Financial Institutions and Markets
The Financial Institutions and Markets Group (FIM) has developed its research around these themes:
- competition, risk and performance of financial institutions. Research includes examining banks, credit unions, Islamic banks and microfinance institutions both pre and post the global financial crises.
- finance, governance and access to finance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates. Research projects examine traditional forms of equity and debt-based finance and alternative forms of equity finance such as equity crowdfunding, and corporate financial policies within an agency framework.
- responsible finance. Researchers study how pollution and emissions affect the cost of capital or firm value, and they investigate how social and environmental policies influence performance of firms, governments and investment portfolios.
- behavioural and consumer finance. Research themes include the role of privacy violations, personal financial management tools, consumer fraud, peer behaviour and mental health as they relate to financial institutions and individuals' finances.
- financial technology. Informing practice and policy makers around large-scale events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, research into behavioural and consumer finance uses high-frequency data sets to demonstrate the impacts of financial technology on financial behaviour and well-being.
FIM group members routinely engage with and advise the policy community. Recent contributions have included written submissions to:
- HM Treasury
- The House of Lords
- EU Internal Markets Committee
- Scottish and Irish Governments
- Institute for Chartered Accountants Scotland (ICAS)
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- World Bank
- UK Financial Conduct Authority and the European Commission.
Members of the FIM group are also part of the Centre for Responsible Banking and Finance (CRBF).