������

Do bond investors hedge geopolitical risk?

Shushu Liao from Peking University HSBC Business School (UK) - 3 December 2025

Abstract: Do investors in corporate bonds react to geopolitical risk (GPR)? We examine this by analyzing the relationship between firms’ bond return sensitivity to the GPR index, or GPR beta, and their subsequent bond returns. The results from the Fama-MacBeth cross-sectional regressions as well as robust fixed effects panel regressions reveal a significant negative relationship between GPR beta and subsequent bond returns, indicating that high GPR beta bonds - or bonds with higher return covariance to GPR - yield lower returns in the following period. A high GPR beta indicates that such bonds yield higher returns during geopolitical risk stress, making them effective hedges for investors who are willing to accept lower returns or negative premiums in the next period. Our findings are also economically meaningful, with a one-standard-deviation increase in the geopolitical risk beta associated with an 6% to 9% decrease in annual bond returns. Additionally, causal identification based on the staggered difference-in-differences analysis shows that hedging demand for high GPR-beta bonds increases after periods of intensified geopolitical conflict. Cross-sectionally, the risk premium linked to bonds with negative GPR beta is larger for firms with high downside risk, greater international exposure, more supply chain disruptions, and higher credit risk, and during times of elevated volatility and economic uncertainty. Our results are robust to placebo tests, alternative GPR indices, GPR beta estimators, and the inclusion of firm-level political risk. Overall, our findings suggest that when fixed-income investors are concerned about GPR, they tend to reallocate their investments toward high GPR-beta bonds, accepting lower returns to better hedge against geopolitical risks, thus supporting the risk premium or hedging hypothesis.

Speaker bio: Shushu Liao is an Associate Professor of Finance at the UK campus of Peking University HSBC Business School. Previously, she served as an Assistant Professor of Corporate Finance at Kühne Logistics University (KLU) in Hamburg, Germany. She has also held positions as a Research Fellow at the Auckland Centre for Financial Research at Auckland University of Technology and as a fixed-term Lecturer at Lancaster University in the UK. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from Sun Yat-sen University, a Master’s degree in Finance from Imperial College London, and completed her PhD in Finance at Lancaster University Management School in 2019. Her research focuses on empirical corporate finance, including corporate governance, CEO behaviour, sustainability and social finance, as well as dynamic modelling of financing and investment decisions. She is particularly interested in the interplay between finance and labour and in how collateral and financial shocks transmit to the real economy. She teaches undergraduate courses in International Finance and Corporate Finance, and an MBA module on Financial Management for Sustainable Value.

Does workforce wellbeing influence corporate efficiency?

19 November 2025: Carlos Pinheiro (Universidade Europeia)

Abstract: The core research question addressed in this paper is whether the wellbeing of the workforce contributes to corporate technical efficiency. It is widely recognized that job satisfaction, working in a healthy and safe workplace, diversity, equal opportunities, and development growth (denoted wellbeing) is closely related to productivity. Although the influence of the workforce on firms' ability to maximize output given a set of inputs (i.e. firm efficiency) has not been widely studied, empirical literature has recognized workforce wellbeing is closely related to productivity. Based on a measure of workforce wellbeing of US listed firms across industries from 2005 to 2019, our study makes a novel contribution to this literature. We find a positive association between workforce wellbeing and technical efficiency that is both economically substantial and statistically significant. Firm inefficiency is explained by firm-specific factors and is a decreasing (increasing) function of size and external monitoring (leverage, blockholdings, and foreign sales). This inefficiency can be mitigated through employee-oriented practices, external governance mechanisms and market surveillance. From a policy perspective, our findings highlight the practical impact of workforce wellbeing on corporate technical efficiency.

Speaker bio: Carlos Manuel Pinheiro is an Associate Professor at Universidade Europeia in Lisbon, Portugal, where he teaches finance and related subjects. Before entering academia, he spent more than 30 years as a manager in the banking sector. He holds a PhD in Finance from ISCTE Business School at the Lisbon University Institute and also has strong expertise in negotiation, business planning, banking, and entrepreneurship. His research focuses on financial institutions and markets, international economics, governance, and behavioural finance. He has published in several ISI- and Scopus-indexed journals—including the Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Financial Stability, and Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments. He is also co-author of a book on derivatives and conducts research as a member of the Business Research Unit (BRU) at the Lisbon University Institute.

The Impact of Fintech Innovation on SME Lending: Evidence from UK banks

12 November 2025: Isabelle Roland, joint with Vladimír Pažitka (Leeds) and Alex Prior (BoE)

Abstract: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often face financing constraints due to information asymmetry and a lack of collateral. Financial technology (Fintech) has the potential to mitigate these frictions. Existing studies on Fintech and SME credit supply primarily focus on how Fintech lenders have established themselves as viable competitors to mainstream banks in the lending market. However, few studies examine how these developments affect banks' SME credit supply. This paper aims to fill this gap using matched borrower-lender data from Experian and a novel measure of bank-level Fintech intensity based on data on partnerships between banks and Fintech developers. Our results suggest that the use of financial technology contributes to the democratization of SME bank credit, with Fintech-intensive banks reaching riskier borrowers and borrowers less likely to be served by bank branch networks.

Speaker bio: Isabelle is a Research Economist at the Bank of England and an Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. Her research focuses on financial frictions and their effects on firm behaviour, investment, and productivity, as well as how financial intermediaries influence these frictions through mechanisms such as syndicated lending, Fintech adoption, and credit market interventions. Previously, she held academic positions at Cambridge and Oxford, and earned her PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics after completing a BSc at KU Leuven. Before her PhD, she worked in economic consulting at LECG and as a Research Analyst at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. Her research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of International Money and Finance and the International Review of Economics and Finance, with several ongoing collaborations, including with Tim Besley and John Van Reenen.

Private equity diversity and talent: do they matter for acquisitive growth?

5 November 2025: Ranko Jelic (Sussex Business School) (joint with Xinyu Yu, Dan Zhou)

Abstract: Building on the strategic entrepreneurship perspective and upper echelon theory, we examine the importance of private equity (PE) functional human capital and socio-demographic diversity for the success of the acquisitive growth strategy. Our focus is on the buyout lead partner team (LPT) rather than on human capital at the collective PE firm (or fund) level. The results of our panel data survival models suggest that gender and age diversity, as well as the financial background, significantly accelerate both first and subsequent add-on acquisitions. The results are robust to alternative proxies, model specifications and endogeneity checks.

Speaker bio: Ranko leads the Business Finance (BF) research group within the Business School. His research focuses on corporate and entrepreneurial finance, private equity, sustainable finance, European bond markets, and the regulation of financial markets and institutions. He has authored more than forty academic publications, including journal articles and book chapters. His work has appeared in leading journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Finance, British Journal of Management, European Financial Management, and Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, among others.

