Research

Research at the Department of Finance and Banking is broad, international and inclusive — balanced between the development of new theoretical models and the empirical analysis of financial and economic questions in the areas of modern corporate finance, financial intermediation and banking.

Our main fields of interest in corporate finance include the general economics of organisations, financial contracting, financial structure, corporate investment and capital budgeting, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), corporate restructuring, corporate governance and corporate risk management. Major fields of research in financial intermediation and banking cover the design of financial contracts and securities, financial intermediary structure, the competition and competitive structures as well as current challenges and questions in the regulation of financial institutions.

Research at the Department for Finance and Banking takes a broad methodological approach that spans from theoretical modelling, the use of state-of-the art empirical methods up to the development and execution of survey analyses. Our academic objective is to engage in international research and academic activities that contribute to today’s issues in modern corporate finance, financial intermediation and banking with significant academic and societal influence.

For empirical research and data analysis, the Department for Finance and Banking has access to the S&P Capital IQ database which contains, for example, quarterly and annual financial and accounting data, biographies of major corporate executives and directors, information on major corporate events as well details on private and public corporations around the world. Empirical research is further complemented by capital market data from the Bloomberg database, the Karlsruher Kapitalmarkt Datenbank (KKMDB) and access to several other databases via the KIT library.