ACADEMIC AWARD

• ALEXANDRE CORTHAY – ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
  PROF CORTHAY’S RESEARCH IDENTIFIES A NEW CHANNEL THROUGH WHICH INFLATION CAN DISRUPT THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM. A SURPRISE INCREASE IN INFLATION TRANSFERS WEALTH FROM BANKS (THE LENDERS) TO FIRMS (THE BORROWERS). HE EXAMINES HOW THIS INFLATION WEALTH TRANSFER IMPACTS ASSET PRICES AND THE OVERALL ECONOMY AND DERIVE THE OPTIMAL POLICIES THAT CAN HELP STABILIZE THE ECONOMY.

RESEARCH GRANTS

• LIYAN YANG – ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
  PROFESSOR YANG RESEARCH PROJECT PROVIDES AN INFORMATION-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR INTEREST RATE RISK AND CENTRAL BANK INTERVENTION. IN THIS FRAMEWORK, HE EXPLORES THE IMPLICATIONS OF CENTRAL BANK INTERVENTION FOR INVESTOR BEHAVIOR, FINANCIAL MARKETS, AND REAL ECONOMY, AND OFFERS IMPORTANT GUIDANCE AND CONCRETE SUGGESTIONS FOR CENTRAL BANKS, ACADEMICS, AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS. THIS CSIRF-FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECT ADVANCES THE KNOWLEDGE FRONTIER ON ONE PRESSING AREA OF INTEREST IDENTIFIED BY CSIRF, NAMELY “INTEREST RATE RISK: DRIVERS AND IMPACTS.”

• KENNETH R. VETZAL, SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE, UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO THE ONGOING SHIFT FROM DEFINED BENEFIT TO DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PENSION PLANS PUTS THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR INVESTING RETIREMENT SAVINGS ONTO EITHER FINANCIAL ADVISORS OR INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS WHO WANT TO MANAGE THEIR OWN PORTFOLIOS. DR. VETZAL’S RESEARCH PROGRAM WILL SEEK BETTER WAYS TO MANAGE RETIREMENT SAVINGS IN THE CANADIAN CONTEXT, DURING BOTH THE PRE-RETIREMENT ACCUMULATION PHASE AND IN RETIREMENT.
• SHYAM VENKATESAN, IVEY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

Ph.D Scholarships

• ANEEL IQBAL – HASKAYNE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY ANEEL EXPLORES THE POTENTIAL FOR CHANGES IN THE ACCOUNTING MEASUREMENT AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES NEEDED TO BETTER PRESENT THE PERFORMANCE OF NEW-ECONOMY FIRMS. IN HIS DISSERTATION, HE DOCUMENTS HOW THE PROPERTIES OF ACCRUALS DIFFER BETWEEN INTANGIBLE AND PHYSICAL INTENSIVE FIRMS AND PROPOSES A METHODOLOGY TO MEASURE INTERNALLY GENERATED INTANGIBLE ASSETS FOR IMPROVING FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS.
• ELLA D.S. PATELLI – HEC MONTRÉAL ELLA D.S. PATELLI’S RESEARCH FOCUSES ON UNDERSTANDING HOW ASSET PRICES BEHAVE IN INCOMPLETE INFORMATION. SHE DEVELOPS A THEORETICALLY-FOUNDED EMPIRICAL MEASURE OF EARNINGS GROWTH UNCERTAINTY. THE EARNINGS GROWTH UNCERTAINTY, COMPUTED AT THE FIRM LEVEL, MEASURES HOW DIFFICULT IT IS FOR AN INVESTOR TO FORM ACCURATE BELIEFS ABOUT A FIRM EXPECTED EARNINGS GROWTH. THIS MEASURE IS USED TO EXPLAIN CROSS-SECTIONAL VARIATIONS IN EQUITY VALUATION.
• IRIS WANG – SAUDER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA  IRIS WANG’S RESEARCH SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND THE GOVERNANCE AND OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE OF FIRMS, AND WHAT ROLE KEY STAKEHOLDERS SUCH AS PROXY ADVISORS AND INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS PLAY IN AFFECTING THESE. HER SECOND LINE OF RESEARCH EXAMINES HOW LABOR MARKET FRICTIONS AFFECT CORPORATE POLICIES.

