No abstract

Post 2008, the market-to-book ratios of European and US banks have diverged markedly. We use panel regressions to investigate the determinants of the M/B ratios of 112 European and US banks. We show that the underperformance of European banks is mainly driven by non-performing loans and by the negative impact of policy rates on bank interest margins. The higher US bank valuations are mainly driven by higher profitability and better cost efficiency. Our results for European banks stress the importance of timely NPL resolution and imply that low-for-long monetary policy may harm bank health.

No abstract

Post 2008, the market-to-book ratios of European and US banks have diverged markedly. We use panel regressions to investigate the determinants of the M/B ratios of 112 European and US banks. We show that the underperformance of European banks is mainly driven by non-performing loans and by the negative impact of policy rates on bank interest margins. The higher US bank valuations are mainly driven by higher profitability and better cost efficiency. Our results for European banks stress the importance of timely NPL resolution and imply that low-for-long monetary policy may harm bank health.

The impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the proportion of distant metastatic cancer diagnoses of the most frequent cancer types The Covid-19 epidemic had a tremendous impact on the Belgian health care system in March and April 2020 with non-urgent procedures and examinations being postponed and screening programs coming to a halt. This might have delayed cancer diagnosis. In this article the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the proportion of metastatic cancer diagnoses of the most frequent cancer types was examined. The data of the cancer registry of the Ziekenhuisnetwerk Antwerpen (ZNA) from March until August in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 were retrospectively analysed. The studied cancer types were invasive breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer and prostate cancer. There is no relation between the time of diagnosis and the extent of disease. The ratio of metastatic and localised disease did not differ between the studied time periods. However, there is a reduction in the number of diagnosis for breast cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer, compared with the same period in 2019. This reduction was most pronounced in prostate cancer with a relative reduction of 23%. For now, there does not seem to be a major impact of Covid-19 related restriction measures on the proportion of diagnosis of metastatic cancers in the defined registration period at Ziekenhuisnetwerk Antwerpen. However, further research is necessary to evaluate if the reduced number of diagnoses will lead to an increase in belated diagnoses.