riskier assets. We base our evidence on a sample of 2,584 banks from 33 OECD countries across 2012 to 2016, and from models that employ a difference-in-differences framework. •Negative interest rate policy per se does not increase bank risk-taking.•In NIRP adopting countries banks constrain risk-taking preferring safer liquid assets.•The NIRP effect is heterogeneous.•Better capitalised banks increase risk-taking post NIRP.•Banks operating in less competitive markets increase risk-taking post NIRP.
Using a sample of 440 Italian banks over the period 2007-2016, we find that low interest rates motivate banks to expand their fee and commission income and to restructure their securities portfolios. A granular breakdown suggests that banks grow noninterest income in various ways, including portfolio management, brokerage and consultancy services and increase fee income from current account and payment services. In addition, banks rebalance securities portfolios away from those "held for trading" to securities "available for sale" and "held to maturity." Our findings allude to different behavior between large and small banks: while larger banks increase brokerage, consultancy and portfolio management services, smaller banks generate fees from customer current accounts.
Additional publications
Łasak., P., Williams, J., (eds), 2023/24. The Digital Transformation and the Economics of Banking: Economic, Institutional, and Social Dimensions. Routledge (forthcoming).
Łasak., P., Williams, J., 2023/24. Introduction. In Łasak, P., Williams, J. (eds), The Digital Transformation and the Economics of Banking: Economic, Institutional, and Social Dimensions, Routledge (forthcoming).
Cardias Williams, F., Williams, J., 2023. Compensation Policy in Banking: The Case of Tournament Incentives. In: Carbó-Valverde, S., Cuadros-Solas, P.J. (eds) New Challenges for the Banking Industry. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32931-9_2
Briano Turrent, G., Poletti-Hughes, J., Williams, J., 2023. Transparency on corporate governance reporting and board of directors’ strategies. Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas, 18, 2, 1-22.
El Diri, M., King, T., Spokeviciute, L., Williams, J., 2021. Hands in the cookie jar: Exploiting loan loss provision under bank financial distress” Economics Letters, 209, December doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2021.110098.
Molyneux, P., Reghezza, A., Torriero, C., Williams, J., 2021. Banks’ non-interest income and securities holdings in a low interest rate environment: The case of Italy. European Financial Management, 27, 98-119.
Bongiovanni, A., Reghezza, A., Santamaria, R., Williams, J., 2021. Do negative interest rates affect bank risk-taking?” Journal of Empirical Finance, 63, 350-364.
Williams, J., 2021. Fintech: A Perfect Day or Walk on the Wild Side? In T.P. King, A. Srivastav, S. Stentella Lopes, J. Williams (eds), Disruptive Technology in Banking and Finance: An international perspective on FinTech, Palgrave Macmillan.
King, T.P., Srivastav, A., Stentella Lopes, S., Williams, J., 2021. Introduction. In in T.P. King, A. Srivastav, S. Stentella Lopes, J. Williams (eds), Disruptive Technology in Banking and Finance: An international perspective on FinTech, Palgrave Macmillan.
King, T.P., Srivastav, A., Stentella Lopes, S., Williams, J., 2021. Disruptive Technology in Banking and Finance: An international perspective on FinTech. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 978-3-030-81834-0.
Pancottto, L., ap Gwilym, O., Williams, J., 2020. Market reactions to the implementation of Banking Union in Europe. European Journal of Finance, 26, 7-8, 640-665.
Pancottto, L., ap Gwilym, O., Williams, J., 2019. The European bank recovery and resolution directive: A market assessment. Journal of Financial Stability, 44, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfs.2019.100689.
Poletti-Hughes, J., Williams, J., 2019. The effect of family control on value and risk-taking: A socioemotional wealth approach. International Review of Financial Analysis, 63, 369-381.
Carvalho, F., de Paula, L.F., Williams, J., 2019. Banking in Latin America: Developments and Prospects. In A. Berger, P. Molyneux, J. Wilson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Banking, Oxford University Press, Third Edition, 1152-1189.
Casu, B., Dontis-Charitos, P., Staikouras, S., Williams, J., 2016. Diversification, size and risk: The case of bank acquisitions of nonbank financial firms. European Financial Management, 22, 2, 235-275.
King, T.P., Srivastav, A., Williams, J., 2016. What’s in an education? Implications of CEO education for bank performance. Journal of Corporate Finance, 37, 287-308.
