Research themes
Our themes
Research areas
- Capital structure and corporate policies
- Cash and dividend policies
- Earnings management
- Investor sentiment
- Private equity
- Tax
- Sustainable finance.
About our research
In the field of corporate finance, our interests range from issues in capital structure to earnings management to sustainable finance. A firm’s capital structure or how the firm finances its activities through a mix of debt and equity is pivotal to understanding wider issues concerning firms and corporations. For instance, the firm’s attitudes towards holding cash, paying dividends, and its taxation. Of interest are matters relating to the emerging strands of research focusing on investor sentiment and sustainable finance.
Academics in our department address salient research questions including:
- Which firm-level and country-level factors are suitable determinants of green investments?
- What are the relationships between financial hedging, corporate cash policy, and the value of cash?
- How does government control affect the value of cash?
- What impact did the political uncertainty and sentiment emanating from Brexit exert on financial markets?
Research areas
- Accounting standards
- Biodiversity – governance, finance, and reporting
- Board structure
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- CEO characteristics including overconfidence and traits, CEO turnover
- Diversity
- ESG
- Executive compensation
- Green finance
- Family ownership
- Financial disclosure
- Shareholder activism
- Sustainable finance.
About our research
The role of corporate governance in explaining the variation in firm behaviour and firm performance outcomes has assumed critical importance as evidenced by countries developing and implementing codes of best practice.
The emergence of CSR – corporate social responsibility – and ESG – environmental, social and governance - is part of this process and illustrates the broader linkages between finance and sustainability and accountability.
Departmental research investigates the behavioural characteristics and biographical features of firm CEOs and explains their effects on firm performance outcomes. Research also considers the role of executive compensation in motivating employees and explaining differences in firm behaviour and performance.
Academics in our department address important research questions including:
- What is the relationship between corporate social responsibility and long run debt?
- Does female representation on corporate boards improve intellectual capital efficiency?
- What are the relationships between female CFOs, leverage and the moderating role of board diversity and CEO power?
Research areas
- Corporate governance
- Competition, efficiency and productivity
- CSR, ESG and green banking
- Executive Compensation
- Financial innovation
- Financial institutions
- Financial stability
- FinTech and banking
- Islamic banking
- Liquidity creation
- Policy evaluation
- Regulation and supervision
- Organisational and ownership structures
- Securitisation
- Sustainable banking.
About our research
Our extensive empirical banking research includes bank-level analysis of the effects of competition dynamics resulting from financial deregulation and financial innovation amongst other policy initiatives on select firm performance indicators, such as bank efficiency and productivity. This research considers the role of bank ownership and other organisational structures and changes therein on bank performance and stability. In addition, our research investigates developments in the corporate governance structures of banks including executive compensation arrangements, and the rising importance of CSR, ESG, green banking, and sustainable and responsible banking.
Academics in our department address research questions relating to:
- The performance of Islamic banks
- Corruption in bank lending and the role of culturally endorsed leadership prototypes
- The effects of financial liberalisation, crisis and restructuring on bank performance and bank governance
- Facial attractiveness and CEO compensation
- Securitisation and crash risk
- Analyses of acquisitions in the banking industry.
Research areas
- Asset sales and securitisation
- Auction theory
- Behavioural finance
- Corporate and sovereign debt
- Credit risk
- Derivatives, risk management and hedging, real options
- Price clustering
- Real estate finance, mortgages, household finance
- Realised volatility modelling
- Mathematical finance, stochastic processes, and continuous-time finance
- Stock price manipulation
- Trading rules
- Venture capital.
About our research
Our research on financial markets and risk investigates the activities and behaviours of several types of firms, such as, banks, corporations, and venture capitalists.
It considers many important functions these firms carry out from asset sales and securitisation, credit risk analysis, the use of derivatives for the purposes of risk management and hedging, and mortgages.
It also examines specific market segments, such as, corporate and sovereign debt markets, and real estate finance. In addition to empirical based research, we are interested in theoretical research including auction theory as well as mathematical finance.
