Geneva Finance Research Institute

We are proud to share that GFRI's Professor Martin Hoesli and our PhD students Louis Johner and Jacqueline Krayushkina, were awarded the American Real Estate Society 2024 Manuscript Prize for Real Estate Portfolio Management for their paper “The Volatility of Listed Real Estate in Europe and Portfolio Implications”.

https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/martin-hoesli-and-louis-johner-awarded-american-real-estate-society-2024-manuscript-prize-real-estate-portfolio-management

We are pleased to announce the reappointment of GFRI’s Director and Professor of Finance and Statistics Olivier Scaillet, as Associate Editor of the Journal of Business & Economic Statistics.

https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/olivier-scaillet-re-appointed-associate-editor-journal-business-economic-statistics

How do minimum wage policies impact household welfare?

In a new study, GFRI’s Professor Harald Hau shows that minimum wage increases in China are spent rather than saved, and are not associated with increased unemployment.
In households with children, a significant portion of the additional income is allocated to healthcare and education.
The study is co-authored with Ernest Dautović from the European Central Bank and Huang Yi from Fudan University, and was published in VoxDev.

https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/boosting-consumption-china-effectiveness-minimum-wages-new-article-harald-hau

We were delighted to host this month a delegation from the School of Economics and Business Administration of Chongqing University.
Looking forward to continuing our exciting collaboration on our Master of Advanced Studies in Finance program!
https://www.unige.ch/formcont/en/courses/gemfin

Insufficient supervisory board competence as a risk factor for banks

The Credit Suisse crisis illustrates how poor governance can lead a large bank into a crisis despite compliance with capital requirements. A Recent research by GFRI's Professor Harald Hau on supervisory board competence in banks provides interesting new insights.
The study is co-authored with Tim-Ole Radach and Marcel Thum from Technische Universität Dresden and was published recently in Voxeu.

https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/insufficient-supervisory-board-competence-risk-factor-banks-new-research-harald-hau

Last week, we were thrilled to host a highly successful conference co-organized with GIWM - Geneva Institute for Wealth Management, featuring an impressive number of practitioners and top-tier presentations.
The conference on recent trends in wealth management welcomed three award-winning projects, presented by Prof. Philipp Krueger (Geneva Finance Research Institute - University of Geneva), Prof. Jennie Bai Bai (Georgetown University), and Prof. Semyon Malamud (EPFL). A special mention goes to Prof. Bruno Biais (HEC Paris) for his outstanding keynote contribution on why cryptocurrencies matter.
Thank you to all our speakers for their insightful contributions and to everyone who participated in the lively and engaging discussion, making this event a success.
Congratulations to GIWM and its partner Fondation Genève Place Financière for giving us the opportunity to bridge academia and practitioners. We look forward to your continued success.

Concluding the academic year, our GEMFIN (Master of Advanced Studies in Finance) students participated this month in a unique intensive day-long boardroom simulation game.

Student teams solved a real-world complex financial problem, culminating materials acquired and various skills developed throughout the year. The case study on the UBS acquisition of Wealthfront, was developed especially for the boardroom simulation by Prof. Norman Schürhoff.

After an exciting day of strong discussions, lively debates and tough boardroom exchanges, the winning team was announced. Congratulations to Alanood Almadi, Alina Amangeldiyeva, Sartori and Hua Xing Xing for winning the first prize!
The second place went to Daniel Bilong, Shisong Cui, Josué Mathieu and Jacques Sale.
And congratulations to all teams for the excellent work!

A big big thank you to our wonderful judges Audrey Dumas, Julien Froidevaux, Simon Kalfon, and Frank Levy for sharing from their expertise with our students, for the good advice, and the truly real-life boardroom experience!

To learn more about the GEMFIN program: https://www.unige.ch/formcont/en/courses/gemfin

To read more: https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/gemfin-students-boardroom-2

University of Geneva Université de Genève Formation continue

We are delighted to share that our two master programs have been awarded the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing!
A prestigious global recognition for our dedication and commitment to delivering on top-tier financial education, fostering positive impact and professional excellence.