LIMITED TERM CHAIR

• ANDREAS PARK – PROFESSOR OF FINANCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA AND THE ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
  ANDREAS CURRENT RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS SUCH AS BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND THE DIGITIZATION OF TRADING IN THE CANADIAN CAPITAL MARKETS. HE RECENTLY CO-AUTHORED A DESIGN PROPOSAL FOR A CENTRAL-BANK ISSUED DIGITAL CURRENCY, COMMISSIONED BY THE BANK OF CANADA.

Research Grants 

• LIYAN YANG – ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
  PROFESSOR YANG RESEARCH PROJECT PROVIDES AN INFORMATION-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR INTEREST RATE RISK AND CENTRAL BANK INTERVENTION. IN THIS FRAMEWORK, HE EXPLORES THE IMPLICATIONS OF CENTRAL BANK INTERVENTION FOR INVESTOR BEHAVIOR, FINANCIAL MARKETS, AND REAL ECONOMY, AND OFFERS IMPORTANT GUIDANCE AND CONCRETE SUGGESTIONS FOR CENTRAL BANKS, ACADEMICS, AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS. THIS CSIRF-FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECT ADVANCES THE KNOWLEDGE FRONTIER ON ONE PRESSING AREA OF INTEREST IDENTIFIED BY CSIRF, NAMELY “INTEREST RATE RISK: DRIVERS AND IMPACTS.”

ACADEMIC AWARD

• DR. ALFRED LEHAR – HASKAYNE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
  DR. LEHAR WILL PURSUE HIS RESEARCH PROGRAM ON HOW BLOCHCHAIN AND CRYPTO-CURRENCIES WILL IMPACT THE FINANCE INDUSTRY. SPECIFICALLY HE WILL ANALYZE WHY CRYPTO-CURRENCIES ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRADING AT DIFFERENT PRICES IN DIFFERENT MARKETS, HOW TRANSACTION FEES IN SUCH MARKETS ARE DETERMINED, AND HOW BLOCKCHAIN LEDGERS WILL CHANGE THE PAYMENT SYSTEM AND THE SETTLEMENT IN CANADIAN AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES MARKETS.

LIMITED TERM CHAIR

• DR. ALFRED LEHAR – HASKAYNE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
  DR. LEHAR WILL PURSUE HIS RESEARCH PROGRAM ON HOW BLOCHCHAIN AND CRYPTO-CURRENCIES WILL IMPACT THE FINANCE INDUSTRY. SPECIFICALLY HE WILL ANALYZE WHY CRYPTO-CURRENCIES ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRADING AT DIFFERENT PRICES IN DIFFERENT MARKETS, HOW TRANSACTION FEES IN SUCH MARKETS ARE DETERMINED, AND HOW BLOCKCHAIN LEDGERS WILL CHANGE THE PAYMENT SYSTEM AND THE SETTLEMENT IN CANADIAN AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES MARKETS.

Ph.D Scholarships

• MICHELE DATHAN – ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
  MICHELE’S RESEARCH IS IN EMPIRICAL CORPORATE FINANCE, WITH A SPECIFIC FOCUS ON EXTERNAL CAPITAL RAISING, INCLUDING INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS, SEASONED EQUITY OFFERINGS, AND DEBT ISSUANCE. HER CURRENT RESEARCH FOCUSES ON KEY ECONOMIC FRICTIONS, SUCH AS INFORMATION ASYMMETRY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AND SUPPLY OF CAPITAL, ON FIRMS’ WILLINGNESS AND ABILITY TO ACCESS EXTERNAL CAPITAL MARKETS.
• EYUB YEGEN – ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
  EYUB YEGEN’S RESEARCH IS AT THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN EMPIRICAL CORPORATE FINANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL OWNERSHIP. THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF HIS RESEARCH EXAMINES THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS IN SOCIETY. IN HIS DOCTORAL THESIS, HE STUDIES WHETHER OWNERSHIP BY LONG-TERM INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS MITIGATES THE SOCIAL COSTS THAT ARISE WHEN INCARCERATION SERVICES ARE OUTSOURCED TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

