Call for Papers - Special Issue of Elsevier’s Economic Systems September 2006

The aim of this special issue “Debt and its Impact Upon the Economy and Financial Sector Development of Asia and Pacific Economies” of Economic Systems is to bring together a collection of papers that examines the association between country indebtedness, economic growth and financial sector development for Asian economies. In particular, the aim of the special issue is to publish a balance of papers that straddles theory, empirical evidence as well as future policy recommendations. More

If you are interested, please submit your manuscript (by 31st  January 2006) in electronic format (pdf) to

Dr Vincent Hooper Asian-Pacific Editor: Economics Systems School of Banking and Finance, UNSW

Bertil Danielsson Guest Professor 2006

October 25, 2005

Fariborz Moshirian has been chosen to be the Bertil Danielsson Guest Professor for the year 2006. The Bertil Danielsson Foundation is associated with the Nordea Bank in Stockholm. It was founded in 1988 in order to support and develop scientific research in Banking and Finance. This foundation has decided to fulfil that purpose by providing a guest professorship jointly with the School of Economics in Stockholm and School of Business, Economics, and Law at Göteborg.

As Guest Professor, Fariborz will visit Stockholm for a period of two weeks and deliver seminars and lectures to academics and the business community, the Riksbank (the Bank of Sweden), and other governmental institutions. The Bertil Danielsson Guest Professorship has been occupied by well known scholars who include Anthony Santomero, Stuart Greenbaum, David Llewellyn, Gunter Dufey, Arnoud Boot, Jean Dermine, Henry Tulkens, Raghuram Rajan, Edward Gardener, Randall Kroszner, David Humphrey, Jay Ritter, Ligi Zingales, Jonathan Macey, Philip Molyneux, Henri Servaes, and Andrew Winton.

Gordon J Samuels Fellowship for Associate Professor Ram Bhar

October 3, 2005

The aims of this fellowship that attracted Ram are: to provide high quality staff development opportunities in North America for UNSW academics; to develop and strengthen links between UNSW and selected research-intensive universities in the US and Canada; to provide opportunities for UNSW academic staff to undertake collaborative research with their North American counterparts and to gain knowledge about research strengths and research training in these universities.

Ram will work with Professor Tom McCurdy at the University of Toronto on ‘Exploring the Market Micro-Structure Effects in Bond Futures Trading’.  He will also take the opportunity to meet up with John Hull the author of Options, Futures, and other Derivatives, a text that is used in the School of Banking and Finance.    Ram obtained his MASc (Computer Science) at the University of Waterloo and is looking forward to renewing Canadian acquaintances.

John Yu Fellowship to Europe for Dr Eliza Wu

September 27, 2003

The John Yu Fellowship awards a one-month visit to a host university in Europe for collaborative research work. The goals of this fellowship are: to provide high quality staff development opportunities for UNSW academics in Europe; to develop and strengthen links between UNSW and selected research-intensive universities in Europe; and to gain knowledge about research strengths and research training in these universities.

Eliza will undertake collaborative research with Professor Colm Kearney at the Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS) at Trinity College, University of Dublin on ‘The development of cross-asset market measures of financial market integration in a partial sectoral framework'. The research project aims to improve the current understanding on international portfolio choices and asset market linkages over time.

Axiss Scholar Program

8 July 2005

This program provides a unique opportunity for students to participate in an integrated progam of study and work experience. A scholarship stipend of $10,000 is provided to successful applicants, along with the opportunity to undertake 10 to 14 weeks work experience in a prominent financial services organization.

Student recommendation

Being an Axiss Scholar with the RBA had a big impact on my career.     The scholarship offers the student and employer the chance to ‘try before they buy’.  Two years later, I am a Senior Analyst with the RBA – I know accepting the Axiss Scholarship was the right thing for me.  The RBA seem to agree!

Anatoly Kirievsky, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Placement Situation

• Full-time industry experience for 10 to 14 weeks
• A scholarship of $10,000
• High profile sponsors have included ABN AMRO, Allianz Australia, APRA, Credit Suisse First Boston, Reserve Bank of Australia, Westpac
• Visit www.financescholars.com for more information and to complete an online application
• Applications closed Friday, 8 July 2005

Who can apply?