Academics in our department address research questions including:
- Do market conditions impact the time-varying performance of analysts’ recommendation revisions?
- Can trade credit rejuvenate Islamic banking?
- What is the effect of redenomination risk on corporate bond spreads?
- How do negative interest rates impact banks’ risk-taking?
Research areas
- Artificial intelligence in financial services, blockchain technologies, robo-advisory
- Competition, efficiency, and market structure
- Crypto assets and new asset classes
- Digitalisation, digital business models and the digital economy
- E-administration and compliance
- Financial innovation
- FinTech and banking
- P2P lending and alternative credit.
About our research
The emergence and rapid development of FinTech firms and entry of BigTech firms into financial services is challenging incumbent financial institutions to adopt or adapt to new financial technologies to improve value propositions for customers and reform existing business models built on traditional financial activities.
The development and introduction of new financial technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing to name a few are examples of enabling technology which is leading a digital revolution in financial services. With FinTech firms and BigTech firms enhancing competition in financial services, how these markets will evolve and how new entrants and incumbents, such as banks might compete or cooperate has significant implications not only for consumers but also for regulators and the design of an appropriate regulatory structure.
In addition, the use of AI in financial services and other areas like tax brings forth opportunities and risks. It is challenging existing regulatory and supervisory frameworks which should be extended and guided by ethical frameworks balance responsible financial innovation and financial stability, and to prioritise fundamental public values, such as privacy and security of financial data.
Academics in our department address evolving research questions including:
- Is Bitcoin a safe haven for currencies?
- Can an equity-credit hybrid model improve on estimating asset correlations?
- Does the rapid growth of FinTech constitute a perfect day or walk on the wild side?
- What are the implications of AI for taxation? The financial leverage and performance of financial technology firms.
In the last few years, our academics have co-edited and published books on the broad area of FinTech: Artificial Intelligence in Finance (2020); Disruptive Technology in Banking and Finance: An International Perspective (2021); The Digital Transformation and the Economics of Banking: Economic, Institutional, and Social Dimensions (2023).
Research areas
- Capital restructuring
- Corporate control and ownership structure
- International or cross-border M&A
- IPOs
- Leveraged buy outs
- Merger waves
- Ownership structure.
About our research
Mergers and acquisitions are an important feature of national and increasingly international corporate activity. M&A can result in changes in firm ownership and firm leadership with anticipated effects on firm performance outcomes, and changes in competitiveness and innovation among many others.
Departmental research has investigated whether the announcement of M&A deals creates value – or destroys value - for shareholders, and which factors might be the key drivers of changes in firm value. Our research also considers mechanisms through which M&A could occur, for instance, leverage buy outs, and in which ways firms can issue equity like initial public offerings as part of their capital restructuring. Mergers tend to come in waves and can lead to significant consolidation effects.
Our academics address important questions arising from M&A, such as:
- Should firms sell assets to buy other firms?
- Does it benefit firms to buy distressed or punished firms?
- Do M&A generate value for firm shareholders?
- What are the long run performance effects of research and development investment?
Research areas
- Competition, efficiency and productivity
- Culture
- Financial development and economic growth; law and finance
- Financial deregulation and financial structure
- Government intervention and public policies
- Incomplete markets and market structures
- Institutions and political economy
- International economics and macro-financial linkages
- Public finance
- Renewables and sustainability.
About our research
In addition to micro-econometric research on firms and markets, another area of departmental research focuses on the effectiveness of public policy and public finance.
This strand of research examines the rationale and impact of government intervention and the various effects associated with state ownership vis-á-vis private ownership, as well as the role of institutions and political economy.
Our research speaks to the broader literature on relationships between financial development and economic growth, and law and finance. Our interests extend to consider new and globally important areas of research, such as, sustainability and renewable energy.
Academics in our department address evolving research questions including:
- What are the roles of networking on firm financing and foreign ownership in corrupt host environments?
- How can we price new types of mortgages to insure homeowners against decreases in house prices?
- Is the privatisation of banks in emerging economies a justifiable response to financial crises?
- How should firms selectively hedge in incomplete markets?