Research Grants 

• PATRICK AUGUSTIN – DESAUTELS FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT, MCGILL UNIVERSITY
  SINCE THE 2008 GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIBOR INTEREST RATE SWAPS DENOMINATED IN USD AND U.S. TREASURY RATES (I.E., SWAP SPREADS), TURNED NEGATIVE, EFFECTIVELY SUGGESTING THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS RISKIER THAN A PRESUMABLY SAFE AA-RATED BANK. POPULAR EXPLANATIONS FOR THIS ANOMALY RELY ON FINANCIAL MARKET FRICTIONS. IN OUR RESEARCH “BENCHMARK INTEREST RATES WHEN THE GOVERNMENT IS RISKY,” WE PROVIDE A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM MODEL THAT JOINTLY RATIONALIZES THE PRICING DYNAMICS OF VARIOUS BENCHMARK INTEREST RATES IN A UNIFIED FRAMEWORK. WE SHOW THAT NEGATIVE SWAP SPREADS NATURALLY EMERGE IN THE PRESENCE OF U.S. DEFAULT RISK.
• RYAN RIORDAN – SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC AWARD

• ANH NGUYEN – YORK UNIVERSITY
  PROF NGUYEN STUDIES WHETHER AND HOW A SKILLED IMMIGRANT LABOR FORCE GENERATES GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR FIRMS AND CREATES SHAREHOLDER VALUE. THE RESULTS SHOW A LOCAL LABOR FORCE WITH MORE SKILLED IMMIGRANTS MAKES LOCAL FIRMS MORE ATTRACTIVE AS TAKEOVER TARGETS. IT ALSO RESULTS IN GREATER POST-MERGER PROFITS AND RETURNS TO THE COMBINED FIRM, ARISING FROM GREATER COST EFFICIENCY.

LIMITED TERM CHAIR

• DR. ALFRED LEHAR – HASKAYNE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
  DR. LEHAR WILL PURSUE HIS RESEARCH PROGRAM ON HOW BLOCHCHAIN AND CRYPTO-CURRENCIES WILL IMPACT THE FINANCE INDUSTRY. SPECIFICALLY HE WILL ANALYZE WHY CRYPTO-CURRENCIES ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRADING AT DIFFERENT PRICES IN DIFFERENT MARKETS, HOW TRANSACTION FEES IN SUCH MARKETS ARE DETERMINED, AND HOW BLOCKCHAIN LEDGERS WILL CHANGE THE PAYMENT SYSTEM AND THE SETTLEMENT IN CANADIAN AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES MARKETS.

Ph.D Scholarships

• MICHELE DATHAN – ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
  MICHELE’S RESEARCH IS IN EMPIRICAL CORPORATE FINANCE, WITH A SPECIFIC FOCUS ON EXTERNAL CAPITAL RAISING, INCLUDING INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS, SEASONED EQUITY OFFERINGS, AND DEBT ISSUANCE. HER CURRENT RESEARCH FOCUSES ON KEY ECONOMIC FRICTIONS, SUCH AS INFORMATION ASYMMETRY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AND SUPPLY OF CAPITAL, ON FIRMS’ WILLINGNESS AND ABILITY TO ACCESS EXTERNAL CAPITAL MARKETS.
• GUANGLI LU SAUDER – SAUDER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
  GUANGLI LU STUDIES HOW THE INFORMATION TRANSPARENCY ASSOCIATED WITH ENTRY OF REAL ESTATE WEBSITE, ZILLOW.COM, AFFECTS RACIAL PRICE DIFFERENTIALS IN THE U.S. RESIDENTIAL HOUSING MARKET. HE FINDS ZILLOW’S ENTRY REDUCES THE PREMIUM PAID BY BLACK BUYERS RELATIVE TO WHITE BUYERS.

Research Grants 

• MARIANA KHAPKO, MARIUS ZOICAN, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
  Our project aims to investigate how digital trading apps are influencing retail traders’ behavior. In particular, we focus on the gamification of trading. Do behavioral nudges like confetti and animations prompt retail investors to take more risks, and in which assets? A second related research question aims to investigate how the financial industry responded to the rise in retail trading: are there custom-made products aimed at long-term investors?
• Mohammad rahaman, sobey school of business of saint mary’s university
  Dr. Mohammad Rahaman’s research focuses primarily on how much funding liquidity can be a source of power for industrial firms in a competitive global marketplace. he is currently investigating the effects of unprecedented and prolonged credit easing by central banks, following the global financial crisis, on the structure and design of syndicated loans in north america, and how the price and non-price terms of such contracts influence firm-level real activities such as investment, innovation and internationalization. 