Geopolitical Risk and Cross-Border Portfolio Flows: Transmission Channels and Effects

22 October 2025- Faek Menla Ali (Jointly with Guglielmo Maria Caporale, Brunel University of London)

Abstract: This paper analyses the short-and long-term effects of geopolitical uncertainty on cross-border equity and bond portfolio inflows and outflows between the US and 41 developed and emerging counterpart economies over the period January 1992-November 2022. We find that geopolitical uncertainty in counterpart countries decreases equity flows from these countries into the US in both the short and long term, with this flight home effect generally peaking after 6 months. We investigate the underlying mechanisms and show that rising risk premia, rather than capital controls, is the key channel through which geopolitical uncertainty affects these flows, which supports theoretical capital flow models with portfolio choice that explain home bias. By contrast, the responses of other types of flows to geopolitical uncertainty are generally weak and appear only when accounting for certain forms of cross-sectional heterogeneity and their time variation.

Speaker bio: Faek Menla Ali is an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Sussex Business School, where he has been a member of the Finance group since 2017. He earned both his MSc and PhD in Finance and Economics from Brunel University London in 2010 and 2014. Before joining Sussex, he served as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Economics and Finance at Brunel University from 2013 to 2017. Faek’s research focuses on international finance, with particular interests in capital flows, financial market volatility, and exchange rate dynamics. He also explores the role of big data and sentiment in financial markets—research that has attracted attention from outlets such as the Financial Times.

His work has been published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Empirical Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, European Financial Management, and Economics Letters, among others.

Biodiversity risk and corporate labour adjustments

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of biodiversity transition risk on labor demand and supply. Using the “30 by 30” target of the Kunming Declaration, which aims to expand biodiversity-protected areas to cover 30% of the planet, as an exogenous shock to biodiversity transition risk, we show that firms adjust their workforce and reallocate their resources away from regions affected by these conservation efforts. Our paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the costs and benefits of biodiversity conservation policies and their implication for labor market outcomes.

Speaker biography: Louis Nguyen is Professor in Finance at Durham University Business School. Prior to joining Durham in 2021, he was an Associate Professor of Finance at King’s College London and an Assistant Professor in Banking and Finance at the University of St Andrews.

Louis holds a BSc (Hons) in Computing from the National University of Singapore, an MSc (Distinction) in Accounting, Finance, and Management from the University of Bristol, and a PhD in Finance from the University of Edinburgh. His research has earned several best paper awards, along with the David Hume Publication Prize in 2015. Louis’ research and teaching interests include empirical corporate finance, banking, and climate finance. His research has appeared in Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Finance, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, Journal of International Business Studies, and several other journals across disciplines in finance, economics, accounting, and management. His research has been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, the BBC, the Boston Globe; and been funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust and the Carnegie UK Trust. Louis serves as Associate Editor to the European Journal of Finance and the British Accounting Review.

Global banks’ macroeconomic expectations and credit supply

4 February 2026: Professor Steven Ongena from University of Zurich (Authors: Xiang Li, Steven Ongena)

Abstract: This paper examines how global banks’ macroeconomic expectations for borrower countries affect credit supply. Using granular data on differences in expectations among banks lending to the same firm at the same time, together with an instrumental variable approach, the study finds that more optimistic GDP growth expectations are strongly associated with higher credit provision. A one standard deviation increase in GDP growth expectations corresponds to an 8.46 percentage-point increase in loan share, equivalent to around 0.75 standard deviations and approximately $75.35 million in loan value. In contrast, short-term inflation expectations do not have a significant effect on credit supply.

Speaker bio: Professor Ongena is a Professor of Banking at the University of Zurich and holds senior and research appointments at several leading institutions, including the Swiss Finance Institute, KU Leuven, NTNU Business School, CEPR, and the Deutsche Bundesbank. He has served in numerous editorial roles across top finance journals and is currently a co-editor of the International Journal of Central Banking, the International Review of Finance, and the Journal of Financial Services Research. His achievements include receiving an ERC Advanced Grant in 2017, the NYU–Fordham–RPI Rising Star in Finance Award in 2012, and a Wim Duisenberg Research Fellowship from the European Central Bank in 2009.

SSRN:

Empowerment, inter-firm resilience, and disruption in internationalised fresh produce supply chains and networks

11 February 2026: Lisa Jack (Portsmouth), joint with Juan Manuel Ramón-Jerónimo (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain), and Raquel Flórez-López, (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain).

Abstract: Internationalised fresh produce supply chains are characterised by a high degree of fragmentation, together with a significant asymmetry of power between participants that favours large retail chains. This imposes commercial conditions on businesses upstream that not only severely limits their capacity to create value but also their chances of survival, as they risk being excluded from the networks. This dependency increases the risk of opportunistic behaviour on the part of the dominant partner. In recent years, this risk has been exacerbated by disruptions in the political and economic environment of the target markets such as Brexit, the Russian crisis, Covid19, and the war in Ukraine. However, we find that in response to these challenges, upstream businesses – growers and packers - have felt more empowered and have redressed some of the previous imbalance of power through insourcing activities, by company growth or building new networks with second-tier suppliers, growers and sometimes even with competitors. This can be traced through management control and accounting practices in the firms. This upstream interfirm empowerment enables them to have sufficient knowledge of the possible alternatives to fight against the new uncertainties. This is a qualitative study using interviews with strong structuration theory as an interpretative framework to capture the nuances of agents’ conduct and structural change in relationships, as their knowledge of the (external and internal) context is continually and reflexively re-valuated. We also explore the potential use of SST to trace micro-foundations of new accountabilities. 

Speaker bio: Professor Lisa Jack is Professor of Accounting in the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Portsmouth. She was the former President of the British Accounting and Finance Association (2015–2020). Currently, she is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2025) and recipient of the BAFA Distinguished Academic Award (2024). She currently serves as Joint Editor of The British Accounting Review and holds editorial roles across several leading accounting journals.

Encompassing and progression testing in high-dimensions

Wednesday 25 February 2026, Rosnel Sessinou (Economics, ������)

Abstract: Validating a selected asset pricing model is fundamental yet remains an open problem in high-dimensional settings. This paper introduces the Subseries-based Cauchy Combination Test (SCT), a novel procedure for testing whether a selected model encompasses the true data-generating process — that is, whether excluded factors are truly redundant. SCT is the first encompassing test applicable across any model dimension, including rank-deficient factor structures pervasive in the empirical asset pricing literature. Unlike Wald- or J-type tests, SCT does not require estimating large covariance matrices, remains reliable under strong multicollinearity, and is asymptotically unbiased and near-minimax-rate optimal. Applied to the U.S. factor zoo over 1964–2022, SCT provides a fully frequentist alternative to the Bayesian approach of Jensen, Kelly, and Pedersen (2023): without imposing priors on risk premia or relying on LASSO-type selection, we find that a small set of factors effectively spans the universe of country-level factors. Our results offer a model-selection-agnostic resolution to the factor zoo debate, enabling formal progression testing — determining when a new factor genuinely adds pricing information — in settings where existing methods break down.

