2026 Symposium on Foreign Exchange Markets
17 Aug 2026
10:15 -21:00
18 Aug 2026
09:00 -21:00
Times are shown in local time
Open to: Presenting authors, discussants, the programme committee and invited guests
Cambridge Judge Business School
Trumpington St
Cambridge
CB2 1AG
United Kingdom
Overview
The 2026 Symposium on Foreign Exchange Markets took place on 17-18 August 2026 at University of Cambridge, Judge Business School.
The event featured presentations from leading scholars and lively discussions with practitioners, covering key topics such as FX liquidity, risk management, central bank interventions and the impact of AI and digital currencies on currency markets.
John Maynard Keynes addressing the Bretton Woods conference, 1944.
Research prize winners
Due to the exceptional quality of the submissions, the Research Paper Award 2026 was shared between two papers:
Financial Hedging Beyond Dominant Currency
Laura Alfaro of Harvard Business School, Mauricio Calani of Central Bank of Chile, Liliana Varela of LSE
When Funding Markets Move Credit Markets: Foreign Investors and Their U.S. CLOs
Amy W Huber of Wharton, Shohini Kundu of UCLA Anderson
Best discussant prize winner
In 2026, we also awarded a Best Discussant Prize for the first time. The winner of this award is Riccardo Colacito. Discussants play a vital role in academic presentations by synthesising the key ideas of each paper and highlighting their main contributions for a wider audience. They offer constructive feedback and pose insightful questions, helping authors refine their work and encouraging deeper discussion. Through this, discussants enhance the quality and impact of academic dialogue at conferences and symposia, which is no easy task. It is, however, one in which Riccardo has shown exceptional skill, making him a very deserving recipient of the Best Discussant Prize.
Symposium programme & papers
This is a preliminary agenda and timings/order subject to change.
10:15-10:50
Registration and coffee
10:50-11:00
Welcome
11:00-13:00
Session 1: Dollar funding markets and markups
Chair: Andrei Kirilenko
11:00-11:40
Repo and FX swap: a tale of two markets
Wenxin Du (Harvard Business School)
Georg Strasser (ECB)
Adrien Verdelhan (MIT)
Discussant: Saleem Bahaj (UCL)
11:40-12:20
When funding markets move credit markets: foreign investors and US CLOs
Amy W Huber (Wharton)
Shohini Kundu (UCLA Anderson)
Discussant: Daniel Ostry (Bank of England)
12:20-13:00
Request for quote trading in the foreign exchange market
Rainer Haselmann (Goethe)
Ingomar Krohn (BIS)
Philippe Mueller (Warwick)
Maik Schmeling (Goethe)
Discussant: Fabricius Somogyi (Northeastern)
13:00-14:00
Lunch
14:00-15:20
Session 2: FX derivatives
Chair: Xiao Xiao
14:00-14:40
Volatility shocks and currency returns
Mykola Babiak (Lancaster)
Jozef Baruník (Charles University)
Discussant: Ric Colacito (UNC Chapel Hill)
14:40-15:20
Jump risk premia in the currency market: evidence from quanto forwards
Xiang Fang (HKU)
Thomas A Maurer (EDHEC)
Haoran Wang (HKU)
Discussant: Can Gao (St Gallen and SFI)
15:20-15:45
Refreshment break
15:45-16:45
Practitioners’ panel: Pricing, liquidity and volatility: the evolution of FX options trading
- Chris Cavanagh, Director of FX Options Trading, HSBC
- Loan Dewaele, Associate Portfolio Manager, Cubist Systematic Strategies
- Alex Ross, FX Options Trader, IMC Trading
Moderator: Chris Povey (Head of FX Options, NDFs and EMFX, CME Group)
17:00-18:30
Social activity
18:30-21:00
Drinks reception
Drinks at 18:30, Peterhouse
Dinner
Award dinner in the Hall, Peterhouse
09:00-11:00
Session 3: Bonds and FX
Chair: Nancy Xu
09:00-09:40
Inflation and the joint bond-FX spanning puzzle
Andreas Schrimpf (BIS)
Markus Sihvonen (Bank of Finland)
Discussant: Thomas Maurer (EDHEC)
09:40-10:20
What 200 years of data tell us about the predictive variance of long-term bonds
Pasquale Della Corte (Imperial)
Can Gao (St Gallen and SFI)
Daniel PA Preve (Singapore Management University)
Giorgio Valente (Hong Kong Monetary Authority)
Discussant: Paul Whelan (CUHK)
10:20-11:00
Philippe Bacchetta (Lausanne and SFI)
Eric van Wincoop (University of Virginia)
Discussant: Dongchen Zou (Indiana University)
11:00-11:30
Refreshment break
11:30-12:50
Session 4: FX expectations
Chair: Lucio Sarno
11:30-12:10
Demand for dollars: evidence from survey expectations
