The Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa hosted its inaugural Innovations in Financial Intermediation Symposium (IFIS), marking a significant milestone for the college.
The conference in June 2024 focused on financial intermediation, particularly the growing field of cryptocurrency.
“We personally invited leading researchers in the banking area,” said Jiakai Chen, First Hawaiian Bank Distinguished Associate Professor of Banking. “We started by discussing the idea of running a symposium among economists in the New York Fed, which I visited in the spring semester. The word spread out within the network of researchers, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.”
The quality of presentations was a highlight of the symposium.
“We hosted some of the most active researchers in financial intermediation and blockchain,” said Qianqiu Liu, the Finance Department chair and distinguished professor of finance. “The intimate setting allowed for deep dives into each topic and facilitated meaningful networking.”
Shidler College Dean Vance Roley commenced the symposium with his opening remarks.
“This inaugural Innovations in Financial Intermediation Symposium has proven to be a remarkable success,” he said. “I deeply appreciated the closely knit meeting environment among high-quality researchers, which facilitated intense and fruitful discussions.”
This gathering was held on June 27 and was strategically timed to coincide with the Western Finance Association Conference, one of the elite conferences in academic finance, which occurred in Honolulu, June 28–30.
It attracted 21 participants from around the world, including representatives from institutions such as the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley; Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Copenhagen Business School; Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Columbia University; Harvard University; and the University of Chicago.
The conference was sponsored and co-hosted by Shidler College and Circle Internet Financial, a company that manages USDC, the second-largest stablecoin worldwide.
For the entire story, visit the Shidler College website.