Segmented financial risk tolerances within the standardised initial public offering regulatory environment of the Australian Securities Exchange

This study examines differentiated financial risk tolerance attitudes between three listing branches within the Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) standardised listing environment. Western Australia’s (WA) concentration of earlier-stage IPOs (51% of all ASX small, (predominately mining) initial public offerings (IPOs)) appears to reflect a localised ‘entrepreneurial’ risk attitude towards smaller, higher-risk transactions, comparative to New South Wales and Victoria . Our mixed method approach identifies that the concentration of small-cap, capital raising experiences that are (in)/formally shared through key ‘gatekeepers’, shape locally adopted funding capabilities, business processes, and risk attitudes. Underlying risk attitudes were influenced by the shared confidence in the recognition and management of risk, thereby increasing the propensity to participate in more speculative opportunities, and WA’s presumptive higher risk tolerance.