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Important dates
Deadline for Submission: May 31, 2019
Notification of Acceptance: June 30, 2019
Early Registration Deadline: July 15, 2019
Conference dates: August 29-30, 2019
Keynote Speaker
Luigi G. Zingales
Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor Of Entrepreneurship And Finance, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Aim and Topics
The fourth annual meeting of IWFSAS offers leading academics, practitioners and policymakers the opportunity to discuss cutting edge research on a range of topics related to sustainable finance, the featured theme of IWFSAS 2019 conference.
This call for papers asks for reflections on what is sustainable finance, how it is viewed by various stakeholders, its potential impact on the structure and stability of financial systems, and its role in promoting sustainable development and inclusive economic
growth.
Sustainability is today recognized as a vital theme in economic development and has dominated the global agenda not just at the governmental level, for instance with the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but also increasingly at the business
and corporate levels. The financial system has a key role to play in achieving the desired goals of sustainable and inclusive growth. It is also faced with more challenges (and opportunities), including new regulatory pressures, increasing investors demand
for green, environmental and socially responsible financial instruments, more relevant risk management and insurance products, in addition to massive capital needs by corporations and governments as they embark on a transition to low carbon economies. As
mentioned in the 2018 final report of the EU High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance,
“reaching our Paris agreement goals requires no less than a transformation of the entire financial system, its culture, and its incentives.”
While a wealth of academic research has been dedicated to sustainability, its importance in the finance field is still debated and the theme of “sustainable finance” has only recently been featured in prominent finance conferences. There is still no universally
accepted definition of “sustainable finance”. The Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance appointed in 2018 by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Finance in Canada, views sustainable finance as
“capital flows (as reflected in lending and investment), risk management (such as insurance and risk assessment) and financial processes (including disclosure, valuation and oversight) that assimilate environmental and social factors as a means of promoting
sustainable economic growth and the long-term stability of the financial system.”
Many questions related to these topics remain open for debate. For example, in the investment field, should environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and their assessment be viewed as part of the fiduciary duties of asset managers? What impact does
this have on the practice of asset allocation and risk diversification? Does divestment from fossil fuel companies make sense from an economic and financial perspective? Likewise, in the field of corporate finance, we need more research to answer questions
such as: what is the impact of climate policies and disclosure requirements on firms’ earnings and valuation? How do managers reconcile shareholders wealth maximization and potentially conflicting demands by other stakeholders, including other shareholders
who value environmental and social impact? Are good ESG policies beneficial for the long-term performance of companies or are there tradeoffs? Similarly, in the field of financial institutions and markets, many questions remain unanswered. For instance, do
green bonds and loans actually deliver on their emission reduction targets? Are we facing a carbon bubble in financial markets due to potential overvaluation of firms exposed to climate risks? Are banks and other financial institutions well prepared to withstand
external shocks related to climate change and the potential systemic failure of unprepared firms?
We invite authors to submit high quality papers on topics related to sustainable finance as broadly defined above, including, but not limited to, such topics as:
- Asset pricing and climate risk
- Sustainable asset management and ESG integration
- Green bonds, loans and transition-linked financial products and instruments
- Impact investing, socially responsible investing and ethical investing
- Climate change and fiduciary and legal duties of institutional investors
- Ethics and trust in finance and banking
- Sustainable finance and pension fund management
- Shareholders vs stakeholders wealth maximization
- Climate-related financial disclosure and impact on firms earnings and valuation
- Sustainable finance and long-term Investments
- Climate and environmental risk management
- Fintech and sustainable finance
- Gender differences, culture and financial risk taking
- Sustainable finance in emerging markets
- Microfinance, financial inclusion and social entrepreneurship
- Sustainable finance and inequality
- Financial innovation and Sustainable Development Goals
- Sustainability in financial systems: stability and crises
We welcome both theoretical and empirical contributions on the above topics,
in addition to other more general topics that relate to structure and stability of the financial system.
We look forward to seeing
you in August!
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Program Co-chairs
Rym Ayadi
Cass Business School & CBR,
City University of London
Basma Majerbi
Gustavson School of Business
& CSSI, University of Victoria
Vikas Mehrotra
Alberta School of Business
University of Alberta
Local Organising Committee
Paul Schure
Department of Economics
University of Victoria
Stuart Snaith
Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria
Michael King
Ivey Business School
Western University
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Scientific Committee
Toni Ahnert, Financial Stability Department, Bank of Canada
Christina Atanasova, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University
James Barth, Auburn University & Milken Institute
Thorsten Beck, Cass Business School, City, University of London
Sami Ben Naceur, International Monetary Fund
Jose Berrospide, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Arnoud Boot, University of Amsterdam
Narjess Boubakri, American University of Sharjah
Barbara Casu, Cass Business School, City University of London
Susan Christoffersen, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
Martin Cihak, International Monetary Fund
Meryem Duygun, Nottingham University
Merwan Engineer, University of Victoria
Vihang Errunza, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University
Giovanni Ferri, LUMSA University, Rome
Franco Fiordelisi, University of Rome III
Angela Gallo, Cass Business School, City University of London
Ron Giammarino, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
Claudia Girardone, Essex Business School, University of Essex
Iftekhar Hasan, Fordham University
Panu Kalmi, University of Vaasa
Michael King, Ivey Business School, Western University
Alfred Lehar, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary
Donato Masciandaro, Bocconi University
Nadia Massoud, Melbourne Business School, the University of Melbourne
Donal McKillop, Queen’s University, Belfast
Alistair Milne, Loughborough University
Camelia Minoiu, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Usha Mittoo, Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba
Philip Molyneux, Bangor University
Edwin Neave, Smith School of Business, Queen’s University
Maria Nieto, Bank of Spain
Barry Quinn, Queen’s University, Belfast
Francesc Rodriguez-Tous, Cass Business School, City University of London
Reinhard Schmidt, Goethe University, Frankfurt
Paul Schure, University of Victoria
Stuart Snaith, Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria
Maxwell Tuuli, Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria
Thierry Warin, HEC Montreal School of Business
Clas Wihlborg, Chapman University
James Wilcox, University of California at Berkeley
Jonathan Williams, Bangor Business School, Bangor University
John Wilson, University of St-Andrews
Ke Xu, University of Victoria
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