On 15 July 2026, Prof. Dr. Vanessa Flagmeier (Georg-August-University of Göttingen) visited the University of Passau. As part of the AFT Brown Bag Seminar, she presented her paper “Philanthropic disclosure and political insiders” (co-authored with Maryna Gulenko), that studies the influence of politicians as bank-insiders on banks’ philanthropic disclosures, i.e., particularly articles on donations. The paper confirms a politically influenced, strategic nature of the disclosures by the examined banks. Moreover, the findings suggest a politically motivated reallocation of actual donations, and the association of strategic philanthropic disclosures with a better election outcome.