For more information on our master programs visit:

Geneva Master of Advanced Studies in Finance:
https://lnkd.in/eV-uM8Ad

Geneva Master in Wealth Management:
https://lnkd.in/dRDkRBR

Université de Genève Formation continue Geneva School of Economics and Management - UNIGE University of Geneva

We are delighted to invite you to GIWM's Annual Conference on Recent Trends in Wealth Management.

The event will feature insightful talks from GIWM grant-recipients, followed by a keynote address by Prof. Bruno Biais on "Do Cryptocurrencies Matter?".

For more information:
https://www.unige.ch/gfri/events/giwm-annual-conference-recent-trends-wealth-management
To register:
https://events.eventzilla.net/e/giwm-annual-conference-on-recent-trends-in-wealth-management-2138636173

Are multi-family properties a boon for pension funds?

A new article was published recently in The Property Chronicle on a research carried out by GFRI's professor Martin Hoesli, our PhD student Louis Johner, and their co-author Jon Lekander from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

https://www.propertychronicle.com/are-multi-family-properties-a-boon-for-pension-funds/?utm_source=The+Property+Chronicle+Newsletter+%28Free%2C+weekly%29&utm_campaign=284a37085e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_29_11_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-284a37085e-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

How to hire the best for less? Will workers accept lower pay at environmentally sustainable firms?

Research by GFRI's Prof. Philipp Krueger, professor of responsible finance, was featured in the Financial Times.

In the paper, Krueger and his co-authors uncover the «sustainability wage gap»: notably lower salaries earned by people in more environmentally friendly firms.

To read the FT article, by Pilita Clark: https://www.ft.com/content/8f074747-3b58-4100-9c54-4f73840c7e8f?accessToken=zwAAAYvbmw3mkdOPB0dHO1hBANOcVE9zhAx-jw.MEUCIByBw9jnj9u555hWWbT8gs_wWkWfJI3mZdA1w-_jJoYcAiEAqVPvGmqUaS7e5S2tH9TryBL7otwTiPqme9HnBmIKEVc&segmentId=e95a9ae7-622c-6235-5f87-51e412b47e97&shareType=enterprise

DAPS in Applied Finance: Reflecting on Switzerland’s unique and innovative professional doctorate seven years on

In an interview with the CFCD, Prof. Rajna Gibson, Professor of Finance at GFRI, Co-Director of the DAPS in Applied Finance and Managing Director of the Geneva Institute for Wealth Management (GIWM), and Prof. Yves Flueckiger, Rector of the University of Geneva, discuss the uniqueness of the program, its success and expansion prospects.

For the full interview: https://www.unige.ch/formcont/en/experts/daps-interview

Find out more about our DAPS program: https://www.unige.ch/formcont/en/courses/daps-applied-finance

Featured in the The New York Times, GFRI’s Professor Martin Hoesli discusses his research on homeownership in Switzerland:

“Even though the math favors homeownership in the long run, many Swiss cannot afford a down payment, which by law is a minimum of 20 percent of the purchase price. Add to that the 4 percent in transfer costs, and the minimum down payment for the average-priced house in Switzerland — currently $1.4 million, according to Wüest Partner — is $336,000.”

To read the article: https://www.unige.ch/gfri/application/files/8816/9952/3845/In_Switzerland_Most_People_Rent_for_Life._Is_That_Really_What_They_Want__-_The_New_York_Times.pdf

A new study by GFRI's Director and Professor of Finance and Statistics, Olivier Scaillet, was published today in the Journal of Econometrics.

The paper "A penalized two-pass regression to predict stock returns with time-varying risk premia" is co-authored with Gaetan Bakalli from Emlyon and Stéphane Guerrier from GSEM .

