MFS to discuss challenges in banking and shipping

The Spring 2015 Multinational Finance Society (MFS) conference will be held in Larnaca this weekend under the auspices of the Cooperative Central Bank with special emphasis this year on banking and shipping.

“The conference aims to expand the academic and practical contributions of MFS in scholar and business communities in Cyprus and overseas by stimulating and promoting academic activity in finance and to encourage the dissemination of scientific research among scholars, practitioners and government policymakers,” said Panayiotis Andreou, co-chair of the organising committee and Assistant Professor of Finance at the Cyprus University of Technology.

“The conference is also a unique opportunity to discuss top priority issues in the global banking industry that affect financial markets and professional practices in different countries around the world. For the first time, the conference programme also includes two sessions with papers on shipping finance, which is a research field that the Society’s meetings aim to embrace,” Dr Andreou said.

This is the second time the spring MFS meeting is taking place in Cyprus, with the first held last year, also in Larnaca.

“Scholars and practitioners embraced this year’s call for papers with great enthusiasm. We received 116 submissions of high quality research papers making the refereeing process a very difficult task. Of those, 52 have been accepted to be presented in 15 parallel sessions by researchers from Germany, Switzerland, France, the US, UK, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Canada, United Arab Emirates, New Finland, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and Cyprus.”

The event, on Friday to Sunday, April 17-19, will also host two outstanding keynote speakers.

Prof. Yakov Amihud has been invited to act as the first keynote speaker. He is the Ira Leon Rennert Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at Stern School of Business, New York University, and will deliver a plenary talk on his latest research, entitled “The Pricing of the Illiquidity Factor’s Systematic Risk”.

Prof. Gikas Hardouvelis will also deliver a plenary talk at the conference. Prof. Hardouvelis is a Professor of Finance and Economics as the University of Piraeus and the former Minister of Finance of Greece and will give a plenary talk on “Economic Distress Inside the Monetary Union”.

The conference will also host a roundtable discussion on Saturday, entitled “The New Era in Financial Intermediation, Stability and Regulation”. The roundtable discussion at 3.30pm at Apothiki 79, aims to bring together some of the most influential academics, policymakers and business leaders to discuss top priority issues in the banking industry. It is open to the public.

The panellists for

this

event

are

Prof.

Zealand,

Panayiotis Theodossiou (Professor of Finance at CUT and Member of the National Economic Council), Nicholas Hadjiyiannis (Chairman of the Cooperative Central Bank), Dr. Kostas Mavrides (MEP), Prof. Andreas Charitou (Professor of Accounting at University of Cyprus) and Prof. Nikolaos Philippas (Professor of Financial Management at University of Piraeus).

The conference is hosted at a building of great cultural importance for the town of Larnaca, the “House of Arts and Literature” that is housed in the renovated elegant and grand Ottoman Bank structure. The “House of Arts and Literature” is located close to the “Municipal Art Gallery” that hosted the 2014 MFS Symposium.

Dr Andreou said that the conference is a success thanks to the contribution of the Department of Commerce, Finance and Shipping (CUT), Centre for Quantitative Research in Financial Economics (Durham University Business School) and the Cooperative Central Bank, with the Mayor of Larnaca, Andreas Louroutziatis, and the Municipal Council providing support and hospitality. The co-chairs of the conference are Dr Dennis Philip and Panayiotis Theodossiou.

Supporting the conference are the Cooperative Central Bank, UCLan Cyprus, Central Bank of Cyprus, Larnaca Municipal Cultural Centre, Larnaca Municipality, Larnaca Tourism Board, CYTA, Cyprus Tourism Organisation, Financial Mirror, ToThemaOnline and Cyprus University of Technology.

For details visit www.mfsociety.org