Finance

This area focuses on:

• the valuation of companies, including the valuation of potential targets for corporate acquisitions;
• the evaluation of proposed new investment projects;
• the estimation of the corporate cost of capital, identifying and evaluating appropriate asset pricing models, analysing risk and uncertainty and identifying key value drivers;
• the impact of market stress (e.g. the Global Financial Crisis) on corporate valuation;
• assessing a firm’s optimal capital structure.

This area focuses on risk and return analysis relevant to financial institutions and issues that lead to stable financial systems.

Specific areas of investigation include:

• competitiveness and efficiency of banks;
• assessment of equity and credit risk;
• the impact of the GFC;
• benchmarking institutional performance;
• predicting bank performance and governance in financial institutions.

This area of research responds to the increasing complexity of financial markets, their securities and systems. Projects encompass evaluation and risk of managed funds and portfolios.

Research activities include:

• dynamic portfolio allocation in conditions of global investment uncertainty;
• hedging in portfolio management;
• asymmetric financial risk exposure;
• portfolio volatility;
• sustainable investment;
• the impact of market stress on investment decision making;
• assessing the impact of market sentiment.

This area of research focuses mainly on issues related to improving corporate governance of firms.

Specific areas of research interest include but are not limited to:

• determinants and consequence of board structure, ownership structure and executive remuneration on various firms’ specific outcomes such as performance, investment and financing decisions;
• different board committee activities;
• corporate litigations;
• succession planning;
• auditors’ independence;
• post-GFC governance reforms;
• shareholder activism.