To read more: https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/penalized-two-pass-regression-predict-stock-returns-time-varying-risk-premia-new-publication-olivier-scaillet-1

New research from GFRI's Professor Martin Hoesli studies commercial real estate prices in Europe after COVID-19.

The paper was co-authored with Richard Malle from BNP Paribas Real Estate and the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, and was accepted for publication in the Journal of European Real Estate Research.

To read more: https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/commercial-real-estate-prices-europe-after-covid-19-new-publication-martin-hoesli

We are delighted to share that GFRI's Professor Martin Hoesli and Louis Johner, our PhD student, won the 2023 Real Estate Investment Best Paper Award for papers presented at the American Real Estate Society (ARES) 2023 conference.

The paper “The Role of Multi-Family Properties in Hedging Pension Liability Risk: Long-Run Evidence” is co-authored with Jon Lekander from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/real-estate-investment-best-paper-award-martin-hoesli-and-louis-johner

Towards an Impact Performance Measurement Framework for Impact Investing: Results from a Benchmark Study

On October 4, as part of Building Bridges 2023, GFRI's Professor Rajna Gibson Brandon will be leading a panel session on "Towards an Impact Performance Measurement Framework for Impact Investing: Results from a Benchmark Study".

This event will take place at the Centre International de Conférences Genève (CICG) and online.

https://www.unige.ch/gfri/events/towards-impact-performance-measurement-framework-impact-investing-results-benchmark-study

Listed Real Estate as an Inflation Hedge across Regimes

In a new paper, GFRI’s Prof. Martin Hoesli investigates the inflation hedging capability of listed real estate (LRE) companies from 1990 to 2021 in four economies: the US, the UK, Australia, and Japan.

The paper is co-authored with Jan Muckenhaupt and Bing Zhu from the Technical University of Munich, and has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics.

https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/listed-real-estate-inflation-hedge-across-regimes-new-publication-martin-hoesli

A warm welcome to our new Master of Advanced Studies in Finance (GEMFIN) class of 2023-2024, who joined us yesterday in sunny Geneva for their transformational learning journey!

Welcome to the University of Geneva!

https://www.unige.ch/formcont/en/courses/gemfin

Controversial new derivatives arrive in Europe

While popular in the US, "zero-day" options (0DTE) that were launched recently in Europe, spark fears over market volatility.
GFRI's Director, Professor Olivier Scaillet, was interviewed by Le Temps:
https://www.letemps.ch/economie/finance/de-nouveaux-derives-controverses-arrivent-en-europe
(The article is in French and limited to subscribers)

De nouveaux dérivés controversés arrivent en Europe - Le Temps Les options «zéro jour» pourront être négociées sur l’indice Euro Stoxx 50. Très populaires aux Etats-Unis, elles font débat car elles pourraient influencer l’orientation de la bourse

We are very proud to share that GFRI's Professor Philipp Krueger won the Best Paper Award at the 12th Portuguese Finance Network Conference.

The paper “Decarbonizing Institutional Investor Portfolios: Helping to Green the Planet or Just Greening Your Portfolio?” was co-authored with Vaska Atta-Darkua, Simon Glossner, and Pedro Matos, and can be found here:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4212568

Congratulations, Philipp!

We are delighted to share that our colleague, Professor Tony Berrada, won the Best Paper Award at the 29th Annual Conference of the Multinational Finance Society.

The paper "COVID-19 Puzzles: A Resolution" was co-authored with Jerome Detemple and Marcel Rindisbacher from Boston University, and can be found here: http://www.mfsociety.org/images/uploadFiles/photos/File/MC29th%20Annual%20MFS%20Conference%20Paphos,%20Cyprus~10~p1gha0ai12101f1as01vmigf2fml4.pdf

Research on Sustainability is the most widely read on SSRN according to the Financial Times, and GFRI’s Professor Philipp Krueger’s paper is in the third place!

