14th Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference 2024

Full Paper Submission Link - Conference Academic
Sessions

Research proposal (paper) submission link for
PhD Symposium

Research Ideas (two-page maximum) submission link - Conference Academic Sessions

• Audit Fees
• Asset Pricing
• Banking
• Behavioural Finance
• Climate Finance
• Corporate Culture
• Corporate Finance
• Corporate Governance
• Derivatives
• Disclosure Practices
• Earnings Management
• Earnings Quality
• Equity Issuance

• Financial Economics
• Financial Markets
• Financial Regulations
• FINTECH
• Funds Management
• Innovation
• Investments
• IPOs
• Market Microstructure
• Payout Policy
• Post Pandemic challenges in Financial Markets
• Quantitative Finance
• Risk Management​

Ron is the Scientia Professor of Finance at the UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales. Ron’s expertise is in empirical corporate finance and corporate governance. His published research spans financial institutions, market microstructure, international finance, venture capital, law and economics and corporate governance topics such as mergers and acquisitions, boards of directors, executive compensation, ownership structure and business groups.

Among financial economists worldwide, he has one of the highest sustained rates of top tier publications and frequency of citations across a range of top finance journals and the Journal of Accounting and Economics and Journal of Law and Economics. Ron has published more than 40 papers in top-tier finance journals (JF, JFE, RFS, JFQA, MS). He received five JFE All Star Paper Awards for sustained citations of his research over time, reflecting a high sustained rate of top tier publications and citations among financial economists worldwide. He was elected President of the FMA in 2020-2021 and has served on the AFA, WFA, FMA and FIRS boards of directors and the editorial boards of the top four finance journals. He is currently an ECGI research associate and an ABFER senior academic fellow. He has also served at several US financial regulators including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Research Fellowship, received a number of research grants and was a visiting professor at a large number of top business schools globally.

Avanidhar (Subra) Subrahmanyam is a Distinguished Professor of Finance, Goldyne and​ Irwin Hearsh Chair in Money and Banking at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. A​ founding editor of the Journal of Financial Markets, Subra previously served as associate​ editor of the Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Finance. He has published more than 50 papers in top tier finance journals (JF, JFE, RFS, JFQA, MS). He is a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Working Research Group on Market Microstructure. His scholarly efforts have been recognized with best paper awards at the Western Finance Association meetings and the International Conference of Finance in Taiwan, and he was honoured with the Smith Breeden Prize for the best paper published in the Journal of Finance (1999). His documentation of market liquidity led to a number of studies analyzing why trading costs fluctuate over time and earned him the Fama-DFA prize for the best paper on investments published in the Journal of Financial Economics (2000). Subra has served as a consultant to the Nasdaq Stock Market, the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai, India, San Jose Mercury News and Irwin/McGraw-Hill. He is a UCLA Anderson Inspirational 100 alumnus.

Sumit Agarwal is Low Tuck Kwong Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Business School and a Professor of Economics and Real Estate at the National University of Singapore. He is the Managing Director of Sustainable and Green Finance Institute at NUS. He is also the President of Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research. Sumit’s research interests include issues relating to household sustainability, financial institutions, household finance, behavioral finance, and real estate markets. He has published several papers in top tier economics and finance journals such as Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, Review of economic studies, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Financial Quantitative Analysis, Review of Corporate Financial Studies, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Financial Intermediation and Review of Finance. Sumit’s research is widely cited in leading newspapers and magazines like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, and the U.S Presidents Report to Congress. He also runs a Podcast on household financial decision making called Kiasunomics.

Professor Robert Faff is Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland and Honorary Adjunct Professor at Bond University. He has an international reputation in empirical finance research: securing 15 Australian Research Council grants (funding exceeding $4 million); >350 refereed journal publications; career citations >22,000 (Google Scholar); and a h-index of 73 (Google Scholar). His particular passion is nurturing and developing the career trajectories of early career researchers. Robert has supervised approximately 50 PhD students to successful completion and examined 50 PhD dissertations. Building on a 40-year academic career, his latest focus is "Pitching Research", now gaining great traction domestically and worldwide as exemplified by: (a) >23,000 SSRN downloads; (b) >400 pitching talks/events; (c) at 37 Australian universities; and (d) spanning 54 different countries. Further, he is the Founder & President of the InSPiR2eS research network [InSPiR2eS Network - Pitching Research], a globally-facing research network primarily aimed at research training and capacity building, resting on a foundation theme of responsible science. Robert is also the creator of the InSPiR2eS Centre for Responsible Science. In addition, Robert is current Editor-in-Chief of Pacific-Basin Finance Journal.

Professor Tom Smith is one of the leading finance academics in Australia and has been ranked as the number one finance academic in Australia and New Zealand by both the Journal of Financial Literature and the Pacific Basin Finance Journal. Tom is the leading researcher in Environmental Finance, Asset Pricing Theory and Tests; Design of Markets – Market Microstructure; and Derivatives. Tom has supervised over 50 PhD students to completion and his PhD students have over 50 tier 1 papers in their own names.

Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift
(Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia Berhad)

Muhamad Umar Swift is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bursa Malaysia Berhad. He serves as the director of all subsidiary companies within the Bursa Malaysia Group and is the Chairman of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives and Clearing Berhad, Bursa Malaysia RAM Capital Sdn Bhd and Yayasan Bursa Malaysia. He is also Chairman of the CEO Action Network (CAN). Prior to joining the Bursa Malaysia, he was the CEO / Group Managing Director of MAA Group Berhad. Umar currently serves on the Boards of Securities Industry Development Corporation, Capital Market Development Fund and Malaysia Forest Fund. He is also the advisor for the UN Global Compact Network Malaysia and Brunei as well as Councillor of the Overseas Regional Council of Malaysia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. Besides being a Chartered Accountant with the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Ms Balqais Yusoff
(Head, Policy and Strategy Department, Employees Provident Fund - EPF)

Balqais Yusoff is currently heading the Policy and Strategy Department of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). She is passionate in driving positive changes to social protection landscape in Malaysia. Prior to joining EPF, she led the Corporate Planning outfit of a public listed supply chain organization. She holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Durham University, United Kingdom and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in International Relations and Economics from University of Wisconsin, United States of America. Balqais has more than 20 years of experience spanning various industries such as banking, supply chain, public services and consultancy.

Mohammad Ali Iqbal Abdul Khalid
(Director of Investment Operations and Financial Market Department, Bank Negara Malaysia)

Mr. Mohamad Ali Iqbal bin Abdul Khalid is the Director of Investment Operations and Financial Market Department, Bank Negara Malaysia since 2020. His current key responsibilities are managing the international reserves and overseeing the monetary and ringgit operations. As part of the function in domestic market operations, he also advises on the government’s public debt management and issuance strategies. He has served Bank Negara Malaysia for the last 21 years, covering various roles and work attachments including Director in Governor’s Office, Director in International Department, Deputy Director in Equity Management and Fixed Income, Chief Representative at both Bank Negara Malaysia New York Representative Office and London Representative Office. He received his MEng from Durham University, MSc from Singapore Management University and MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a CFA charter holder, since 2004 and a qualified Chartered Banker (CB) from Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB).

Ms Namita Vikas
(Founder and Managing Director of auctusESG)

Namita Vikas is currently the Founder and Managing Director of auctusESG. She is an award-winning senior business leader with over 32 years of diverse global experience in sustainable finance, ESG, and climate strategy across banking and technology. She was instrumental in raising over USD 1 billion in green capital from marquee global DFIs.  Namita continues to be a member of several expert committees on Sustainable Finance and ESG, including those by the Government of India, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Currently, she serves on the global advisory board of the Climate Bonds Initiative, UK, the Finance Industry Advisory Board of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and WoTR, India.

Mr Mansoor Ahmed
(Head of Technology and Head of Transformation, Infrastructure and Cloud – Functions at Standard Chartered Bank)

Mansoor Ahmed is a globally experienced Director at Standard Chartered Bank where he holds two roles. He is the Head of Technology for Standard Chartered Bank Global Business Services Malaysia responsible for 2,400 technology staff that service global teams. Functionally he also has a global role leading the Transformation, Infrastructure and Cloud teams for the Functions area of the business. Mansoor drives mindset change and is a firm believer in everyone developing EQ and focusing on relationships. He has multiple technical and project certifications as well as being an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Master Practitioner and has a Brain Based Certified Coach with the Neuroleadership Institute.

Mr Mohammad Ridzuan Abdul Aziz
(CEO, WorldRemit Malaysia)

Ridzuan is the Chief Executive Officer of WorldRemit Malaysia, a patented financial technology (FinTech) solution provider that utilizes digital app to facilitate sending and receiving remittances across 50 and 130 nations, respectively. He is also one of the board members for AEON Digital Berhad – one of the Islamic digital banks approved by BNM, as well as with AKRU (robo-advisory licensed by the SC), and Dear Time Berhad (an InsureTech approved by BNM into the regulatory sandbox). Ridzuan graduated from University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1997 with BSc Economics, majoring in Accounting and Finance. He obtained his MBA (specializing in MIS) from the International Islamic University Malaysia in year 2005.

Professor Nafis Alam
(Head of School, School of Business, Monash University Malaysia)

Nafis Alam is a Professor and Head of the School of Business at Monash University Malaysia. Apart from his current role at Monash, he has worked at Henley Business School Malaysia, the University of Reading Malaysia, and Nottingham University Business School at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. He has held visiting positions at universities in the UK and Indonesia. Prof Alam is a well-regarded scholar and commentator on FinTech, Banking and financial regulation. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including The World Economy, Emerging Markets Review, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, and Journal of Banking Regulation. Prof Alam has co-authored nine books and numerous book chapters on Fintech, Islamic Finance and contributed to several global reports. As a frequent traveller, he has given lectures on FinTech and finance worldwide, including at Harvard Law School and the University of Cambridge. He can be followed on Twitter @nafisalam

Dr Mohamed Ashraf bin Mohamed Iqbal
(Chairman, Waafi Bank Ltd)

Mohamed Ashraf bin Mohamed Iqbal is a chairman of Waafi Bank Ltd.  He is also Shari’ah Committee Member at HSBC Amanah, and Founder & Director of MindSpring Sdn Bhd. He obtained his BSc in Mechanical Engineering at California State University, and PhD in Islamic Banking & Finance at International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEiF). His tenure as a Chairman and Independent Non-Executive Director in prominent financial institutions, coupled with his leadership in revitalising underperforming business units demonstrates his capacity to drive strategic decision-making and enhance organisational performance. His expertise extends to corporate governance, risk assessment, and financial management, underpinned by a commitment to transparency and ethical leadership.