Speaker bio: Rosnel Sessinou is a Lecturer in Economics at the ������, with previous academic appointments at the Erasmus School of Economics and HEC Montréal. He graduated from Aix-Merssaille School of Economics (AMSE) in 2022. His research focuses on high-dimensional econometrics, financial modelling, and robust inference methods for portfolio selection and asset pricing. He has published in Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, which is a highly coveted journal in the field and many papers are in the pipeline.

What happens to listed firms when they rely on costly shadow loans?

Wednesday 4 March 2026 2-3 pm, Professor Sushanta Mallick, Queen Mary University of London

Abstract: Despite the recent proliferation of shadow loans to listed firms worldwide, their impact on firm outcomes has not yet been fully explored. This paper therefore uses a loan transaction dataset from China to identify firms that use shadow loans excessively (shadow bank firms). Using a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach, we show that shadow-bank firms experience a higher default probability and lower profitability, productivity, investment, and employment growth after acquiring shadow loans. However, more productive companies do not face similar adverse outcomes after obtaining such shadow loans. Since shadow loans are more costly than bank loans, shadow-bank-dependent firms that fail to generate sufficient returns face adverse outcomes.

Speaker bio: Sushanta Mallick is a Professor of International Finance at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, UK. Since October 2024, he has been serving as Managing Editor of ‘Oxford Economic Papers’ – a prestigious journal with an 86-year legacy. This new editorial role follows his decade-long tenure as Co-editor-in-Chief of Economic Modelling, which concluded in December 2024. He also serves as co-editor-in-Chief of ‘Journal of Economic Surveys’ (a leading literature survey journal now in its 36th year) and as co-editor of ‘Economic Analysis and Policy’ (the journal of the Economic Society of Australia, established 55 years ago). Prof Mallick holds a PhD in economics from the University of Warwick, UK, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals. His research focuses on international economics, banking & finance, and innovation & development. According to the IDEAS/RePEc rankings, he is among the top 5% of economists globally. His work has received over 8,000 citations on Google Scholar, with an h-index of 54. His research has been featured in numerous high-impact journals such as: Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Operational Research, Research Policy, Industrial Relations, British Journal of Management, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Economic Theory, Journal of Development Economics, Oxford Economic Papers, Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Oxford Bulletin of Economics & Statistics, IMF Economic Review, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Journal of International Money and Finance, World Development, among others. A comprehensive list of his published research is available at: .

The carbon footprint of green bonds: evidence from project-level data 

Wednesday 11 March 2026, , University College Dublin (jointly written with Pietro Sette and Jaime Diaz-Rio Varez)

Abstract: We introduce a measure of green bonds’ carbon footprint based on project-level data and industry guidelines. This measure captures the avoided emissions generated by green-bond financed projects and is constructed by estimating both project emissions and the relevant counterfactual emissions. Using this metric, we revisit the inconclusive literature that evaluates corporate green bonds using firm-level emissions data. We derive several important insights. First, green bonds deliver meaningful environmental benefits: on average, avoided emissions are roughly ten times larger than the emissions generated by the financed projects. Second, in the cross-section, larger issuers undertake projects with higher avoided-emissions intensity. Third, inferences based on our measure and those derived from firm-level emissions yield divergent patterns, particularly with respect to issuer size. Taken together, our findings suggest that the mixed results in the existing literature may reflect a level-of-analysis problem: the environmental impact of green bonds becomes diluted when measured at the firm level.

Speaker bio: Dr. Emmanouil G. Pyrgiotakis is a Lecturer in Finance at University College Dublin, where he teaches and conducts research in corporate finance and related areas. He did his Masters at VU Amsterdam and holds a PhD from AUEB. Formerly a Visiting Fellow at University of Essex’s Essex Business School, his research spans corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, market risk, and textual analysis in financial contexts. Dr. Pyrgiotakis has published widely in internationally peer-reviewed journals including Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, European Journal of Finance, British Journal of Management, European Journal of Operations Research, Journal of Financial Stability. He is active in academic and professional finance communities, contributing to research that bridges theoretical and applied aspects of financial markets and firm behaviour.

Labour market reforms and product differentiation: evidence from salary history bans

Wednesday 18 March 2026, Tiago Loncan, Kings College London

Abstract: Salary History Bans (SHBs) prohibit employers from requesting past salaries, shifting bargaining power toward workers by concealing reservation wages. We examine how SHBs affect product differentiation, an investment-intensive outcome sensitive to labor market frictions. We find that SHB adoption leads to significantly lower product differentiation, especially in innovation-intensive firms, high-wage sectors, and financially constrained firms. These results suggest that rising labor costs crowd out the investments that support differentiation. SHBs also weaken sales and margins among highly differentiated firms, indicating that the policy may undermine the product market and financial performance of industry leaders.

Speaker bio: Tiago Loncan is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at King's Business School. He holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Strathclyde (UK), an MSc in Economics from the University of Bologna (Italy), and a BSc in Economics from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). He also graduated from the Global Competitiveness Leadership at Georgetown University (USA). Prior to his appointment at King's, Tiago was a Lecturer in Finance at the University of Strathclyde, and worked for several years in the corporate sector in Brazil. Tiago's research interests are mainly in the intersection between corporate finance and international economics. His research examines topics such as corporate investment and financing decisions, foreign direct investments, cross-border capital flows and market integration, the political economy of finance (political risk, corruption and cronyism), agency conflicts and emerging markets finance. He has published in Journal of Corporate, Finance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Corporate Governance: An International Review, European Financial Management, Journal of Development Studies, among others.

The value of layered venture capital signals in private M&A markets

Wednesday 6 May 2026, Anup Basnet, Western University, Canada

Abstract: Asymmetric information in private M&A markets often results in entrepreneurs and venture capitalists exiting their investments at an adverse selection discount. While prior research highlights the importance of reputational certification in reducing the discount, it treats venture capital reputation as a single signal. Instead, we argue and show that signals are layered, where the lead venture capitalist provides signal depth through governance and oversight, while the syndicate provides breadth by collectively endorsing the portfolio company. Using a sample of 820 US private market M&A exits, we find that a one standard deviation increase in the lead (syndicate) reputation leads to a 11.49% (22.6%) increase in exit valuations. We further show that these signals are complementary rather than substitutive, with their value being most pronounced in more opaque settings. Our study contributes to entrepreneurship literature by demonstrating how multidimensional certification mitigates adverse selection in opaque private markets.