Dontis-Charitos, P., Staikouras, S., Williams, J., 2016. Bank diversification and financial conglomerates in Europe. In Beck, T., Casu, B. (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of European Banking, Palgrave, 49-79.
Williams, J., 2015. Electronic banking. In Cooper, C.L. (ed.), The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Management – Vol. IV Finance (Paudyal, K., ed.), Third Edition, Blackwell Publishing, Blackwell Reference Online. 15 June.
Carvalho, F., de Paula, L.F., Williams, J., 2015. Banking in Latin America. In A. Berger, P. Molyneux, J. Wilson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Banking, Oxford University Press, Second Edition, 984-1016.
Rationalizing the value premium in emerging markets. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money 29, 51-70.
Goddard, J., Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 2014. Dealing with cross-firm heterogeneity in bank efficiency estimates: Some evidence from Latin America. Journal of Banking and Finance 40, 130-142.
Ebrahim, M.S., Girma, S., Shah, M.E., Williams, J., 2014. Dynamic capital structure under political patronage: The case of Malaysia. International Review of Financial Analysis 31, 117-128.
Barros, C., Williams, J., 2013. The random parameters stochastic frontier cost function and the effectiveness of public policy: Evidence from bank restructuring in Mexico. International Review of Financial Analysis 30, 98-108.
Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 2013. Bank efficiency in Latin America. In F. Pasiouras (ed), Efficiency and Productivity Growth: Modelling in the Financial Services Industry, John Wiley & Sons, 1-18.
Vo, N., Williams, J., 2013. Bank restructuring and bank stability in Latin America. In J. Fernández de Guevara Radoselovics, J. Pastor Monsálvez (eds), Bank Behaviour in Modern Banking, Palgrave Macmillan, 48-67.
Williams, J., 2012. Efficiency and market power in Latin American banking. Journal of Financial Stability 8, 4, 263-276.
Peypoch, N., Barros, C., Williams, J., 2011. The Luenberger indicator and productivity growth: A note on the European savings banks sector. Applied Economics 43, 6, 747-755.
Peypoch, N., Barros, C., Williams, J., 2010. A note on productivity change in European co-operative banks: The Luenberger indicator approach. International Review of Applied Economics 24, 2, 137-147.
Cardias Williams, F., Williams, J., 2010. What does bank financial profile tells us about mergers and acquisitions in Latin American banking? In F. Fiordelisi, P. Molyneux, D. Previati (eds), New Issues in Financial Institutions Management, Palgrave Macmillan, 153-170.
Carvalho, F., de Paula, L.F., Williams, J., 2009. Banking in Latin America. In A. Berger, P. Molyneux, J.O.S. Wilson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Banking, Oxford University Press, 868-902.
Cardias Williams, F., Williams, J., 2008. Does ownership explain bank M&A? The case of domestic banks and foreign banks in Brazil. In P. Arestis, L.F. de Paula (eds), Financial Liberalization and Economic Performance in Emerging Countries, Palgrave Macmillan, 194-216.
Williams, J., 2008. Are European savings banks too small? A comparison of scale economies and scale efficiency. Journal of Financial Decision Making 4, 2, 45-58.
Williams, J., Liao, A., 2008. The search for value: Cross-border bank M&A in emerging markets. Comparative Economics Studies 50, 274-296.
Williams, J., Liao, A., 2008. Cross-border bank M&A in emerging markets – value creation or destruction?” In P. Molyneux, E. Vallelado (eds), Frontiers of Banks in a Global World, Palgrave Macmillan, 54-77.
Barros, C., Ferreira, C., Williams, J., 2007. Analysing the determinants of performance of best and worst European banks: A mixed logit approach. Journal of Banking and Finance 31, 2189-2203.
Nguyen, N., Williams, J., 2007. The Financial System in Asia and Australia. Papeles de Economica Espanola 110, 116-144.
Chakravarty, S.P., Williams, J., 2006. How significant is the alleged unfair advantage enjoyed by State-owned banks in Germany? Cambridge Journal of Economics, 30, 2, 219-226.
Mackay, R.R., Williams, J., 2005. Beginning to think about need: Public spending in the regions. Regional Studies 39, 6, 815-828.
Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 2005. The productivity of European co-operative banks. Managerial Finance, 31, 11, 26-35.
Williams, J., Nguyen, N., 2005. Financial liberalisation, crisis and restructuring: A comparative study of bank performance and bank governance in South East Asia. Journal of Banking and Finance 29, 8-9, 2119-2154.
