The Hong Kong Academy of Finance (AoF)’s research activity is carried out through the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research (HKIMR), a subsidiary that was established by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in August 1999. Since then it has been conducting research in the fields of monetary policy, banking and finance that are of strategic importance to Hong Kong and the Asia region. With the establishment of the AoF in June 2019, the HKIMR’s remit is expanded to include applied finance research in cross-sectoral areas. With the introduction of this new function, the HKIMR also carries out research projects that are both in-depth and highly relevant to the policy deliberations amongst the financial industry and regulators in Hong Kong, and strategic to the long-term development of the local financial industry.
The research activities of the new HKIMR comprise:
Monetary and Financial Economic Research, which is focused on academic, longer-term projects and represents the HKIMR’s core research activity since 1999;
Applied Finance Research and Thought Leadership, which covers research projects that are highly relevant to the financial industry and regulators in Hong Kong and explore very new developments in financial markets with the aim of providing the financial industry in Hong Kong with ideas regarding its strategic development in the long run.
The Applied Research activity of the Institute currently aims at exploring issues related to financial innovation (smart contracts, digital currencies, machine learning and artificial intelligence, etc.), long-term financing (development of green markets, long-term security issuance, etc.), financial market structures and developments (algorithmic and high-frequency trading, market microstructures and their impact on security prices, etc.). Research is conducted through both commissioned and open-bid projects with potential collaborators, including amongst others, consulting companies, researchers and academics with the relevant expertise.