MEDIA ALERT: September 29, 2008

For business, economic and financial editors and producers.
Contact: Carrie Handwerker, 301-405-5833

UMD FACULTY EXPERTS AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT ON ECONOMIC TURMOIL, FEDERAL BAILOUT PLAN

Faculty at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to comment on the beleaguered state of the U.S. banking system including the $700 billion federal bailout plan that failed to pass in the U.S. House of Representatives today and the implications of further industry consolidation. The Smith School has an in-house ReadyCam broadcast facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content.

Smith School experts available for comment:

Haluk Unal, finance professor
E-mail: hunal@rhsmith.umd.edu; Office Phone: 301-405-2256

Unal, a senior fellow at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center, is an expert in corporate finance, the management of financial institutions and fixed-income securities. He has consulted for the FDIC, World Bank, and the Department of Justice, and is the managing editor of the Journal of Financial Services Research.

Albert “Pete” Kyle, finance professor
E-mail: akyle@rhsmith.umd.edu; Office Phone: 301-405-9684; Mobile Phone: 919-225-9696

Kyle is the co-author of the SEC’s investigation and audit of its actions leading to Bear Stearns collapse, “SEC’s Oversight of Bear Stearns and Related Entities: Broker-Dealer Risk Assessment Program,” published on Sept. 25, 2008, He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and a board member of the American Finance Association. Kyle served as a staff member of the Presidential Task Force on Market Mechanisms (Brady Commission) after the stock market crash of 1987 and is a currently a member of NASDAQ’s economic advisory board. The SEC report is available online: http://www.sec.gov/about/oig/oigauditlist.htm.

Elinda Kiss, Tyser Teaching Fellow of finance
E-mail: ekiss@rhsmith.umd.edu; Office Phone: 301-405-7538; Mobile Phone: 215-962-9071

Kiss is a banking regulation expert with banking experience and experience working for the Resolution Trust Corp., the temporary government agency formed to clean up the Savings and Loan problems in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

Lemma Senbet, finance professor
E-mail: lsenbet@rhsmith.umd.edu

Senbet is a foremost expert on the issue of executive compensation and financial crises. He is a member of the Financial Economists Roundtable and he has advised the World Bank, the IMF, the United Nations, and other institutions on issues of financial sector reforms and capital market development.

N.R. Prabhala, associate finance professor
E-mail: nprabhal@rhsmith.umd.edu; Office Phone: 301-405-2165

Prabhala is an expert on corporate finance and option markets. Prabhala has written on a range of topics in corporate finance, including econometric techniques and signaling models in event-studies, executive compensation, and IPOs.