We bring together internationally renowned academics who research and teach a wide range of finance-related topics. Our focus includes sustainable and computational finance, financial risk and the stability of the banking system.
We are leaders in financial technology and using artificial intelligence in business
Overview
About the Department of Banking and Finance
We're one of the largest department within Southampton Business School (SBS). We’re a dedicated group of world leading academics with a focus on delivering innovative learning experiences in finance, financial technology, banking, and sustainable finance. Our research is ranked 101st in the world by QS University World rankings by subject.
We have completed projects for organisations as diverse as:
The European Commission
Irish Competition Commissioners
National Audit Office
Coventry Building Society
Santander Bank
Our courses are in high demand and we attract talented students. This is in part thanks to our willingness to develop new courses to reflect changing demand. Our educational portfolio also includes several postgraduate courses in finance and banking.
We ensure that our students regularly come into contact with different sectors, ranging from large multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises. Our graduates are sought after by leading employers in the corporate and financial services industry.
We have long-established research strengths in empirical finance and banking studies. We organise our research into 2 thematic clusters based within our research centres:
Unlike many other research departments in our field, we also map the social and financial-economic values of our investigations. This ensures that our findings have wider socio-economic policy reach. We also engage in multidisciplinary research. This allows us to bring environmental and socio-economic issues into financial decision making.
Our research interests include:
corporate finance and governance
banking crises and financial stability
asset allocation
market microstructure of exchange trade derivatives
forecasting of systematic risk using asset pricing models
empirical modelling of international financial markets
asset pricing models in a wide range of financial markets, together with related investment strategies
As leaders in fintech and AI, we have presented at several conferences including the Global Leadership Conference 2023 where the theme was AI-powered leadership.
Our research approach
Traditionally, quantitative methods have dominated in banking and finance research. We take a different approach. We combine diverse theoretical perspectives with a variety of complementary research methods. This approach allows us to provide a greater depth of insight.
Theoretical perspectives include:
regulation theory
network theory
agency theory
prospect theory
models of political economy
Examples of the research methods we use include:
quantitative analysis
case study research
agent based modelling
grounded theory
Our academics also research social distance theory and memory-embedded characteristics of financial agents. This underlines the importance of multidisciplinary research.
Our influence within the field of banking and finance
Many of our members of staff have external research leadership roles such as associate editor or editorial board member of finance and economics journals.
We also publish our research in leading journals such as:
Journal of Financial Economics
Journal of International Business Studies
The Leadership Quarterly
Harvard Business Review
Seminars
We also have a regular seminar series where members of the department and external guest speakers present their work in progress and research projects.
Accreditations
Our courses are accredited by these organisations:
Explore our research centres and find out about their people, projects and publications. The Centre for Digital Finance looks at how emerging transformational technologies impact the financial sector. The Centre for Empirical Research in Finance and Banking undertakes theoretical and empirical research in banking and financial economics.
We undertake cutting-edge sustainability value-enhancing research and empower our students to innovate persistently and prepare them to take on real-world challenges.