• Undergraduate or postgraduate students intending to join workforce in 2006
• Applicants must be completing a commerce or finance major
• Open to both Australian and International Students

UNSW Investment Management Conference

29th June 2005

 Convenors

    David Gallagher             John Evans

The 2005 UNSW Investment Management Conference will be held on 29th June, 2005. It provides a forum for the School of Banking and Finance to showcase the latest research in the field to the Australian investment management industry.  In addition, the communication process is very much two-way, which enables industry to actively participate in questions and feedback. More

Chartered Secretaries Australia

23 June 2005

The Head of School of Banking and Finance, Professor Terry Walter, was elected as a member of the NSW Council of Chartered Secretaries Australia

Super fund choice a mixed blessing
10 May 2005

"The amber light is on for the Federal Government," said UNSW Associate Professor John Evans, from the School of Banking and Finance, in the Faculty of Commerce and Economics. "While I understand the need for super choice for consumers, this decision is going to affect investment in private equity and the wider economy too."

Private equity investment is where super funds invest directly in companies typically with annual turnovers of between $30 million and $50 million, which are not listed on the stock exchange.

Associate Professor Evans has surveyed forty major superannuation funds about their attitudes to private equity investment. He found that while they will continue to invest between 4 and 4.5 percent of their funds in this sector over the next two to five years, this amount would not increase in line with the trend in other developed countries.

"Super funds are being more cautious because they will need more liquidity once these changes come into effect on July 1," said Associate Professor Evans. "That is because people will be able to change super funds upon demand and long-term investments such as private equity will tie up money and therefore become less appealing for fund managers."

"This will have a significant effect on the economy because companies that generally attract private equity investment show large returns," he said. "They often employ a significant number of people, they are usually still headed by the person who started the company and they really need more capital and expertise to take the business to the next level.

"But without further investment from super funds, they won't be able to grow and bring bigger returns for investors," said Associate Professor Evans.

Zurich-based Adveq Management, the largest European independent private equity fund, commissioned the study.

Japan fellowship for Bhar

10 May 2005

Associate Professor Ramaprasad Bhar, from the School of Banking and Finance, will be going on a fellowship to Japan in December.

The fully funded research fellowship has been offered by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Associate Professor Bhar will travel to Kobe for three weeks to further his research activities with Professor Shigeyuki Hamori, of Kobe University.

The pair has already collaborated on a two books: Hidden Markov Models: Applications to Financial Economics and Empirical Techniques in Finance.

Scholarship to University of Oxford
8 April 2005

Udara is one of three UNSW graduates who have recently been awarded prestigious international scholarships to continue their studies.

Udara Peiris, a 21-year-old graduate with First Class Honours in Finance and a major in Actuarial Studies from the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, has been awarded a full scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he will do a Master of Financial Economics degree and then a doctorate at the Saïd Business School. Udara is one of only 100 students from around the world to receive a Clarendon Scholarship this year.

"I am thrilled to even get there and to get a scholarship is a double honour," said Udara. "The course is meant for professionals who have worked a few years in banking and so on, so coming straight out of university and getting a scholarship is great."

Top publication record in finance journals
14 January 2005

UNSW has the highest publication record of universities in Australia and New Zealand in 19 finance journals over the last 5 years, according to the Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia-Pacific’s (SIRCA) new online ranking system, FinRank. The School of Banking and Finance at UNSW is ranked 15th in the world over this interval.

“The School of Banking and Finance has invested heavily in recruiting active research staff over the past few years, and this investment is really starting to bring dividends”, says Professor Terry Walter, Head of School. “The next few years will be even better.”

FinRank provides important comparative information on research productivity, and allows finance academics or academic institutions to determine their ranking in specific finance journals, geographic regions and/or years.

SIRCA is a non-profit company established in 1994 with 4 universities to improve the efficiency of Australian capital markets. Now with 26 member universities across Australia and New Zealand, its main focus is the sharing of infrastructure across industry and academia, “encompassing super computing power, skilled research and programming personnel, creation and maintenance of market databases, thought leadership through industry, and academic and government networks” (sirca.org.au).