Benedikt Ballensiefen (Cologne)
Fabricius Somogyi (Northeastern)
Hannah Winterberg (Cologne and IMF)
Discussant: Robert Czech (Bank of England)
12:10-12:50
Sticking to their guns: short-horizon exchange rate expectations
Lukas Kremens (University of Washington)
Liliana Varela (LSE)
Discussant: Maik Schmeling (Goethe)
12:50-14:00
Lunch
14:00-16:00
Session 5: Emerging markets
Chair: Christian Wagner
14:00-14:40
Global investors in local-currency bond markets: implications for bond yields and exchange rates
Pierre De Leo (University Maryland)
Lorena Keller (Texas A&M University)
Guiliano Simoncelli (University of Maryland)
Mauricio Villamizar Villegas (Banco de la República de Colombia)
Tomás Williams (George Washington University)
Discussant: Andreas Schrimpf (BIS)
14:40-15:20
Forward exchange intervention and currency premia: high-frequency evidence from Brazil
Mai Chi Dao (IMF)
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (IMF and UC Berkley)
Rui Mano (IMF)
Naoki Yago (Henley Business School)
Discussant: Ingomar Krohn (Bank of Canada and BIS)
15:20-16:00
Financial hedging beyond dominant currency
Laura Alfaro (Harvard Business School)
Mauricio Calani (Central Bank of Chile)
Liliana Varela (LSE)
Discussant: Steven Riddiough (University of Toronto)
16:00-16:30
Refreshment break
17:30-18:30
Social activities
18:30-21:00
Drinks reception
Drinks at 18:30, Pembroke College
Dinner
Award dinner at 19:00 in the Old Library, Pembroke College
2026 Timeline
Please find below the timeline for 2026 SFX.
| 27 Jan 2026 | 1 Mar 2026 | 1 May 2026 | 17-18 Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call for papers went live. | Call for papers closed. | Successful presenters notified by Programme committee. | Symposium on Foreign Exchange Markets 2026 |
2026 Conference committees
Lucio Sarno
Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Josef Zechner
WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Christian Wagner
WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Georg Cejnek
WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Riccardo Colacito
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Magnus Dahlquist
Stockholm School of Economics
Xiang Fang
University of Hong Kong
Zhengyang Jiang
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Amy Huber
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Stephan Kranner
WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Semyon Malamud
Swiss Finance Institute, EPFL
Andreas Neuhierl
Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue University
Otto Randl
WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Alberto Rossi
McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
Fabricius Somogyi
Northeastern University
Andrea Vedolin
Questrom School of Business Boston University
Stefan Voigt
Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen
Michael Weber
Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue University
Owain Johnson
Richard Stevens
Chris Povey
Sarah Carter
CEAM Executive Director
Sarah Carter is Executive Director of the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Endowment Asset Management, and previously set up and managed the Master of Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School. Before that, she worked for Plan International and for the United Nations Association. She has undertaken PhD coursework and research at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and was awarded an MA with distinction in International Studies by Durham University and a BA (Hons) in Psychology by the University of Hertfordshire.
Brandon McBride
Finance PhD Candidate at Cambridge
Annwen Gray
CEAM Centre Administrator
Annwen is Administrator for the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Endowment Asset Management (CEAM). Prior to joining CEAM, she worked within Recruitment and Admissions for the Master of Business programmes at Cambridge Judge Business School.
Merve Karakaş
CEAM Centre Manager
Merve is Centre Manager of the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Endowment Asset Management (CEAM). Prior to joining CEAM, she was practicing corporate law in Turkey as an in-house lawyer in Istanbul. Merve holds LLM in Economic Law from Galatasaray University, and LLB from Istanbul University.