Speaker bio: Anup Basnet is currently an Assistant Professor in Finance at the DAN Department of Management and Organizational Studies, Western University Ontario. Previously he worked as a Lecturer(Assistant Professor) in Finance at the ������ Business School, ������, UK. Anup holds a PhD in Business Administration (Finance) from Concordia University (2021) and an MSc in Finance from Hanken School of Economics. His research interests include Venture Capital, Initial Public Offering, Mergers and Acquisitions, Litigation, Corporate Governance, Sustainable finance. He has published in Economics Letters, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Research, International Review of Financial Analysis, Global Finance Journal, among others.

Do female loan officers mitigate social-financial trade-offs in social lending?

Wednesday 10 June 2026, Moez Benuri, Montpellier Business School

Abstract: This paper revisits social-financial trade-offs in microfinance. We theorise that workforce diversity mitigates the divergence between social and financial performance levels. We test our prediction by performing fixed-effects generalised least squares regressions on a global sample of 1257 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 107 countries over the period 2010–2018. Confirming our prediction, the empirical results show that the proportion of female loan officers attenuates the negative relationship between social performance and financial performance in MFIs. We show that this moderating effect is stronger in countries with high trust scores. Our findings draw attention to the uneven manifestation of social-financial trade-offs among MFIs.

Speaker bio: Moez Benuri is a Professor of Finance at Montpellier Business School in France. He holds MSc and PhD from Toulouse School of Economics and BSc in Physics and Mathematics from University of Tunis. His research focuses on Initial Public Offerings, Market microstructure, mechanism design and corporate governance. He has published in Economic Theory, Economic Letters, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, Review of Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, among others.

Older but not greener: CEO age and firm’s environmental violations 

Wednesday 13 May 2026, Hanxiong Zhang (Bangor)

Abstract: We examine how CEO age shapes corporate environmental compliance, finding that older CEOs are associated with a significantly higher propensity to commit environmental violations, as well as more frequent and costlier penalties. This relationship holds across multiple estimation methods and survives extensive robustness and endogeneity testing. Consistent with managerial power theory, the effect is concentrated in firms where CEOs face less board monitoring and hold greater decision-making authority. Differences in risk-taking incentives do not moderate the relationship. We further find that firms with environmental violations are more likely to adopt superficial environmental policies — consistent with greenwashing — but these policies do not reduce older CEOs’ propensity to re-offend. Finally, while penalties have a deterrent effect on future violations, consequences for CEO compensation and job security are weak, suggesting that market discipline alone is insufficient to curb environmentally harmful leadership behaviour.

Short bio: Dr. Hanxiong Zhang joined the Albert Gubay Business School (formerly Bangor Business School) as a Senior Lecturer in Finance in 2024, having previously served as a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the ������. His research spans corporate governance, FinTech, banking, and financial economics. His work has been published in journals including the Journal of Corporate Finance; European Economic Review; British Accounting Review, among others. He served as a Non-Executive Director of a large UK credit union from December 2021 to January 2024. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder, holds the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). He has actively supported local SMEs by producing a variety of business-oriented consultancy reports.

Navigating political uncertainty: the strategic edge of high-ability managers

Wednesday 27 May 2026, Suman Banerjee, Stevens Institute of Technology (US)

Abstract: Political uncertainty is an inevitable part of today's global business landscape. Our analysis shows that managerial ability is a decisive factor in how companies cope with such uncertainty. We find high-quality managers employ a triad of strategies: they build political relationships, enhance internal teams, and invest in visibility and reputation to secure stakeholder support.  Using a difference-in-differences approach that leverages involuntary CEO-turnovers, we establish that managerial ability is causally related to how political risk affects firm performance.  Overall, findings emphasise the pivotal role of high-quality managers in navigating political uncertainty and enrich the literature on risk management and managerial ability.

Speaker bio: Dr. Suman Banerjee is the Director of Doctoral Programs and Associate Professor of Finance at the School of Business of the Stevens Institute of Technology. He holds a PhD from University of Iowa. His research interests include financial modelling and empirical analysis with applications to areas of corporate finance, corporate governance, behavioural finance, risk management and energy finance. Dr. Banerjee has published extensively in top-tier finance journal like Review of Financial Studies (RFS), Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Journal of Finance and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA), Journal of Corporate Finance, and Journal of Banking and Finance. Dr Banerjee also published in top-ranked cross-disciplinary journals like Management Science (MS) and Journal of Business (JB). He received the Caeserea Award for the best paper in electricity-pricing risk management from the prestigious Western Finance Association (WFA) in 2002 and BankScope Best Paper Award from the Australian Finance and Banking Conference in 2010. He was given the Honorary Fellowship of Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society in 1999. He has also received several other merit-based awards in the course of his academic career and runners up in best paper contest.

Uncertainty Creates Zombie Firms: Implications for Industry Dynamics and Creative Destruction

Joint with Kevin Aretz (University of Manchester), Murillo Campello (Cornell University and NBER), and Gaurav Kankanhalli (University of Pittsburgh).

Guest speaker: Kevin Schneider (Cambridge).

Abstract: We show how the threat of “uncertainty-induced zombification” — creditors’ willingness to keep their distressed borrowers alive when faced with uncertainty — shapes various industry dynamics. Under areal options framework, we demonstrate that unlevered firms become reluctant to invest and disinvest in anticipation that uncertainty induces creditors to convert defaulting rival firms into zombies. We validate our theory using dynamic, industry-specific estimates of uncertainty-induced zombification together with loan contract-level data. Empirically, higher uncertainty-led rival zombification prompts healthy firms to reduce their costly-to-reverse capital investment and disinvestment, hiring, and establishment-level openings and closures (intensive and extensive margins are affected). We confirm those dynamics using granular, near-universal data on the asset allocation decisions of global shipping firms. Critically, uncertainty-led zombification depresses healthy firms’ long-run sales, profits, and stock returns. Our results reveal nuanced effects on creative destruction — while healthy firms’ asset reallocation slows down, their innovation activity accelerates. Our findings highlight a novel channel through which uncertainty shapes firms’ capital accumulation, distorting their real and financial policies and performance.

Speaker biography: Kevin is Research Associate in Theoretical Finance in Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from Saarland University (Germany), MSc in Quantitative Finance from Lancaster University and a 2023 PhD from University of Manchester. His research focuses on how real options shape real and financial corporate policies and expected stock returns.

Temperature Exposure and Green Revenues of Firms Around the World

Guest speaker: Panagiotis Tzouvanas (Portsmouth).

Abstract: This paper examines the temperature anomaly exposure of firms around the world. We construct temperature beta using Asset Pricing Models, incorporating countries’ temperature anomaly as an additional factor. We document that the transmission mechanism by which temperature anomalies affect stock returns is through the channel of cash flows and profitability. Such we find a statistically significant and negative temperature beta. In addition, we explore hedging mechanisms to mitigate temperature risk exposure, and our findings suggest that firms engaged in green activities, as measured by green revenues, demonstrate resilience to temperature risk. Also, low temperature exposure stocks generate around 1% more annualised returns compared to stocks in the highest temperature exposure decile. Finally, there is a significant temperature risk premium associated with buying negative climate beta stocks and shorting positive ones, estimated at a rate of 1.32%.

