Keynote Speakers

Professor in Finance & Managing Editor of Journal of Financial Stability · Fordham University, United States

Iftekhar Hasan holds the title of University Professor at Fordham University and serves as the E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in Finance; academic director of the Ph.D. program; and co-director of the Center for Research in Contemporary Finance at the Gabelli School of Business. He is a scientific advisor at the Central Bank of Finland, a fractional faculty member at the University of Sydney, and a research fellow at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center and the IWH Institute in Halle, Germany. He is the editor of the Journal of Financial Stability. Professor Hasan's research interests include financial institutions, corporate finance, capital markets, and emerging economies, focusing on interdisciplinary questions and public policy issues. He has been involved with numerous academic research grants from governmental, national, and international science foundations and organizations in the U.S. and abroad.

Chief Executive Officer · Financial Advice New Zealand

Nick brings deep experience of the financial advice process to the businesses he works with. He has provided insight, perspective, and influence on the financial advice sector, regulators, financial institutions, and professional bodies across Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Australia; and now leads Financial Advice New Zealand. A champion for the value of quality financial advice; Nick has held executive roles and Board positions for wealth management institutions and professional adviser representative bodies. He is the co-author of an industry white paper – a new advice competency framework, influencing the government’s new professional standards legislation, directly impacting 19,000 financial advisers in Australia. Nick has served as the Independent Chair of the Pro Bono Financial Adviser Network and as the Vice Chairman of the International Certification & Standards Board for the Asia Pacific Financial Services Association (APFinSA) in Singapore.

Professor in Finance & Managing Editor of International Review of Finance · The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Prof. Dragon Yongjun TANG received his Ph.D. in finance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. He also holds a B.S. from Jilin University, and M.S. from Texas A&M University. Dragon joined The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2007, and became Associate Professor of Finance in 2013. Before joining HKU, Dragon also held teaching positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Kennesaw State University. Dragon’s current research interests include credit risk, credit derivatives, and Chinese banking and credit markets. He has previously done research on mutual funds and Bayesian methods in finance. His research articles are published in top journals such as the Journal of Finance and Journal of Financial Economics. He has also received numerous research awards and currently the Managing Editor of International Review of Finance

Associate Professor in Finance & Editor-in-Chief of Economics & Politics · Adelaide University, Australia

Dr Lei Xu is an Associate Professor in Finance and currently Editor in Chief of the Economics & Politics. Dr Xu holds a PhD in Finance from the University of South Australia, while also bringing to his teaching and research practical experience in banking, including roles at the Bank of China and China Merchants Bank. He is an accomplished academic who has made significant contributions through his innovative teaching, expertise in and application of a wide set of research methodologies, and advancement of the field of finance research.