1 July 2019, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge, England, UK

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, with the support of the CME Group Foundation, is hosting the fourth annual conference on alternative finance on 1 July 2019 at University of Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS).

RESEARCH PAPERS: Alternative finance is defined as instruments, channels, or systems of finance that emerge outside of the regulated banking system. It makes use of technological innovations, such as alternative currencies, disintermediated business models and lending mechanisms to change the way finance has been carried out traditionally. Other terms that have been used to describe it include disruptive finance, distributed finance, fintech, or disintermediated finance. This new era of financial innovation with its characteristics of transparency, speed and convenience have changed the way people, businesses and institutions perform financial transactions, invest in assets, approach potential financing sources and operate. The evolution of this area has been widely covered in the media and is playing an increasingly important role in helping businesses and individuals access the funds they need. This small boutique conference solicits papers from all areas of the social sciences that will shed light on this emerging area.

TOPICS: Topics include but are not limited to:
- Historical perspectives - Throughout history there have always been instruments and channels of finance operating outside of a formal, regulated banking and capital markets system, and this activity has often been a source of financial innovation. Are there parallels between historical and current forms of alternative finance?
- Business models - Different types of alternative finance models and how they solve asymmetric information problems in businesses, industries, or countries
- Governance models - How alternative finance institutions affect corporate governance or financial policy
- Trust and reputation - The evolution of trust and reputation for platforms
- Crowdfunding and capital formation for early-stage firms
- Network and social effects affecting platform adoption
- Alternative analytics and new forms of data
- Privacy concerns, security, and risks with distributed financing
- Alternative currencies, Exchange tradeable digital assets, Collateralised coins, Digital cryptocurrencies or digital merchant tokens, Sovereign backed issuance
- Blockchains, Distributed ledger technologies, Digital Autonomous Organisations, Smart contracting, Internet of things
- Regulatory implications of the spread of alternative technologies

FORMAT: The conference will open on Monday 1 July at the Cambridge Judge Business School, with morning refreshments followed by a full day of paper presentations (including lunch and afternoon refreshments). The day's events will be followed by a cocktail reception and dinner at King’s College (founded in 1441 by Henry VI, it is world-famous for its Chapel). Following the academic conference, there will also be an opportunity to present to an audience of invitation-only senior practitioners, policy regulators and industry thought leaders who will be attending the “Reimagining Alternative Finance: Global Perspectives Local Insights” annual CCAF practitioner conference the following day.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Maureen O’Hara, Cornell University

CONFERENCE ORGANISERS:
Raghavendra Rau, University of Cambridge
Robert Wardrop, University of Cambridge
Bryan Zhang, University of Cambridge

IMPORTANT DATES:
- Abstract and paper submission deadline: 31 March 2019
- Notification of acceptance: End April 2019
- Final paper submission deadline: Early June 2019
- Academic Conference: 1 July 2019

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Interested authors are kindly invited to submit their papers to ccaf@jbs.cam.ac.uk by 31 March 2019 using the subject heading - Conference on Alternative Finance submission. Complete papers will receive priority.

More information about previous conferences can be found here: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternative-finance/annual-conference/

FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information about the conference and logistics, please contact ccaf@jbs.cam.ac.uk