Speaker biography: Panagiotis is a Senior Lecturer in Portsmouth Business School. He completed his PhD in Finance from the University of Portsmouth in 2021. He specialises in Climate Finance and has already published more than ten papers in related fields in peer-reviewed academic journals including Energy Economics, Economics Letters, British Accounting Review,  Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Journal of Economics Studies, International Review of Financial Analysis, among others.

The Cost-based Value Chain Analysis (CVCA): A Proposal to Tax Business Profits in the Global Economy

Abstract: Digitalisation in international business value chains has exacerbated the misattribution of taxable profits and base erosion into low-tax jurisdictions. Recent responsive proposals discriminate across types of digital activities and misrepresent synergy within the global business group, thereby worsening misattribution. International business tax literature across economics, law, and policy disciplines neither clarifies profit valuation at source in a synergistic value chain nor provides a practical consensus on profit allocation. We still do not have a baseline to assess the misattribution of multinational taxable profits.

How, then, should host tax jurisdictions share the global business profits tax base? This thesis proposes that the taxable profits of a global business group should be allocated in neutral proportions to business activities across all host tax jurisdictions. Taxable proportions should be neutral across the types of business activity, level of digitalisation, and location. The thesis extends the international business tax literature using an interdisciplinary tax theory and management accounting approach to craft a new definition for misattribution, coined as inter-input equity, and to design the Cost-based Value Chain Analysis (CVCA) to allocate multinational taxable profits. Inter-input equity requires that business activities of the same type receive similar proportional allocations of taxable profits across the multinational business group, regardless of geographic value chain position or extent of digitalisation. This baseline establishes a midpoint between ad hoc origin-based valuation of business activity and cumulative division of the profits tax base between host tax jurisdictions.

The inter-input equitable CVCA measures business activities using costs, derives a consolidated markup of profit by cost per business group taxpayer, and delivers relative and substantive equality of jurisdictional tax rights with minimal distortion to business decisions. Finally, the thesis develops an interdisciplinary evaluation framework to compare the CVCA against the market-based and formulary apportionment proposals by integrating tax rights fairness, efficiency, neutrality, and administrability criteria.

Speaker biography: Benita Matthews is a lecturer at the ������ Business School. She is an ACCA and ACGP Affiliate from PwC Academy. She holds an MSc in Accounting and Taxation from the University of Exeter and a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of  AI, digital business models, tax policy, e-administration and compliance.

Fintech and green finance in banking: the interplay of geographic dispersion and bank governance

Abstract: Both fintech and green finance are central themes in the ongoing international discourse on banking sector development, yet they are generally treated as separate in academic research. This study connects fintech and green finance by exploring the potential of fintech in facilitating banks’ engagement in green finance. We introduce a novel measure for assessing geographic dispersion of bank branches and investigate how the impact of fintech on green finance activities is related to geographic dispersion and its interplay with bank governance. Drawing upon a sample of all listed banks in China over the 2010-2022 period, we find that fintech negatively affect green lending participation of geographically more dispersed banks. However, when accompanied by effective bank governance, even highly dispersed banks can unlock the supporting effect of fintech on green lending. Our results are robust after employing alternative measures for fintech and green finance engagement, a subsample, and an instrumental variable approach. This study represents the pioneering attempt to link geographic dispersion and bank governance with banks’ dynamic capabilities. The findings hold important implications for banks aimed at implementing a green and responsible strategy: to leverage fintech-enabled green finance, banks particularly those with a wider geographical presence should further enhance their corporate governance practices to cultivate stronger dynamic capabilities that facilitate effective deployment of fintech.

Speaker biography: Maggie Fu (Macau) is an Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics at the University of Macau. She is the Director of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Economics and Management, University of Macau, Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Macau. Among others, her research focuses on sustainable finance and responsible innovation. She has published widely including Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of World Business, Journal of Product Innovation Management, British Accounting Review, Economic Enquiry.

Opening the Brown Box: Production Responses to Environmental Regulation

Abstract: We study production responses to an emission capping regulation on manufacturing firms. Firms reduce pollution by electrifying their production, producing less coal-intensive products, and increasing their abatement expenditures. Firms preserve profitability by increasing their production of higher-margin products. However, firms in highly polluting industries produce fewer products. In the aggregate, we document lower product variety, an altered firm-size distribution, and lower business formation. Our findings highlight the mechanisms behind how mandated pollution reduction can be effective and its costs, suggesting a loss in agglomeration externalities.

Speaker biography: Lakshmi Naraayanan (LBS). After completing a PhD in Finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2020, Lakshmi joined London Business School as an Assistant Professor in Finance. His research interests lie in the area of empirical corporate finance – including corporate governance, entrepreneurship, financial intermediation, and law and finance. His research has been published in Review of Financial Studies and Journal of Financial Economics.  His research has won several awards including the USC Marshall School of Business Trefftzs Award at the Western Finance Association Meetings. His work has been featuring in numerous publications such as the Financial Express, Forbes, Oxford Business and Law, and the World Bank.

Can Markets Save Nature?

Abstract: In recent years, the need for the private sector to step up has become the dominant narrative in the increasingly desperate calls for more investments into nature. A range of financial instruments are available, but financial flows remain stubbornly low. This leads us to ask if private investments in nature are possible or a chimera? We create a simple architecture to probe this question and argue that in the absence of strong supportive policy signals private investors are likely to be a better fit for projects on the demand side of natural capital where nature investments can be tagged onto other activities. These represent 60% of nature investment needs thus highlighting a significant potential, but also compellingly show the need for governments– both to supply the remaining funding and to provide the required conditions to attract private investors. 

Speaker biography: Pernille Holtedahl is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at the Imperial College Business School. Her area of expertise is green finance, including fixed income instruments (green and sustainable bonds), investor trends and public-private financing of nature-based solutions. In addition to her research activities at CCFI, Pernille is an adviser to private sector clients on nature and climate finance instruments and programmes. She is the founder of Blue Maia Ltd., an advisory firm, and has a long-standing collaboration with the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (now part of S&P Global). Pernille holds a PhD in environmental economics from George Washington University and a BA in economics and political science from the University of Oslo.

Does the level of managerial competence lead to higher CEO over-payment?

Abstract: It is not uncommon to confuse top management’s, like CEO’s, performance with managerial compensation. CEO compensation is a complex function of many covariates. We model CEO compensation to include a comprehensive list of rewards and employ a novel model that nests a plethora of CEO- and firm-specific characteristics. Our model reveals for the first time CEO competence and it relates it with the probability of a CEO being overpaid or otherwise underpaid. Indeed, we provide exact figures of CEO’s over- and under-payment. The parameter estimates of our model is by no means an easy task and employ Bayesian estimation techniques to gain in accuracy and efficiency. There is variation in our results when we control for offering as part of CEO’s compensation ownership incentives such as stock options. We, also, reveal thresholds on both CEO competence and over-payment. Our model and results could inform regulators, shareholders, investors as well as CEOs on setting executives’ packages that reward talent, viz. competence in our model. 