Ltd Term Chair

• dr. alfred lehar – haskayne School of Business, university of calgary 
  Dr. Lehar will pursue his research program on how blochchain and crypto-currencies will impact the finance industry. Specifically he will analyze why Crypto-currencies are simultaneously trading at different prices in different markets, how transaction fees in such markets are determined, and how blockchain ledgers will change the payment system and the settlement in Canadian and international securities markets..

Ph.D Scholarships

• Ali Sharifkhani – Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Ali Sharifkhani’s research focuses on empirical asset pricing with a particular focus on exploring the connections between labor markets and financial markets. His research has highlighted the importance of firm’s access to foreign labor markets through immigration and offshore outsourcing as a determinant of asset price dynamics.
• Christoph Schiller – Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Mr. Schiller’s research examines the role of firm-level networks and relationships for the transmission of corporate policies and information in a global context. In his dissertation project, Mr. Schiller focuses specifically on supply-chain networks and corporate social responsibility, highlighting the importance of customer-supplier relationships for corporate ESG policy adoption and firm performance.?

Research Grants 

• Justin Jin, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University; Kiridaran Kanagaretnam, Schulich School of Business, York University
  The purpose of Professors Jin and Kanagaretnam research is to explore interest rate related issues and their impact on banks’ operating performance. We study the interactions between the following three parties: economic policies, federal interest rates, and banks’ financial reporting quality.
• Jack Favilukis, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Jack Favilukis studies topics at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance, this includes wealth inequality, labor market frictions, international capital flows, and real estate. The grant from the Canadian Securities Institute is funding research into the relationship between interest rates and demographics.

Ltd Term Chair

• Mark Kamstra – Schulich School of Business, York University 
  Mark Kamstra’s research interests focus in on two areas, valuation using discounted cash flow techniques and the variation of returns to investments due to predictable fluctuations in investor mood/sentiment and investor risk aversion. An objective of Professor Kamstra’s research during his term professorship with the Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation is to test for variation in fundamental value resulting from changes in investor risk aversion, and to evaluate deviations from fundamental prices caused by investor sentiment. The results of this research will bear importantly on the determination of appropriate policy reactions to extreme events in financial markets.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Jinfei Sheng, Robert H. Lee Graduate School, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Sheng’s research aims to enhance our understanding of information, such as macroeconomic announcements and news media, in explaining stock returns, market efficiency, and asset pricing anomalies. His work involves collecting novel datasets from various sources and conducting textual analysis.
• Christoph Schiller – Rotman School, University of Toronto
  Mr. Schiller’s research examines the role of firm-level networks and relationships for the transmission of corporate policies and information in a global context. In his dissertation project, Mr. Schiller focuses specifically on supply-chain networks and corporate social responsibility, highlighting the importance of customer-supplier relationships for corporate ESG policy adoption and firm performance.
• Jenfei Sheng – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Sheng’s research aims to enhance our understanding of information, such as macroeconomic announcements and news media, in explaining stock returns, market efficiency, and asset pricing anomalies. His work involves collecting novel datasets from various sources and conducting textual analysis.
• Xin Wang – University of Toronto
  Mr. Wang’s research interests include empirical asset pricing and international finance. Specifically, he examines intra-industry return cross-predictability in international financial markets and tests whether stock markets are efficient at the aggregate country-industry level.

Academic Grants

• Fabio Moneta – Smith School of Business, Queen’s University
  Fabio Moneta has two main research areas. The first concentrates on institutional investors and studies their performance and trading behavior. The second research area is related to the study of the risk premium in different financial markets. The Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation is supporting a research project on the allowance and use of leverage, short sales, options, and futures by mutual funds with the aim of understanding the impact of these complex instruments on fund performance and risk.
• Dr. Anh Nguyen
  Dr. Nguyen’s research focuses on the effects of demographics on corporate policies and capital markets. In the current study, Dr. Nguyen examines the impact of the age structure of the labor force on the innovation activities of publicly traded firms and their stock valuations

Research Grants

• Fatma Saryal and Ceren Kolsarici – Queen’s School of Business 
  Professors Kolsarici and Saryal research covers three broad areas of professional financial and investment advisory business: 1. to quantify the value of professional financial advice, 2. to understand the Canadian households’ saving and investment behavior as well as changing nature of their pension plans, 3. to outline marketing strategies to communicate the value of financial advice to investors with different motivational drivers.

