Prof. Hong ZOU
Finance

Professor
3917 7785
hongzou@hku.hk
KK 835
http://www.fbe.hku.hk/~hongzou/


Biography
Joe Hong Zou is a professor of finance at University of Hong Kong. He graduated in Statistics from Fudan University, completed a Master degree in insurance & accounting with distinction (sponsored by UK insurer Aviva) and received a PhD in Finance from University of Wales (UK). He had six-year industry experience (four years in a local government and two years in an investment bank) and qualified the CPA and investment analyst exam. He previously taught at Cardiff University (UK) and City University of Hong Kong, and received the Faculty of Business and Economics 2017/2018 IMBA teaching award and the 2019/2020 HKU-PKU EMBA teaching award in the University of Hong Kong. He was ranked as one of the HKU Scholars in the Top 1% based on Thomson Clarivate Analytics’ Essential Science Indicators in the 10-year period (2008-2018) (http://hub.hku.hk/local/top1pc/top1pc.jsp?year=2018).
His research interests include corporate finance, corporate governance, risk management, financial services, and the Chinese financial market. He published 34 peer-reviewed journal articles in English and his research works appear in top finance journals (Journal of Finance,?Journal of Financial Economics,?Review of Financial Studies,?Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis), top accounting journals (e.g.,?Journal of Accounting and Economics), top international business journals (e.g.,?Journal of International and Business Studies), and top insurance journals (e.g.,?Journal of Risk and Insurance). He won 7 international research awards (including the 2002 & 2003 Shin Insurance Research Awards at New York-based International Insurance Society (IIS), the 2012 Patrick Brockett and Arnold Shapiro research award given by the American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA), the 2012 China International Conference in Finance (CICF) best paper award). He also published 17 journal articles in Chinese (e.g., Economic Research). He is ranked in the top 10%?of Authors on SSRN by all-time downloads. His research works are featured in the Handbook of Insurance, the CFA Digest, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, the NBER Working Paper series, the European Corporate Governance Institute – Finance Working Paper series, and two finance textbooks.
He once gave a lecture in the Lloyd’s of London, and received media interviews (e.g.,?Reactions, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the Financial Management magazine of AICPA-CIMA). He was a finance paper examiner of the professional qualification exams at the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB) and Hong Kong Institute of Chartered Secretaries (HKICS). He is a research fellow at the Center of China Insurance and Social Security Research, and is an associate editor for?British Accounting Review?– a flagship journal of the British Accounting and Finance Association (2019 impact factor 3.333), an associate editor for Journal of Insurance Issues – the official journal of Western Risk and Insurance Association in the U.S., and is on the editorial board of?China Journal of Accounting Studies. He was also on the editorial board of Frontiers of Business Research in China?(published by Springer) between 2010 and 2016.
Research Interest
Corporate governance, novel investor protection, boards, directors’ and officers’ liabilities, litigation risk
Corporate risk management, hedging, and interactions with other corporate financial policies; emerging risk (e.g., ESG risk; cyber risk)
Loan contracts, cost of debt and equity, IPO
M&As, innovation
Financial institutions (including insurance companies)
Household finance
Financial reporting, disclosure, tax avoidance
Chinese financial markets
FinTech
Selected Publications
“Political Costs and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Sin Firms” (with Wang, Cong, Wilson, Ryan J. and Zhang, Shuran),?Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, forthcoming.
“Managerial Liability and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from a Legal Shock” (with Guan, Yuyan, Zhang, Liandong and Zheng, Liu),?Journal of Corporate Finance, 2021, 69, 102022.
– Featured in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.
“What’s in a Name? The Valuation Effect of Directors’ Sharing of Surnames” (with Tan, Youchao, Xiao, Jason and Zeng, Cheng Colin),?Journal of Banking & Finance, 2021, 122, 105991.
“Do Financial Regulations Shape the Functioning of Financial Institutions’ Risk Management in Asset-Backed Securities Investment?” (with Chen, Xuanjuan, Higgins, Eric and Xia, Han),?The Review of Financial Studies, 2020, 33(6), 2506-2553.