Speaker biography: Emmanuel Mamatzakis (Birkbeck) is a Professor of Finance at Birkbeck Business School, University of London. He holds a DPhil in Economics from the University of London, Queen Mary College, an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick, and a BSc in Economics from the Department of Economics of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His research is primarily driven by its impact on the real economy. He has published widely including Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, European Journal of Operation Research, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Review of Financial Economics, Manchester School, Bulletin of Economic Research among others.

Digital Frontiers: Balancing Cybersecurity Risks in the Age of Digital Transformation

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between digital transformation and exposure to cybersecurity risks at the firm level. The integration of advanced digital technologies can strengthen a firm’s cybersecurity capabilities, but it may also increase entry points for cyberattacks, potentially raising the firm’s overall cyber vulnerability. We empirically test this conjecture utilizing a matched sample of 9,606 U.S. firm-years spanning 2006–2023, including 543 documented cyber breaches, and find that greater digital transformation—as reflected in 10-K business descriptions—is positively associated with experiencing future cybersecurity breaches. Our empirical analyses reveal that a one standard deviation increase in digital transformation corresponds to a rise in future breach likelihood of up to 10 percentage points. We find that the exposure primarily stems from organizational, not technological, dimensions of digital transformation. Technologically competent auditors, boards, and operational officers mitigate cyber risk, but primarily for less digitalized firms. This study underscores the paradox of digital transformation, where technological innovation enhances business operations but simultaneously increases vulnerability to cyber threats, especially for highly digitalized firms. Our findings point towards adaptive and resilience-based cybersecurity approaches in highly digitalized organizations.

Speaker biography: Jukka Sihvonen (Aalto) holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Vaasa. He is an assistant professor of financial accounting at Aalto University School of Business and specializes in digital transformation in accounting and finance, particularly in the utilization of data and artificial intelligence. He has published in British Accounting Review, European Accounting Review, Journal of Financial Stability, Artificial Intelligence in Accounting, among others.

Research and publications - editors' perspectives

Professor Nandini Gupta, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

Professor Sumon Bhowmick, Sheffield Business School

Uncertainty Creates Zombie Firms: Implications for Industry Dynamics and Creative Destruction

Abstract: We show how the threat of “uncertainty-induced zombification” — creditors’ willingness to keep their distressed borrowers alive when faced with uncertainty — shapes various industry dynamics. Under a real options framework, we demonstrate that unlevered firms become reluctant to invest and disinvest in anticipation that uncertainty induces creditors to convert defaulting rival firms into zombies. We validate our theory using dynamic, industry-specific estimates of expected uncertainty induced zombification together with loan contract-level data. Empirically, higher uncertainty-led rival zombification expectations prompt healthy firms to reduce their costly-to-reverse capital investment and disinvestment, hiring, and establishment-level openings and closures (intensive and extensive margins are affected). We confirm those dynamics using granular, near-universal data on the asset allocation decisions of global shipping firms. Critically, uncertainty-led zombification expectations depress healthy firms’ productivity and market valuations. Our results reveal nuanced effects on creative destruction — while healthy firms’ asset allocation slows down, their innovation activity accelerates. Our findings highlight a novel channel through which uncertainty shapes firms’ capital accumulation, distorting their real and financial policies and performance.

Speaker biography: Kevin Aretz is a Professor of Finance at Alliance Manchester Business School. His research leverages real options asset pricing models to explore stock return anomalies and uses shock-based inference methods to investigate corporate finance topics, including debt access. Recently, he has begun analyzing the cross-section of returns in non-equity asset classes, such as single-stock options and corporate bonds. He has an extensive publication record in leading finance journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Review of Finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and the International Journal of Forecasting.

Guardians at the Gates: Home CEOs and Antitakeover Provisions

Abstract: We examine the impact of CEOs’ home bias on antitakeover provisions driven by agency motivations. Firms led by home CEOs, implying heightened incentives to manage firms in their birthplace, are more likely to adopt ATPs. This effect is exacerbated in weak governance firms and high takeover threat environments. The adoption of state-level poison pill laws alleviates the impact of home CEOs on ATPs, suggesting that they serve as substitutes. These firms are associated with a lower likelihood of receiving bids and completing deals, a higher likelihood of withdrawn or completed in-state deals, reduced takeover premiums, and lower announcement returns.

Speaker biography: Zicheng Lei is a Senior Lecturer in Finance (Associate Professor) at King’s Business School. He holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Warwick, an MSc in Finance from the University of Manchester, and a BSc in Accounting from Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research interests lie in corporate finance, focusing on corporate payout policy, corporate political activism, mergers and acquisitions, green finance, climate finance, earnings management, corporate social responsibility, and empirical behavioural finance. He has published articles in esteemed international journals such as the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Corporate Finance, and the British Journal of Management. His research has made a significant impact beyond academia, with papers publicized by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, The FinReg Blog, and Hedge Fund Alpha

Understanding Decision-Making Through Kahneman’s Lens: Insights from Thinking, Fast and Slow

Speaker: Hirindu Bulathsinhala (������).

Abstract: This presentation delves into Daniel Kahneman's seminal work, Thinking, Fast and Slow, which explores the dual-system model of thinking: System 1 (fast, intuitive) and System 2 (slow, deliberate). The discussion will highlight key behavioural insights, such as cognitive biases, loss aversion and the impact of framing on decision-making. The discussion will examine how these modes influence everyday choices and behaviours, often leading to biases and errors. Examples will illustrate key concepts, such as the tendency to avoid losses, the influence of context on decision-making and the challenges of overconfidence. Practical insights will highlight ways to improve judgment and decision quality in complex scenarios. 

Speaker biography: Hirindu is a final year PhD student in Finance at ������ Business School. She holds an MSc in Management from the University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Sri Lanka (2017–2020) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Special) in Business Technology from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (2011-2015), both with first-class honours. She is also a Certified Business Accountant (ICASL) and an Associate of the Higher Education Academy (AHEA). She worked as a Senior Lecturer (2016–2022) at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, with experience in teaching and research in behavioral finance and management. Her PhD research focuses on Behavioural Finance, Investor Sentiment, Firm Complexity and Textual Analysis using Python.

Are better ESG companies involved in more controversies?

Speaker: Markku Kaustia (Aalto).