Ltd Term Chair

• Mark Kamstra – Schulich School of Business, York University 
  Mark Kamstra’s research interests focus in on two areas, valuation using discounted cash flow techniques and the variation of returns to investments due to predictable fluctuations in investor mood/sentiment and investor risk aversion. An objective of Professor Kamstra’s research during his term professorship with the Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation is to test for variation in fundamental value resulting from changes in investor risk aversion, and to evaluate deviations from fundamental prices caused by investor sentiment. The results of this research will bear importantly on the determination of appropriate policy reactions to extreme events in financial markets.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Joon Woo Bae – Rotman School of Management
  Mr. Bae’s research focuses on the study of international financial markets. His interests lie in understanding the impact of economic interconnectedness of firms and countries on asset price dynamics and its implications for the portfolio management in a global context.
• Charles Martineau – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Martineau’s field of study is empirical asset pricing with a specific emphasis on information economics. The main general research question that he study is: how and how fast is public news gets incorporated into asset prices?
• Jenfei Sheng – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Sheng’s research aims to enhance our understanding of information, such as macroeconomic announcements and news media, in explaining stock returns, market efficiency, and asset pricing anomalies. His work involves collecting novel datasets from various sources and conducting textual analysis.
• Ting Xu – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Xu studies entrepreneurial finance and closely-held firms. His research has explored the roles of job-protected leave and crowdfunding in facilitating entrepreneurship. He also studies the ownership structure of private and closely-held firms.”
• Kairong Xiao – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Xiao studies the impact of government intervention on capital markets. Specifically, he examines how monetary policy and government regulation affect the behavior of financial intermediaries in the economy.
• Wuyang Zhao – Rotman School of Management
  The main theme of Mr. Zhao’s research is to understand how sophisticated users of accounting information, such as short-sellers, affect other market participants. His doctoral dissertation at University of Toronto focuses on activist short-selling – arguably the most controversial form of short-selling in which short-sellers publicly talk down securities.

Research Grants 

• Justin Jin, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University; Kiridaran Kanagaretnam, Schulich School of Business, York University
  The purpose of Professors Jin and Kanagaretnam research is to explore interest rate related issues and their impact on banks’ operating performance. We study the interactions between the following three parties: economic policies, federal interest rates, and banks’ financial reporting quality.
• Jack Favilukis, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Jack Favilukis studies topics at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance, this includes wealth inequality, labor market frictions, international capital flows, and real estate. The grant from the Canadian Securities Institute is funding research into the relationship between interest rates and demographics.

Ltd Term Chair

• Mark Kamstra – Schulich School of Business, York University 
  Mark Kamstra’s research interests focus in on two areas, valuation using discounted cash flow techniques and the variation of returns to investments due to predictable fluctuations in investor mood/sentiment and investor risk aversion. An objective of Professor Kamstra’s research during his term professorship with the Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation is to test for variation in fundamental value resulting from changes in investor risk aversion, and to evaluate deviations from fundamental prices caused by investor sentiment. The results of this research will bear importantly on the determination of appropriate policy reactions to extreme events in financial markets.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Jinfei Sheng, Robert H. Lee Graduate School, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Sheng’s research aims to enhance our understanding of information, such as macroeconomic announcements and news media, in explaining stock returns, market efficiency, and asset pricing anomalies. His work involves collecting novel datasets from various sources and conducting textual analysis.
• Christoph Schiller – Rotman School, University of Toronto
  Mr. Schiller’s research examines the role of firm-level networks and relationships for the transmission of corporate policies and information in a global context. In his dissertation project, Mr. Schiller focuses specifically on supply-chain networks and corporate social responsibility, highlighting the importance of customer-supplier relationships for corporate ESG policy adoption and firm performance.
• Jenfei Sheng – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Sheng’s research aims to enhance our understanding of information, such as macroeconomic announcements and news media, in explaining stock returns, market efficiency, and asset pricing anomalies. His work involves collecting novel datasets from various sources and conducting textual analysis.
• Xin Wang – University of Toronto
  Mr. Wang’s research interests include empirical asset pricing and international finance. Specifically, he examines intra-industry return cross-predictability in international financial markets and tests whether stock markets are efficient at the aggregate country-industry level.

