The 26th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference (AFBC) was held on 17-19 December 2013 at Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney. This conference was organized by the Institute of Global Finance and School of Banking and Finance at the Australian School of Business at UNSW, and sponsored by the Australian Stock Exchange, the Reserve Bank of Australia, BlackRock, PwC and Finsia. The AFBC has become the most prestigious finance conference in the Asia-Pacific region. It is a grant gathering of unprecedented size with over 300 attendants from 30 countries. The world's foremost leaders of thought from the financial community met and shared their research and interest in finance related fields. 6 categories of prizes were awarded, including one new award, the CFA Institution Research Award 2013. Total 187 papers were presented including 16 papers of 3 Lead Sessions and 1 Workshop. The conference also engaged with the finance industry and the policy makers by creating a major business form.The conference also offered a PhD Forum held as a separated one-day session on 16 December 2013. At the Forum, PhD students from top business schools around the world presented their works and received valuable comments from top scholars around the world. The following Business Forums and key note speeches have been presented on the 26th AFBC.
Business Forum: Systemic Risk, Liquidity Risk and Global Financial Stability
Professor Robert Engle, NYU; Dr Guy Debelle, Reserve Bank of Australia;
Professor Deborah Lucas, MIT; Mr Curt Zuber, Westpac
Women’s Forum: Challenges and Opportunities in Promoting Gender Equality
Professor Deborah Lucas, MIT
Evaluating the Cost of Government Credit Support: The OECD Context
Professor Deborah Lucas, MIT
A Protocol for Factor Identification
Professor Richard Roll, UCLA
Financial Market Shocks and the Macroeconomy
Professor Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, UCLA
High Frequency Trading
Professor Ekkehart Boehmer, EDHEC
The Remarkable Instability of Corporate Leverage
Professor Richard Roll, UCLA
Market Rules
Professor Hendrik Bessembinder, University of Utah