Keynote Speakers

Dr. Agarwal's research interests include issues relating to financial institutions, household finance, behavioral finance, international finance, real estate markets, urban economics and capital markets. He has published over eighty research articles in journals like the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking among others. Additionally, he has co-written a book titled Kiasunomics and co-edited a collected volume on Household Credit Usage: Personal Debt and Mortgages.

He is the co-editor of Real Estate Economics and an association editor at Management Science and Journal of Financial Services Research. He writes regular op-ed’s in the Straits Times and Forbes and is featured on various media outlets like the BBC, CNBC, and Fox on issues relating to finance, banking, and real estate markets. Sumit’s research is widely cited in leading newspapers and magazines like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, and the U.S Presidents Report to Congress. He also runs a blog on household financial decision making called Smart Finance.

Dr. Agarwal has won various prestigious awards like the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Outstanding Researcher Award at the National University of Singapore, the Paul Samuelson TIAA-CREF certificate of excellence, the Terker Family Prizes in Investment Research Award from the Wharton School of Business, the Glucksman Institute Research Award from New York University and grants from the Russell Sage Foundation and the NBER/Sloan Foundation.

Dr. Agarwal has been invited to present his research at many renowned universities such Columbia University, Northwestern University, University of California Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maryland, as well as institutions and central banks namely the IMF, World Bank, European Central Bank, European Union, Dutch Central Bank, Riksbank, OCC, and the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. He has consulted with the World Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, OCC, the Reserve Bank of India and Bank of America.

He has also served as an adjunct professor and a scholar at the finance department at George Washington University, DePaul University, the Indian School of Business, HKUST, BIS and the World Bank. Agarwal received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Professor Roni MICHAELY

Hong Kong University Business School

Professor Michaely is a professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at The University of Hong Kong. Before that he spent a significant portion of his career as The Rudd Family professor of Finance at Cornell University and Cornell Tech. His teaching include Corporate Finance and Entrepreneurial Finance for MBAs, executive MBAs, DBA and PhD students. Professor Michaely’s research interests are in the areas of empirical corporate finance, corporate governance, entrepreneurial finance, and FinTech. His current research focuses on how frictions in capital markets affect managers’ corporate decisions and new product developments; with a particular focus on corporate payout policy, the effect of competition in firms’ behavior, and on the impact of Fintech on capital market efficiency. He was recently recognised as one of the most prolific researchers in finance with over 25,000 citations.

His research has appeared in such scholarly journals as the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, The Review of Finance, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. His research has been frequently featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Economist, Investor’s Business Daily, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Barrons, Money, and others. Prof. Michaely has given over 200 invited research talks, conference presentations and key-note speeches around the world, and is working with scholars from Asia, the US, and Europe, on research in corporate finance. Professor Michaely collaborates on research projects with many research scholars from Asia, the US, and Europe.

Professor Michaely’s research has also received many awards and honors. Awards include the 2020 Review of Finance best paper award, the 2017 Distinguish research award of the Eastern Finance Association, the 2005 Journal of Financial Economics Fama Prize for best paper, the 2000 Journal of Finance Smith Breeden Prize for distinguish paper, the 2000 Western Finance Association Award for the best paper on capital formation, The Review of Financial Studies 1999 Barclays Global Investors/Michael Brennan Runner-up Award, the 1999 Western Finance Association Award for the best paper, 1996 Quantitative Alliance Group Prize for best paper, and the 1996 Western Finance Association Award for best paper on investments.

Professor Michaely is a co-founder of Gina Life, a medical devise startup, and is currently on the board of Tipranks, and on the advisory board of Mogul, Hyro and Nielsen Innovate. He was a director of the Israeli Securities Authority (ISA) from 1998 to 2003, and was the chairperson of Tachlit (mutual fund) investment committee.