In his study on “The Effects of Mandatory ESG Disclosure Around the World”, Krueger and his co-authors Zacharias Sautner, Dragon Yongjun Tang, and Rui Zhong, argue that “ESG disclosure regulation improves the information environment and has beneficial capital market effects.”

For the FT article: https://lnkd.in/exsK9GU4
To read the paper: https://lnkd.in/eHgRcr-7

The future of the Swiss pension - GFRI's Director and Professor of Finance and Statistics, Olivier Scaillet, discusses the recently proposed reforms in an interview with Le Temps (in French):

https://www.letemps.ch/economie/reformer-le-deuxieme-pilier-resignes-les-suisses-ne-savent-que-choisir

We're very proud to announce that a paper written by our PhD graduate Sofonias Alemu Korsaye was among the winners of The Brattle Group Ph.D. Candidate Awards for Outstanding Research at the Western Finance Association 2023 meeting.

In his study "Investor Beliefs and Market Frictions", Korsaye develops a theoretical framework to identify investors' subjective beliefs that are jointly consistent with survey expectations and asset prices in markets where investors face trading frictions.

Our warmest congratulations, Sofonias!

To read more: https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/sofonias-korsayes-paper-wins-brattle-group-phd-candidate-awards-outstanding-research
To learn about our PhD in Finance program: https://www.unige.ch/gfri/education/phd-finance-sfi

In a compelling new research, GFRI’s professors Tony Berrada, Rajna Gibson and Philipp Krueger, and our PhD student Leonie Engelhardt, study the economics of sustainability-linked bonds, a novel type of sustainability related fixed-income instrument. This new analysis could guide policy-makers by identifying when and under what conditions this sustainability instrument is effective.

The SFI research paper was featured on the Building Bridges website: https://www.buildingbridges.org/the-economics-of.../

and can be found here:https://www.unige.ch/.../1816/6140/6583/SSRN-id4059299.pdf

Can real estate booms hurt small firms?

An insightful new research by GFRI’s Prof. Harald Hau and our PhD student Difei Ouyang (now at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing) was featured in the The Economist’s summer double issue.

The study suggests that in geographically segmented credit markets, local real estate booms can deteriorate the funding conditions for small manufacturing firms and undermine their growth and competitiveness.

To read more: https://www.unige.ch/gfri/news/can-real-estate-booms-hurt-small-firms/

GFRI’s professors Fabio Trojani and Olivier Scaillet were the invited speakers of this summer’s SoFiE Financial Econometrics School that took place at the National Bank of Belgium in Brussels. They spoke about “Methods for Empirical Asset Pricing with Large Data Sets”.

A new study by Prof. Scaillet was a keynote of this year's summer school. The paper “Eigenvalue tests for the number of latent factors in short panels” was co-authored with our PhD student Alain-Philippe Fortin and with Patrick Gagliardini, from the Università della Svizzera italiana.

The recording is available here: https://www.janeway.econ.cam.ac.uk/event/fourteenth-annual-sofie-conference

For the full paper:https://www.unige.ch/gfri/files/1816/5968/5504/temp.pdf

Martin Hoesli wins the International Real Estate Society Service Award!

Warmest congratulations to our colleague Martin Hoesli, who received the International Real Estate Society Service Award at the annual conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES) in Milan last month.
Prof. Hoesli won the award for his "outstanding contribution to the International Real Estate Society and the European Real Estate Society”.

What will be the consequences of a prolonged period of low interest rates for pension funds?

A new study by GFRI's Prof. Olivier Scaillet for the Swiss Federal Office of Social Insurance examines the direct and indirect effects of a protracted period of low interest rates on occupational pension funds.

The paper is co-authored with Marc Fournier , Olivier Kern, and Stéphane Riesen from Pittet Associates.

The report is available here (for a summary in English see page 49 of the document):
https://www.bsv.admin.ch/bsv/fr/home/publications-et-services/forschung/forschungspublikationen.exturl.html?lang=fr&lnr=07/22