Prof. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach

Rüdiger Fahlenbrach is Professor of Finance at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Previously, Professor Fahlenbrach taught at the Ohio State University. His research has been published in the top finance journals worldwide and the international press.

Professor Fahlenbrach's recent work examines how regulatory and political environments shape payout decisions in the U.S. banking sector, particularly for the largest banks. Using empirical analysis, he and his coauthors show that bank payout policies are significantly lower under Democratic presidencies. Using a regression discontinuity design, the paper shows that dividends fall when banks are subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny, consistent with direct supervisory pressure. At the same time, the paper documents that share repurchases increased markedly after the financial crisis, as regulators encouraged more flexible payout tools. The authors also show large positive stock price reactions to the election of Donald Trump, reflecting expectations of reduced regulatory pressure and higher future payouts. Professor Fahlenbrach actively participates in SFI Knowledge Exchange activities on private markets.

• Financial Markets
  • Financial Crises
• Financial Institutions
  • Banks
  • Venture Capital and Private Equity
• Corporate Finance and Governance
  • Capital Budgeting and Investment Policy
  • Corporate Governance and Managerial Compensation
  • Financial Risk and Risk Management
  • Financial Valuation
  • Financing Policy and Capital Structure
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
• Frontier Topics
  • Sustainable Finance