Williams, J., 2005. Electronic banking. In Garrett, I. (ed), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management – Finance, 2nd Edition.
Liao, A., Williams, J., 2004. Volatility transmission and changes in stock market interdependence in the European Community. European Review of Economics and Finance 3, 3, 203-231.
Williams, J., 2004. Bad luck or bad management: Management behaviour in European banking. Journal of Banking and Finance, 28, 10, 2427-2460.
Williams, J., Gardener, E.P.M., 2003. The efficiency of European regional banking. Regional Studies 37, 4, 321-330.
Carbo, S; Gardener, E.P.M., Williams, J., 2003. A Note on Technical Change in Banking: The Case of European Savings Banks. Applied Economics, 35, 705-719.
Williams, J., 2003. The competitiveness of regional banking in the Europe of the euro. In Donges, J.B., (ed.), The financial system in the Europe of the euro, ICO Foundation (Spain).
Gardener, E.P.M; Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 2003. Competitive Banking in the EU and Euroland. In Mullineux, A., Murinde, V., (eds), Handbook of International Banking, Edward Elgar.
Carbo, S; Gardener, E.P.M., Williams, J., 2002. Efficiency in Banking: Empirical Evidence from the Savings Banks Sector. The Manchester School 70, 2, March, 204-228.
Williams, J., 2001. Financial deregulation and productivity change in European banking. Revue de la Banque, December, 470-477.
Williams, J., 2001. Institutional investment flows and the regions of the UK: a case for a new financial infrastructure? In Gardener, E., Versliys, P., (eds) Bank Strategies and Challenges in the New Europe, Macmillan.
Carbo, S; Gardener, E.P.M., Williams, J., 2000. Efficiency and technical change in Europe’s Savings Banks Industry. Revue de la Banque, 64, (6), pp. 381-94.
Wilson, J.O.S., Williams, J.M., 2000. The size and growth of banks: Evidence from four European countries. Applied Economics, V32, 9, June, pp. 1101-1109.
Carbo, S., Williams, J., 2000. Stakeholder Value in European Savings Banks. In Schuster, L., (ed.) Shareholder Value Management in Banking, Macmillan.
Carbo, S; Gardener, E.P.M., |Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 2000. Adaptive Strategies by European Savings Banks: A Case Study of Spain. In Gardener, E., Falzon, J., (eds) Strategic Challenges in European Banking, Macmillan.
Gardener, E.P.M., Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 2000. La UEM y el Sistema Bancario Europeo. Papeles de Economica Espanola, vol. 84-85.
Gardener, E., Howcroft, B., Williams, J., 1999. The New Retail Banking Revolution. The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2, April.
Gardener, E.P.M; Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 1999. European Savings Banks Coming of Age? Lafferty Publications.
Gardener, E., Carbo, S., Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 1998. El futuro de las Cajas de Ahorros en el Mercado Unico de la Union Europea. Papeles de Economica Espanola, no. 74/75.
Gardener, E., Molyneux, P., Williams, J., Carbo, S., 1997. European savings banks: Facing up to the new environment. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 15, 7, 243-254.
Gardener, E., Molyneux, P., Williams, J., 1997. El impacto de la union monetaria europea sobre las estrategias de bancos y cajas de ahorros de la Union Europea. Perspectivas del Sistema Financiero, 60, 31-40.
Williams, J., 1996. Primary market intermediaries. In Gardener, E., Molyneux, P., (eds), Investment Banking: Theory and Practice, 2nd edition, Euromoney Books, 91-107.
Williams, J., 1996. Global equity markets. In Gardener, E., Molyneux, P., (eds), Investment Banking: Theory and Practice, 2nd edition, Euromoney Books, 225-246.
Gardener, E.P.M., Williams, J., 1996. British bank strategies: balancing customer needs and supply-side pressures. In Schuster, L., (ed.), Banking Cultures of the World, Fritz Knapp Verlag, 591-612.
Gardener, E.P.M., Williams, J., 1996. The UK’s offshore banking centres. In Schuster, L., (ed.), Banking Cultures of the World, Fritz Knapp Verlag, 613-617.
Williams, J., 1996. Italy. In Banking in the New EU Switzerland and Norway, Financial Times Publications.
Williams, J., 1996. Sweden. In Banking in the New EU Switzerland and Norway, Financial Times Publications.