Academic Grants

• Fabio Moneta – Smith School of Business, Queen’s University
  Fabio Moneta has two main research areas. The first concentrates on institutional investors and studies their performance and trading behavior. The second research area is related to the study of the risk premium in different financial markets. The Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation is supporting a research project on the allowance and use of leverage, short sales, options, and futures by mutual funds with the aim of understanding the impact of these complex instruments on fund performance and risk.
• Dr. Anh Nguyen
  Dr. Nguyen’s research focuses on the effects of demographics on corporate policies and capital markets. In the current study, Dr. Nguyen examines the impact of the age structure of the labor force on the innovation activities of publicly traded firms and their stock valuations

Research Grants

• Fatma Saryal and Ceren Kolsarici – Queen’s School of Business 
  Professors Kolsarici and Saryal research covers three broad areas of professional financial and investment advisory business: 1. to quantify the value of professional financial advice, 2. to understand the Canadian households’ saving and investment behavior as well as changing nature of their pension plans, 3. to outline marketing strategies to communicate the value of financial advice to investors with different motivational drivers.

Ltd Term Chair

• Mark Kamstra – Schulich School of Business, York University 
  Mark Kamstra’s research interests focus in on two areas, valuation using discounted cash flow techniques and the variation of returns to investments due to predictable fluctuations in investor mood/sentiment and investor risk aversion. An objective of Professor Kamstra’s research during his term professorship with the Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation is to test for variation in fundamental value resulting from changes in investor risk aversion, and to evaluate deviations from fundamental prices caused by investor sentiment. The results of this research will bear importantly on the determination of appropriate policy reactions to extreme events in financial markets.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Joon Woo Bae – Rotman School of Management
  Mr. Bae’s research focuses on the study of international financial markets. His interests lie in understanding the impact of economic interconnectedness of firms and countries on asset price dynamics and its implications for the portfolio management in a global context.
• Charles Martineau – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Martineau’s field of study is empirical asset pricing with a specific emphasis on information economics. The main general research question that he study is: how and how fast is public news gets incorporated into asset prices?
• Jenfei Sheng – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Sheng’s research aims to enhance our understanding of information, such as macroeconomic announcements and news media, in explaining stock returns, market efficiency, and asset pricing anomalies. His work involves collecting novel datasets from various sources and conducting textual analysis.
• Ting Xu – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Xu studies entrepreneurial finance and closely-held firms. His research has explored the roles of job-protected leave and crowdfunding in facilitating entrepreneurship. He also studies the ownership structure of private and closely-held firms.”
• Kairong Xiao – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Xiao studies the impact of government intervention on capital markets. Specifically, he examines how monetary policy and government regulation affect the behavior of financial intermediaries in the economy.
• Wuyang Zhao – Rotman School of Management
  The main theme of Mr. Zhao’s research is to understand how sophisticated users of accounting information, such as short-sellers, affect other market participants. His doctoral dissertation at University of Toronto focuses on activist short-selling – arguably the most controversial form of short-selling in which short-sellers publicly talk down securities.

Research Grants

• Fatma Saryal and Ceren Kolsarici – Queen’s School of Business 
  Professors Saryal and Kolsarici 1st year of funding (description of research see above in 2016-2017)
• Alessandro Previtero – Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario 
  Professor Previtero’s research is in the field of behavioral finance, with special focus on consumer financial decision-making. In the past, he has investigated the relationship between annuitization and framing of retirement plans; and annuitization and past stock returns. His current research speaks to: i) the tendency to procrastinate and retirement planning decisions; ii) the value of financial advice; and iii) the biological determinants of financial risk-taking.

