On July 8th – 11th, the 21st China International Conference in Finance (CICF) was successfully held in Beijing. CICF, founded in 2002 by the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of the four major financial academic conferences in the world. This year's conference was co-organized by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SAIF); Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business; and China School of Banking and Finance, University of International Business and Economics. The 2024 CICF marked the return to a purely offline mode of operation.
The conference received a record-high 1,761 valid submitted papers from 4,182 authors for a purely offline year. With 232 accepted papers, 60 academic sessions, and 464 academic presentations and reviews, the conference covered a wide range of cutting-edge areas in finance. The annual conference set a new record for on-site attendees with 1,278 registered participants, a remarkable 43% increase compared to the last regular summer conference in 2019. The gathering of leading financial economists from around the world in Beijing showcased the significant academic status and international influence of the Conference in the fields of finance and economics.
The conference was chaired by Jiang Wang (Mizuho Financial Group Professor at Sloan School of Management, MIT, Director and Senior Advisory Visiting Professor at SAIF), with Kewei Hou (Special-Term Professor of Finance at SAIF, and the Ric Dillon Endowed Professor in Investments at Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University) chairing the agenda committee, and Neng Wang (Dean's Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance and Senior Associate Dean, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business [CKGSB]) co-chairing the agenda committee. Yan Hong (Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs and Faculty, SAIF) attended the conference and delivered a speech.
Professor Patrick Bolton from Imperial College London delivered a keynote address entitled "Money Capital." Papers by SAIF full-time professors — including Jun Pan, Yongxiang Wang, Hong Yan, Xiaoyun Yu, and others — were selected for the conference. SAIF PhD students also excelled, with papers by Qing Peng, Yushan Xu, Naide Ye, Jianhao Zhan, and others being accepted.
A number of full-time and special-term professors — such as Nengjiu Ju, Jun Pan, Yongxiang Wang, Hong Yan, Xiaoyun Yu, Bing Han, Bing Liang, Jun Liu, Dacheng Xiu, Liyan Yang, Huibing Zhang, and Guofu Zhou — served as session chairs. Full-time professors (including Yurong Hong, Qiuzhi Huang, Jun Pan, Yongxiang Wang, Xiaoyun Yu, Xia Zhao, and Chao Zi) acted as paper review experts, demonstrating the academic excellence of SAIF faculty.
The Best Paper Review Committee, co-chaired by Kewei Hou and Neng Wang (with Wenxin Du, Jun Pan, and Huibing Zhang as committee members), awarded seven papers with either the CICF Best Paper Award, the Xia Yihong Best Paper Award, or the Xiyue Best Paper Award.
