Time: 13:00-15:00 (GMT), Wednesday, 4 November 2020
Moderator: Professor Victor Murinde, SOAS University of London
Online venue: Click here to join the CGF Seminar Room on Microsoft Teams (For any inquiry about how to join the online seminar, please contact Dr Meng Xie: xm1@soas.ac.uk)
Impact of COVID-19 on the FinTech Industry
Globally, the financial technologies (FinTech) revolution is in full swing. At the same time, the dreaded COVID-19 shock which struck the world economy in February 2020 was synchronized globally and is derailing the flow of funds among households, firms, banks and governments. Will FinTech drive economic recovery? Or, is COVID-19 a threat to the FinTech revolution? What should researchers focus on right now? How about policy makers (in governments and multilateral organisations), private sector practitioners and civil society agents?
To kick off the debate, for the 2020-2021 programme on these issues, we have the following panelists:
Moderator:
Professor Victor Murinde, Director of the SOAS Centre for Global Finance & AXA Chair in Global Finance at SOAS University of London
Speakers:
Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor
Joshua Yindenaba Abor is a Professor of Finance and former Dean of the University of Ghana Business School. He is an Adjunct Professor of Development Finance at the University of Stellenbosch Business School and has held Visiting Scholar positions at the IMF. He is an External Fellow at the Centre for Global Finance, SOAS and a member of the Bank of Ghana Monetary Policy Committee.
Dr Sandra Kendo
Sandra Kendo is an active researcher of AERC (African research Consortium) and an Assistant Professor in Financial Economics at University Catholic of Lille. Her last research work with AERC was approved, before COVID and its constraints, by the IMF as part of a visiting scholar 2020 carried out by the co-author of the work, an affiliated doctoral student. By her experience in the banking sector, Sandra holds and currently manage the third year of the Banking and Insurance Business Bachelor's Degree Program as the pedagogical manager.
Professor Roman Matousek
Roman Matousek is Professor of Financial Economics at Queen Mary University of London. Before joining QMUL, Roman was Director of the Global Centre for Banking and Financial Innovation at the University of Nottingham. He has been appointed as Distinguished International Professor at the University of Utara Malaysia and at Shandong Normal University, China. Roman has been Visiting Research Economist at SEACEN Centre in Kuala Lumpur, where he has led a project on “Cross-border interbank contagion risk analysis.” Roman held/holds the appointments on the editorial boards of several journals including Associate Editor of the JBF, JIFMIM, and Managing Editor of JMEF.
Dr Efthymios Rizopoulos
Efthymios Rizopoulos is a post-doctoral Research Fellow in CGF, at SOAS University of London. He holds a PhD in Financial Economics from the University of Manchester. His research experience covers both economics and finance, mainly in the areas of market microstructure, financial economics, economic development, financial markets, asset pricing, and FinTech. His work has been presented in major conferences such as the FMA 2018 European Conference, EFMA 2017 Annual Meeting, Financial Econometrics and Empirical Asset Pricing Conference, Kyle Conference: Market Mechanisms and their impact. His current research focuses on FinTech with a special interest in Machine Learning and econophysics.