Plenary panel: "Bridging the gap between innovators and scholars in finance"
Plenary panel: "Bridging the gap between innovators and scholars in finance"
Investing in capital markets (stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds, etc.) helps preserve and grow wealth. Yet participation remains low, particularly among older, less affluent, and less educated individuals. Barriers like costs, investment thresholds, volatility, and limited financial literacy discourage engagement. While digitalization has eased these frictions and allowed for free access to financial education, participation remains low, at 30% in the U.K., 15% in Japan, and under 10% in China and India We hypothesize that behavioral inertia, passive avoidance of unfamiliar opportunities, contributes to this gap. To test whether digital nudges can mitigate it, we analyze a quasi-natural experiment on a major Chinese platform. Among 560,000 users with no investment records, we randomly selected 64,770 who received prompts promoting low thresholds and diversified products, and free education; a control group, matched via Coarsened Exact Matching, received none. The initial response rate was 1.5%, rising to 23.6% after six prompts. Of first-time responders, 32% invested an average of CNY 1,989 (~US$277). In the following months, these users, including older, less educated, and lower-income ones, built diversified portfolios and consistently outperformed the control group in risk-adjusted returns. The results show that digital nudges can help overcome inertia and broaden financial inclusion.
Investing in capital markets (stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds, etc.) helps preserve and grow wealth. Yet participation remains low, particularly among older, less affluent, and less educated individuals. Barriers like costs, investment thresholds, volatility, and limited financial literacy discourage engagement. While digitalization has eased these frictions and allowed for free access to financial education, participation remains low, at 30% in the U.K., 15% in Japan, and under 10% in China and India We hypothesize that behavioral inertia, passive avoidance of unfamiliar opportunities, contributes to this gap. To test whether digital nudges can mitigate it, we analyze a quasi-natural experiment on a major Chinese platform. Among 560,000 users with no investment records, we randomly selected 64,770 who received prompts promoting low thresholds and diversified products, and free education; a control group, matched via Coarsened Exact Matching, received none. The initial response rate was 1.5%, rising to 23.6% after six prompts. Of first-time responders, 32% invested an average of CNY 1,989 (~US$277). In the following months, these users, including older, less educated, and lower-income ones, built diversified portfolios and consistently outperformed the control group in risk-adjusted returns. The results show that digital nudges can help overcome inertia and broaden financial inclusion.

Keynote: "Lessons from fintech-academic collaborations"
25-27 August 2025
25/08/2025
Antonio Gargano
Keynote

Keynote: "Lessons from fintech-academic collaborations"
25-27 August 2025
25/08/2025
Antonio Gargano
Keynote

Keynote: "Leadership for finance professionals: A CEO-turned-leadership-scholar perspective"
25-27 August 2025
25/08/2025
Emilia Bunea
Keynote

Keynote: "Leadership for finance professionals: A CEO-turned-leadership-scholar perspective"
25-27 August 2025
25/08/2025
Emilia Bunea
Keynote

Keynote: "The promise of digital finance: Greater transparency, enhanced efficiency, and more effective and less burdensome regulation"
25-27 August 2025
26/08/2025
Allan Mendelowitz
Keynote

Keynote: "The promise of digital finance: Greater transparency, enhanced efficiency, and more effective and less burdensome regulation"
25-27 August 2025
26/08/2025
Allan Mendelowitz
Keynote

Keynote: "What we can learn today about the markets of tomorrow: Crypto, crashes and credible research"
25-27 August 2025
27/08/2025
Albert Menkveld
Keynote

Keynote: "What we can learn today about the markets of tomorrow: Crypto, crashes and credible research"
25-27 August 2025
27/08/2025