The 2026 Annual Meeting of the Western Finance Association (WFA) was held in Denver from June 21st to 24th, with Professor Jun Pan (Professor of Finance, SAIF Chair Professor) and Professor Hong Yan (Chair Professor of Finance, Deputy Dean of SAIF) among the invited attendees. SAIF faculty took on multiple key academic roles at the conference, contributing to its organization, academic exchange, and industry dialogue — underscoring the growing influence of Chinese finance scholars in the global academic community.
Founded in 1965, the WFA is an international nonprofit dedicated to advancing research and practice in finance. As one of the three premier academic finance conferences globally, its Annual Meeting is known for rigorous paper selection and a frontier research agenda.
This year's meeting featured 50 parallel sessions spanning credit cycles, monetary policy, institutional investment, AI in finance, climate finance, risky asset pricing, and other frontier topics, drawing many of the world's leading finance scholars. Professor Stefan Nagel, Fama Family Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, served as 2026 WFA President, and Professor Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, Senior Advisor at the Federal Reserve Board, delivered the keynote address.
Professor Pan has served on the WFA Board of Directors since 2025, contributing to the association's strategic planning and the development of its international academic ecosystem. This year's program, chaired by Professor Alex Edmans of London Business School, named Professor Pan as Program Associate Chair; alongside scholars from Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, London Business School, and other leading institutions, she helped form the core program committee overseeing anonymous paper review, session planning, scheduling, and the appointment of session chairs. Professor Pan also chaired the special session “Asset Pricing under Non-Traditional Risks,” which examined how emerging factors such as geopolitics, public health, and market sentiment transmit into asset prices.
Professor Hong Yan served as a discussant for the “Institutional Investors” session, offering commentary on fund manager incentive structures and performance evaluation. Two other SAIF faculty members held program roles this year: Professor Yurong Hong, Associate Professor of Finance, served as Program Vice Chair, and Professor Yongxiang Wang, Chair Professor of Finance and Deputy Dean, served as a Program Committee Member — both contributing to paper review and session design.
Professor Pan was also invited to a breakfast roundtable jointly organized by the Academic Female Finance Committee (AFFECT) and the Journal of Financial Economics, joining scholars including Laura Starks and Adair Morse for a discussion on diversity and inclusion in finance. She also took part in the WiMM (Women in Money and Finance) forum, where Professor Carole Comerton-Forde of the University of Melbourne interviewed her on topics ranging from academic career trajectories and research evolution to her experience returning to China, mentoring young scholars, and women's career development in finance — offering insights for early-career scholars, particularly women.
SAIF's strong presence at this year's WFA reflects both the individual standing of its scholars and the institute's enduring commitment to global engagement and Chinese financial research. Since its founding in 2009, SAIF has built a faculty of more than 80 professors across finance, accounting, management, and related disciplines. To date, SAIF scholars have published over 100 papers in top-tier international journals spanning finance, accounting, management, economics, and operations research; several hold key roles as conference co-chairs, editors, or editorial board members at leading finance journals, and SAIF faculty and students are frequent participants at premier conferences including AFA, WFA, EFA, and ABFER.
Looking ahead, SAIF will continue to engage with global research frontiers, focus on major theoretical and practical questions in finance, and foster original, high-quality scholarship — contributing to the advancement of China's finance research, Shanghai's development as an international financial center, and SJTU's pursuit of world-class excellence.