Abstract: This paper is the first to examine how corporate environmental, societal and governance (ESG) measures are related to corporate controversies. To investigate this, we use Refinitiv data for 3,700 companies from Europe and the United States during the period of 2004 to 2021. We find that higher ESG ratings actually predict having more controversies in the future, up to two years ahead. The relationship is robust in US as well as Europe, and, in most specifications, it applies separately to each of the individual E, S, and G components. The results hold in several robustness checks such as splitting the dataset across time and by company type. We put forth the ESG salience hypothesis working through media attention as a plausible channel to account for these results.

Speaker biography: Markku Kaustia holds the Hannes Gebhard Professorship in Finance and Insurance at Aalto University, Finland. His research covers a broad spectrum of topics, including financial markets, investment strategies, behavioral finance, investor activity, household financial decisions, and investment behavior. He frequently publishes in leading finance journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Management Science.

Predatory Advertising, Financial Fraud, and Leverage

(This is a joint work with S Dasgupta, R Shi and J Yan).

Abstract: We examine how an industry leader’s competitors respond when financial fraud by the leader is publicly revealed. We document evidence of predatory advertising and pricing. Close competitors of the leader step up advertisement spending relative to control firms. Although we do not directly observe product prices, we find that even though advertisement increases, competitors’ profit margins drop, consistent with predatory pricing. Evidence of predation is stronger when rival firms have larger market share, the fraud firm has higher leverage, and when the average leverage of rival firms is lower. The effects appear mainly in industries that produce customized products and where consumer switching costs are high. Increasing advertising expenditure appears to be a more potent predatory strategy in industries that experience new customer growth, whereas cutting prices appears more potent in industries with stagnant customer base. We present a switching cost model similar to Klemperer (1995) that generates implications broadly consistent with these observations.

Speaker biography: Shantanu Banerjee is a Professor in the Accounting and Finance department of the University of Liverpool. His research interests encompass Corporate Finance issues and their interaction with Accounting regulations and practices. His work has contributed to the debates on the investment decision of firms, financing choice, financial misconduct, product market strategy, IPO, bankruptcy, executive compensation, sustainability in business and corporate social responsibility. His work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Accounting Research, Review of Finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Operational Research and Journal of Business Ethics. He is an editor of the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. Shantanu holds a PhD in Finance from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Environmental Penalties and Green Talk: evidence from conference calls

Speaker: C. De Amicis -Skema Business School.

Abstract: This paper investigates how firms adjust their environmental disclosure strategies in response to environmental sanctions. Using natural language processing (NLP) techniques, we analyze the environmental content of earnings conference calls held by U.S.-listed firms from 2012 to 2022, focusing on changes around the announcement of environmental violations.

Our findings document a “Green Evasion Effect”, where CEOs talk less about environmental topics in calls immediately preceding the announcement of environmental penalties. This effect is stronger for firms that are  expected to uphold high environmental standards. Conversely, analysts increase their focus on environmental topics after the announcement, particularly for firms with higher environmental reputations. We further document that investors also respond negatively to environmental sanctions, with more pronounced market reactions for firms perceived as environmentally responsible.

Speaker biography: Sonia Falconieri is a Professor and the Head of Department of Finance and Accounting at the Bayes Business School, City University. Her research interests are in Corporate Finance and Corporate Governance. Specifically, she has been working on the optimal design of Initial Public Offerings and, more recently, on gender diversity in Corporate Finance. Her articles have been published in some major journals such as the JEEA, the Review of Finance, and the Journal of Corporate Finance. Her recent work on gender quotas has been featured in numerous media outlets including People Management and Forbes. Dr Falconieri was also one of the contributors to the 2019 Hampton-Alexander review. Sonia received her Bachelor and Master degree in Economics from Bocconi University, Milan (Italy) and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Toulouse (France).

Contagion vs Competition: Evidence from Crypto Exchange flows

Speaker: Gueswith D. Bianchi.

Abstract: The paper conducts an in-depth investigation into systemic risk within the cryptocurrency ecosystem by analysing inter-exchange flows before and after major disruptions, with a particular focus on the FTX bankruptcy. By disentangling the interplay between competition and contagion among cryptocurrency exchanges, we assess how such shocks propagate through the network, reshaping liquidity conditions and influencing the mechanisms of price discovery. Our analysis sheds light on the resilience of the crypto market, revealing the extent to which disruptions trigger liquidity fragmentation, price inefficiencies, and shifts in trader behaviour across interconnected exchanges.

Speaker biography: Kirill completed his PhD in economics at  (Florence, Italy). He is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Economics at the ������. He was previously a  at . His research interests lie in International Macro/Finance, Asset Pricing, Cryptocurrencies, Sovereign Bonds. Kirill has published in Management Science, Journal of International Money and Finance, Review of Economic Dynamics, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, among others.

Heterogeneity in Investor Reaction to MNE’s ESG Incidents

Speaker: Onur Tosun (Cardiff Business School).

Abstract: We study whether investors react differently to multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) ESG incidents across countries. We use a novel “Perception Index” to measure how domestic investors view other countries, based on their economic strength and legal power. Examining firms in 30 countries with the most ESG incidents for 2007-2022, we reveal heterogeneity in traders’ reaction to such incidents through cumulative abnormal returns (CAR). Guided by the Institutional Theory, we show MNEs face up to 0.9% greater negative daily CAR when investors perceive the incident country as legally and economically superior to others, including their home country. These findings document limits to “home bias”. Granular analyses indicate that neither severity and reach of incidents nor cultural aspects e.g., egalitarianism and trust, change investors’ trading behavior while religion seems to be a significant factor, and such heterogenous reaction is particularly evident for recurring cases and human rights incidents.

Speaker biography: Onur Tosun is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Finance and a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. He leads the Cardiff Sustainable Finance Research Group and the Sustainable Society Research Alliance. He earned his PhD in Finance and Economics from the University of Maryland and holds an MBA from Boğaziçi University in Turkey. His research spans empirical corporate finance, executive compensation, capital structure, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, and institutional investors. His work has been published in journals such as the British Journal of Management, Financial Management, European Financial Management, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, European Journal of Finance, and Journal of International Money and Finance, Economics Letters, among others. His research has also been featured in media outlets including the Financial Times, Business Review Europe, Business Standard, South China Morning Post, Money Radio, Heart Wales Radio, Global Radio, LBC News, Capital FM, Asharq News TV - Bloomberg, and academic platforms such as the NYU School of Law Blog, Harvard Law School Forum, and Columbia Law School Blog. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for Finance Research Letters, International Review of Economics and Finance, and the Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment.

Opportunistic Borrowing Before Default? A New Test Using Multiple Delinquent Credit Cards

Speaker: Constantinos Antoniou (Warwick Business School).

