20th Central Bank Conference on the Microstructure of Financial Markets

Conference dates

11 Sep 2025 - 12 Sep 2025

Location

Hong Kong

Description

The Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research (HKIMR), the research arm of the Hong Kong Academy of Finance and affiliate of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, will host the 20th Central Bank Conference on the Microstructure of Financial Markets on 11 – 12 September, 2025 in Hong Kong. The conference will bring together researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners to discuss recent research and current policy issues related to the microstructure and functioning of financial markets.

The conference has a tradition of a broad approach to market microstructure, covering a wide range of asset classes and trading protocols, and maintaining a blend of empirical and theoretical papers. As such, studies in all areas of market microstructure and, more broadly, financial market functioning, are welcome. However, in light of the transformative impact of new technologies on financial markets, submissions on the topics in the following thematic areas are particularly encouraged:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
a) AI-driven trading algorithms and market quality
b) AI predictive analytics and their impact on market efficiency
c) Applications of AI in market making and liquidity provision
d) Implications of AI for market microstructure design

Financial Innovation and Settlement Cycles
a) The role of technology and financial innovation in shaping settlement cycles in security markets
b) Alternative settlement cycles and financial stability
c) The Impact of alternative settlement cycles on market liquidity, volatility, price efficiency and informativeness

Decentralised Finance and the Digital Asset Ecosystem
a) Asset tokenisation: Liquidity and price discovery implications
b) Impact of market fragmentation on price discovery and information asymmetry in digital-asset markets
c) Decentralised finance: market making, trading mechanisms, market efficiency, and related regulatory developments
d) Price dynamics and liquidity in stablecoin markets
e) Stablecoin design and peg stability

Keynote Speaker(s): Lin William Cong (SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University), Jonathan Chiu (Banking and Payments Department, Bank of Canada), TBC.

Submission Procedure: Drafts of completed papers should be submitted in PDF format by 5:00 pm HKT (GMT+8) on 31 March, 2025 to hkimr@hkma.gov.hk. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by the end of May 2025. The conference will be an in-person event, and virtual participation will not be possible. For additional information, please send an email to hkimr@hkma.gov.hk.


Organizing Committee: Dagfinn Rime (BI Norwegian Business School), Giorgio Valente (Hong Kong Institute of Monetary and Financial Research), Henry Mak (Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research).

Program Committee: Giovanni Cespa (Bayes Business School), Jens Christensen (Fed San Francisco), Carole Comerton-Forde (U of Melbourne), Robert Czech (Bank of England), Andrew Ellul (Indiana University), Michael Fleming (Fed New York), Thierry Foucault (HEC Paris), Björn Hagströmer (Stockholm University), Peter Hoffmann (ECB), Edith Hotchkiss (Boston College), Sophie Moinas (Toulouse), Bernt Arne Odegaard (U of Stavanger), Carol Osler (Brandes U), Christine Parlour (UC Berkeley), Angelo Ranaldo (University of Basel), Dagfinn Rime (BI Norwegian Business School), Norman Schuerhoff (HEC and Swiss Finance Institute), Giorgio Valente (Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research), Clara Vega (Federal Reserve System).