History
Louvain Finance (LFIN) was founded in July 2016 by gathering all the researcher active in finance research from the Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations (former Louvain School of Management Research Institute, LOURIM), to join the Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modelling in economics and statistics (LIDAM), with the specific aim of promoting, stimulating, and coordinating various activities in Asset Pricing, International Finance, Asset and Risk Management, Mathematical Finance, Macro-Finance, Market Microstructure, Corporate Finance and Behavioural Finance.
Since its foundation, LFIN has regularly organized top notch advanced PhD Courses, among the professors invited Murillo Campello (Cornel University), David Lando (Copenhagen Business School), Francis X. Diebold (University of Pennsylvania), Mike West (Duke University), Cynthia Wu (Chicago Booth School of Business), Drew Creal (Chicago Booth School of Business), Gilles Pagès (Université Pierre et Marie Curie), Christiane Baumeister (Notre Dame University) and many more. Moreover, LFIN is part of the organizers of the SoFiE Financial Econometrics Spring and Summer Schools, among the professors invited Kenneth Singleton (Stanford University), Anh Le (Penn State University), Giorgio Primiceri (Northwestern University), Domenico Giannone (NY Fed), Alain Monfort (CREST), Jean-Paul Renne (HEC Lausanne), Olivier Scaillet (University of Geneva and SFI), Fabio Trojani (University of Geneva and SFI). LFIN is also part of the organizers of the Financial Research Seminar series at the National Bank of Belgium, the Belgian Financial Research Forum and the Actuarial and Financial Mathematics conference.
Mission
Louvain Finance (LFIN) is the finance research center of UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain). LFIN is a fast-growing entity, which now gathers no less than 14 academic members and about 20 international PhD students (more than 10 nationalities are represented).
LFIN’s activities focus on two dimensions. First, we develop theoretical, quantitative and empirical analyses in several areas of finance, covering Financial markets, Asset Pricing, International Finance, Asset and Risk Management, Mathematical Finance, Macro-Finance, Market Microstructure, Corporate Finance, Behavioral Finance, SRI/ESG investments, etc.
Second, LFIN aims to support industry professionals and policymakers/regulators in the applications/development of financial analyses/methods. In addition, LFIN seeks to develop the expertise and awareness of Finance’ students, by providing them with the best training, at the interface of market practice and cutting edge research.
LFIN’s success is made possible thanks to several funding sources. Besides the university funds, we benefit from grants received from public institutions (such as the F.S.R.-FNRS, the National Bank of Belgium, the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche) and private sponsors (ING bank, Tree Top asset management). Therefore, we contribute both to fundamental and applied research. Our results are of interests to various actors of the society, ranging from regulators to private investors.
Our members are frequent speakers in major international scientific conferences. Some of them acted or act as experts in several institutions (such as the International Monetary Fund) or in national commissions (e.g., Conseil Supérieur des Finances, Conseil Stratégique, Economic Risk Management group). Former PhD students currently work in academia, as experts for regulators and central banks, or for prestigious companies such as asset managers, investment companies or highly specialized consulting firms.
Via its seminar series, LFIN proposes a stream of bimonthly conferences featuring top speakers coming from the most prestigious institutions worldwide.
Participation is free but registration is requested by e-mail to the Research Director. We also frequently organize advanced PhD courses.
Please contact us for more information.