Abstract: We investigate whether credit card holders borrow opportunistically prior to defaulting on their credit card debt. Our analysis focuses on borrowers who go delinquent on multiple credit cards simultaneously, with some of them eventually being charged off. To control for all unobserved time-variant borrower-specific factors that influence delinquency and default, we then use borrower-by-billing-cycle (year-month) fixed effects. Under strategic default, we expect borrowers to opportunistically utilize available credit on the cards that are eventually charged off, relative to those that are not. Contrary to this expectation, we find that, if anything, users borrow less and repay more on the delinquent cards that are ultimately charged off. These findings suggest that either non-economic factors play a significant role in mitigating opportunistic borrowing in the credit card market or that people are seriously mistaken about the likelihood of their cards being charged off after delinquencies.

Speaker biography: Constantinos is an Associate Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School (WBS), where he began his tenure in 2013 as an Assistant Professor of Finance and Behavioural Science. He earned his PhD from the University of Durham. His research interests lie in behavioural finance, particularly in understanding how learning and expectation formation influence portfolio selection, corporate decision-making, and empirical asset pricing. His work has been featured in leading academic journals including the Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Journal of Banking and Finance, among others.

Chasing Subsidies, Missing Effort: Disclosure Quality and Resource Misallocation in Chinese Firms

Speaker: Si Zhou (University of Science & Technology Beijing)

Abstract: Can increased competition for public resources deteriorate firms’ disclosure quality, thereby leading to the allocation of resources to undeserving firms? Using the departure of top provincial officials during China’s anti-corruption campaign as a shock to the competitive allocation of government subsidies, we find that firms are more inclined to excessively emphasize their investment in digitalization without making corresponding practical efforts (a phenomenon we term “Digitalwashing”). This effect is more pronounced among financially constrained firms, with weaker monitoring mechanisms and less political connection. Digital-washing enables firms to acquire additional government resources and attract more government customers despite showing no better performance than their peers. Our evidence supports legitimacy theory, indicating that firms enhance their public image through digitalization disclosures without substantively changing their underlying activities. This behaviour distorts the allocation of public resources, leading to no corresponding improvement in firm performance.

Speaker biography: Si Zhou is an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. He earned his PhD from Durham University and previously held a teaching position at Shanghai University before relocating to Beijing. His research focuses on empirical corporate finance, mutual fund performance and managerial structures, as well as banking and financial institutions. He has published in leading journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Journal of Empirical Finance, among others.

Dr. Si Zhou is an Associate Professor of Finance at the School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing. Prior to joining USTB, he served as Associate Dean and Associate Professor at the School of Economics, Shanghai University. He has also held positions as Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Southampton in the UK. Dr. Zhou received his PhD from Durham University, UK. His research interests include empirical corporate finance, mutual fund performance evaluation, managerial structure, and banking. His work has been published in international research journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Financial Stability, Journal of Empirical Finance, and Journal of Financial Research. Dr. Zhou is a fellow of the Shanghai Young Eastern Scholar Program. He also holds visiting positions at the University of Milan, the University of Macau, and the International Business School Suzhou.

Cultivating Innovation: The Role of Outdoor Green Space in Corporate Green Innovation

Speaker: Yeqin Zeng (Durham Business School)

Abstract: Using a unique dataset on land use in China, we find that the presence of parks and green areas within a 1-kilometer radius of firms’ geographic locations is positively associated with the number of green patents filed and their future citations. To address identification concerns, we employ matching approaches, two-stage least squares regression, high dimensional fixed effects, and placebo tests. Our path analysis shows that firms surrounded by green spaces are more likely to appoint CEOs and directors with environmental expertise and exhibit a greater strategic emphasis on innovation in corporate disclosures, both of which contribute to enhanced green innovation. The relation between green space coverage and green innovation is stronger for firms operating in highly competitive markets, with weaker pioneering innovation capabilities, higher business diversification, greater media coverage, and lower corporate social responsibility performance. These findings highlight the importance of urban green spaces in fostering corporate sustainability and innovation.

Speaker biography: Yeqin Zeng is currently an Associate Professor of Finance at Durham Business School. He earned his Ph.D. in Finance in 2013 from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. Prior to joining Durham University Business School in 2018, he served as an Assistant Professor of Finance at the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School. His primary research focuses on empirical corporate finance and asset pricing, particularly the role of financial institutions and their interactions with both markets and firms. Beyond these areas, his work has also explored topics such as corporate hedging, executive gender and pay disparities, stock price crash risk, mergers and acquisitions, cash valuation, investment efficiency, cost behaviour, trade credit, empirical tests of asset bubbles, and the interplay between bank loans and firm leverage. His research has been published in journals including the Journal of Corporate Finance, European Financial Management, International Review of Financial Analysis, Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, and the International Review of Economics and Finance.

FinTech and Unemployment: New Evidence on the Role of Labor Market Regulation

Speaker: Irwan Trinugroho (Universitas Sebelas Maret (FEB UNS), Indonesia)

Abstract: FinTech has changed the financial market landscape, where product and process innovation has taken place to improve productivity and efficiency. However, concerns over technology replacing human roles have led to discussions in finding tolerance and formulating effective policy responses, particularly regarding labor market regulations. This article investigates the impact of FinTech and labor market regulation on unemployment across 65 countries from 2008 to 2020. To construct the FinTech indicator, this paper employs an innovative web browsing technology method that covers four dimensions: artificial intelligence, blockchain-related, cloud technology, and data technology. The system GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) estimation method was employed to examine the impact of FinTech and labor market regulation on unemployment, which accounts for endogeneity. The evidence indicates that FinTech has contributed to labor-creating effects, implying that FinTech creates employment opportunities. While labor market regulation shapes employment dynamics with certain aspects requiring stringent regulation; others may benefit from deregulation. Our results are robust to alternative estimation methods, proxies, and sub-sample approaches. Our results highlight the importance of a regulatory framework that combines flexibility in specific sectors with some regulations focused on safeguarding consumers and ensuring systemic stability. This balanced approach would foster innovation and skill development within the FinTech sector. Moreover, it will enable the harnessing of FinTech's potential to create employment opportunities while effectively managing risks and facilitating a fair and inclusive transition for workers in the digital economy.

Speaker biography: Prof. Dr Irwan Trinugroho is a Full Professor of Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Sebelas Maret (FEB UNS), Indonesia. Currently, he is also the Director of Partnership, Development and International of UNS and the Chairman of the Center of Fintech and Banking UNS. Irwan graduated with a PhD degree in banking and finance from the University of Limoges, France. He has done some research projects and consulting to the Indonesia Financial Services Authority (OJK), the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation (IDIC), World Bank, USAID and Bank Indonesia. Irwan has published a number of papers in reputed journals including Journal of Financial Stability, Economic Modelling, Finance Research Letters, Global Finance Journal, British Accounting Review, Economic Systems, Research in International Business and Finance, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Borsa Istanbul Review, International Economics, Economics Bulletin, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Singapore Economic Review, International Journal of Emerging Markets and Journal of Asia Business Studies. He also serves as managing editor and associate editor to some reputable journals, including International Review of Economics and Finance (Elsevier).