Ltd Term Chair

• Mark Kamstra – Schulich School of Business, York University 
  Professor Kamstra’s 1st year of funding (description of research is above in 2016 -2017)

Ph.D Scholarships

• Haibo Jiang – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Jiang studies how oil price changes affect bond and stock returns. In one paper he provides novel empirical evidence and theoretical analysis that the price of oil is a significant macro variable for explaining returns on Treasury bonds, and in another paper he illustrates the predictability of oil price change decomposition for international equity index returns and shows the importance of dissecting oil price changes.
• Shahid Khan – Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary 
  Mr. Khan is interested in the impact of adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the workings of Canada’s capital markets. Specifically, he is interested in how more principle based accounting information under IFRS affects the behaviour of different capital market participants.
• Kairong Xiao – Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  1st year of funding (description of research is above in 2016 -2017)
• Ting Xu Robert H. Lee – Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  1st year of funding (description of research is above in 2016 -2017)

Research Grants

• Alessandro Previtero – Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario
  Professor Previtero 1st year of funding (description of research see above in 2015-2016)
• Fatma Saryal and Ceren Kolsarici – Queen’s School of Business
  Professors Saryal and Kolsarici 1st year of funding (description of research see above in 2016-2017)

Academic Award

• Justin Jin – DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University
  Professor Jin is interested in the impact that corporate governance has on the quality of banks’ financial reporting. Specifically, he is interested in how the independence of board of directors affects the earnings management of banks’ reporting and what the broader implications of such impact might have for investors and bank regulators.
• Ari Pandes – Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary

Ph.D Scholarships

• Mohamed Al Guindy – Queen’s School of Business
  Mr. Al Guindy’s research examines the impact of the advent of Social Media, particularly Twitter, on financial markets. His work shows that companies, especially those that receive less media and market attention, can benefit from tweeting information about their firm.
• Shahid Khan – Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary 
  1st year of funding (description of research is above in 2015 -2016)

Ph.D Scholarships

• Andrew Carrothers– DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University
  Mr. Carrothers’ primary research interest is corporate governance, with a particular focus on hedge fund activism and executive perk compensation. Regarding investor activism, he examines the governance implications of the interaction at target firms between hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Aazam Virani– Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Mr. Aazam’s studies takeovers where the target firm’s executives join the acquirer’s top management post-merger. He also looks at the use of reverse termination fees in takeovers as well as the impact of institutional investors on the governance practices of firms.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Vincent Grégoire– Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Grégoire’s area of expertise is indexing and index-linked financial products. Specifically, his research focuses on how the comovement of index stocks was affected by the rise of index-linked investing over the last four decades.
• Matthew Lyle– Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Mr. Lyle is interested in the impact that information and the quality of that information has on the price of assets. Specifically, he is interested in how information quality affects the behavior of option contracts differently than it affects stock prices and what the broader implications of these differences might be for investors, managers, and regulators.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Thomas Ruf– Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Ruf’s research focuses on Empirical Asset Pricing, in the specific area of the dynamics of overpricing in structured products and the information content of commodity futures options.
• Sang Baum Kang – Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University
  Mr. Kang’s area of research is derivatives, specifically that the variance risk premium has economically meaningful information content and both option premiums andn variance swap rates are mispriced due to heterogeneity in beliefs. Prior to starting his PhD Sang worked for nine years in the energy sector doing financial modeling and analysis for commodity traders and risk managers.
• Jin Wang – 2nd year of award – Queen’s School of Business
  Mr. Wang’s research focuses on the impact of non-financial stakeholders on corporate financing policies. He has published specifically on how a firm’s labor market has a significant impact on its financial choices. He also has examined the effect of customer-supplier relationships on firms’ dividend policy.

Ltd Term Chair

• Lisa Kramer – 3rd year of term, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Prof Kramer’s work is related to behavioral finance with an aim to understand the connection between investors’ personal characteristics, behavioural biases, and financial decisions.

Ph.D Scholarships

• YuFen Fu – Segal Graduate of Business, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University
  Mr. Fu’s work investigates the relation between equity returns and profitability, and explains the value premium in the equity returns. He find that the empirical relationship between returns and profitability are different for three distinct types of firms, dividend paying firms, non-dividend paying firms, and firms in financial distress.
• Jin Wang – Queen’s School of Business
  Mr. Wang’s 1st year of CIS Research Funding (description of research above in 2011-12)

Ltd Term Chair:

• Lisa Kramer – 2nd year, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Prof Kramer’s work is related to behavioral finance with an aim to understand the connection between investors’ personal characteristics, behavioural biases, and financial decisions.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Mikhail Simutin – Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia
  Mr. Simutin’s research is on the relationship between cash holdings and firm performance.

