Our People

   
   

Centre Director

Prof Jun-Koo Kang

Professor Jun-Koo Kang
Director, Insurance Risk and Finance Research Centre (IRFRC)
Head, Division of Banking and Finance
Canon Professorship of Finance
Distinguished Professor of Finance
Professor, College of Business (Nanyang Business School) - Division of Banking & Finance

Biography

Dr. Jun-Koo KANG is Canon Professor/Distinguished Professor of Finance at Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is head of the division of banking and finance and former founding executive director of the Insurance Risk and Finance Research Centre at NBS. Prior to joining NTU, Dr. Kang was the MSU Federal Credit Union Endowed Chair in Financial Institutions and Investments at Michigan State University.

His areas of research expertise include mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, ESG, capital raising, capital structure, emerging financial markets, international finance, and banking. His research has been published in leading finance, economics, and other business journals, including Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, American Economic Review, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Business, Accounting Review, Journal of International Business Studies, and Pacific-Basin Finance Journal. He currently serves as a co-editor of Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, an associate editor of Financial Management, Japan and the World Economy, Journal of Financial Perspectives, and Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies, and an editorial review board member of Journal of International Business Studies.

He is also a senior fellow and a member of executive council of the Asia Bureau of Finance and Economics Research, a research fellow of the Asian Institute of Corporate Governance, and a member of World Economic Forum Expert Network. In a recent article by Chan, Chen, and Lee (2011), he was ranked number one in the Asia–Pacific region based on articles published in 21 leading finance journals during 1990-2008. He received the Nanyang Research Award in 2013, the highest accolade awarded by NTU in recognition for research excellence. Dr. Kang received his Ph.D. in finance from the Ohio State University, his master of science in finance from the Iowa State University, and his bachelor's degree in business administration from the Korea University.


In-House Researchers

Shinichi Kamiya
Associate Professor
Co-Director of IRFRC
Division of Banking & Finance
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Dr Kamiya has significant research expertise in the areas of insurance, economics, and risk management. His areas of past research include underwriting, adverse selection, moral hazard, and operational risk and reputational risk management. 

Dr Kamiya earned a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a PhD degree in Risk and Insurance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His expertise in research is complemented with practical experience as an underwriter in the Japanese property and casualty insurance market.
Wenjun Zhu, Division of Banking & Finance, Nanyang Business School
Associate Professor
Co-Director of IRFRC
Division of Banking & Finance
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Dr. Zhu has interdisciplinary research experience in developing effective statistical and quantitative tools in evaluating and managing risks in the fields of insurance and finance. She is particularly interested in research topics including systemic risk management, predictive analytics, actuarial ratemaking in agricultural insurance, high dimensional modelling with copulas, and longevity risk management.

Dr. Zhu received her PhD in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo in 2015, and she holds a double bachelor’s degree in Economics as well as Mathematics. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA). She is also a winner of the Society of Actuaries James C. Hickman Scholar (2013-15).

Jade Nie, Division of Banking & Finance, Nanyang Business School
Lecturer
Division of Banking & Finance
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Ciyu Nie (Jade) is a qualified actuary from the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. She graduated from The University of Melbourne (Australia) with a PhD degree in Actuarial Science. 

Before joining NTU as a lecturer, Jade first worked in Ernst & Young (Shanghai) as an actuarial consultant, and later on worked in Alibaba Group as a data scientist. Her combined experiences in the insurance industry as well as the internet industry greatly inspired her interests in big data analytics as well as cyber risk management. 

She is now a member of the IRFRC and her current research focuses on cyber risk modelling.

WEI Pengyu
Assistant Professor 
Division of Banking & Finance
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Pengyu is an Assistant Professor in Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He obtained his DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2018. Prior to joining NBS, he taught at the University of Waterloo (Canada) and the University of New South Wales (Australia). His research interests include Actuarial Science, Insurance Economics, Quantitative Finance, and Risk Management.

Jinggong Zhang, Division of Banking & Finance, Nanyang Business School
Assistant Professor
Division of Banking & Finance
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Jinggong joined Nanyang Business School in 2018. His current research interests focus on time-consistent planning, stochastic optimal control, longevity risk management, and agricultural insurance.

Jinggong obtained his PhD in actuarial science at the University of Waterloo, and he is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries. He was a Society of Actuaries James C. Hickman Scholar.

Yanbin XU
Yanbin XU
Research Fellow
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)


Yanbin Xu earned his PhD in Actuarial Science from Nanyang Technological University, where he collaborated closely with researchers from diverse fields, including climate science and human health, in multidisciplinary studies. His research interests span climate risk management, sustainable finance, and AI applications in risk management. Prior to his academic role, Yanbin gained professional experience in reinsurance and mutual fund companies, which shaped his research focus and provided him with valuable practical insights.


Qiao Yang

Qiao Yang
Research Fellow
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Dr Qiao's research interests include mortality prediction, quantitative finance and risk management.

Jianjie Shi

Jianjie Shi
Research Associate
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Dr. Shi is a Research Associate in Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Shi’s research interests cover a wide range of topics within actuarial science and econometrics. His previous work includes mortality modeling, Bayesian time series analysis, sensitivity analysis, and non-parametric statistics.  

Before joining NTU, Dr. Shi earned a PhD degree in the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University and a Master's degree in Statistics at The Australian National University. He also holds a double Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and Financial Management from Sun Yat-sen University.

 

Research Support Staff

Valerie De Souza

Valerie De Souza
Senior Executive

Ayana Lao
Ayana Lao
Research Engineer II

PhD Students

Wenjun Zhu, Division of Banking & Finance, Nanyang Business School
KE Yaojun 
PhD student 
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)


Email: [email protected]
Office: 91 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639956, ABS-04-38
Research Interests: Empirical Corporate Finance and Political Economy


Lei ZHOU
ZHOU Lei 
PhD student 
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)


Email: [email protected]
Office: 91 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639956, ABS-04-37