Academic Award

• James Thompson – 2nd year renewal, School of Accounting and Finance, The University of Waterloo
  Prof Thompson research focuses on banking, credit risk transfer, liquidity and financial stability. Currently he is investigating predation and counterparty risk.

Ltd Term Chair:

• Lisa Kramer – 1st year, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Prof Kramer’s work is related to behavioral finance with an aim to understand the connection between investors’ personal characteristics, behavioural biases, and financial decisions.

Academic Award

• Artyom Durnev – Desautels School of Management, McGill University
  Prof Durnev’s work is on international corporate governance and specifically that there is evidence that good governance yields improved returns for shareholders, his work incorporates role of corporate laws and regulations.
• James Thompson – School of Accounting and Finance, The University of Waterloo
  Prof Thompson research focuses on banking, credit risk transfer, liquidity and financial stability. Currently he is investigating predation and counterparty risk.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Rahaman Mohammad – Rotman School of Management
  Mr. Mohammad’s research addresses the broader questions of how managerial discretion and corporate financial flexibility affect various corporate outcomes such as failure, excessive continuation, and investment. Understanding these questions will potentially help investors (shareholders and creditors) design better financial contracts and management compensation structures to minimize ex-ante failure hazards while maximizing the ex-post recoveries of investments in failed businesses while from a policy perspective, my research will potentially promote innovations in asset redeployment mechanisms to allow efficient allocation of resources from the distressed firms to higher value users.
• Blake R. Phillips – School of Business, University of Alberta
  When undertaking financial risk management activities, oil and gas producing firms must strike a balance between the benefits of reduced cash flow volatility with the cost of isolating the firm from energy price upside potential. Recognizing that the benefit of reduced cash flow volatility is higher for financing constrained firms, Mr. Phillips’research examines the relation between firm value and energy price exposure focusing on cross-sectional variation in access to investment capital.

Ltd Term Chair

• Susan Christoffersen – 3rd year, Desautels School of Management, McGill University
  Professor Christoffersen’s research focuses on the role of financial institutions in capital markets with particular interest in mutual funds. During her term professorship with the Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation, Professor Christoffersen has collected and created a unique database of the individual trades of mutual funds in Canada. The data offers an ideal opportunity to measure and analyze the cost and performance of mutual funds’ daily trades and improves on the current literature analyzing changes in quarterly holdings. She finds that active management delivers both cheaper trades and better subsequent performance, and that forced sales are a particularly costly aspect of the open-end structure in mutual funds. Fund size associates with both cheaper trades and better subsequent performance, and a series of trades predicts more price movement in the predicted direction, indicating the value to funds of keeping their trading anonymous.

Ph.D Scholarships

• Ambrus Kecskes – 2nd year, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Mr. Kecskes has studied the initial public offerings of listed firms, the extent to which investor sentiment drives equity issuance activity, and why firms that raise more financing are worth more. The results of his work can help investors and managers better understand the process of raising capital.
• Yiqiang Jin – Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  Mr. Jin’s studies examine the relation between investor attention and stock mispricing of accruals using the Limited Investor Attention Model of Hirshleifer and Teoh (2003). Consistent with the model’s hypothesis that investor attention reduces stock mispricing, he documents that analyst following, institutional shareholdings and Big 4 auditor choice are negatively correlated with stock mispricing in U.S. firms from 1975 to 2004.
• Julian Douglass – University of British Columbia

Ltd Term Chair

• Susan Christoffersen – 2nd year, Desautels School of Management, McGill University

Ph.D Scholarships

• Ambrus Kecskes – 1st year (see above description), Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• Vladyslav Krychenko – Schulich School of Business, York University

Ltd Term Chair

• Susan Christoffersen – 1st year, Desautels School of Management, McGill University

Ph.D Scholarships

• Xinghua Liang – Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• Gokul Bhandari – DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University