Finance academics converged on IESE's campus in Madrid this week to share their latest research and exchange viewpoints at the 15th Annual Symposium of the school's International Center for Financial Research.

"Forecasts from the IMF, as well as other international institutions, are not positive, and announce a slow rate of growth for 2008 compared to other years: 1.5 percent for the United States and 1.6 percent for the Euro Zone," said IESE Prof. Juan Jose Toribio, who is a former executive director of the IMF and a leader of the research center.

Academics targeted a number of key issues, such as the current state of financial markets, the future of the real estate sector and the behavior of the main macroeconomic indicators as recession approaches.

In the concluding panel of the event, IESE Prof. José Manuel Campa said that current volatility in international stock markets reflects major economic shifts taking place worldwide.

The current panorama is one marked by unprecedented uncertainty, Campa stressed during the panel, which also included Profs. Alfredo Pastor, Juan José Toribio, José Manuel Campa and Antonio Argandoña.

Also during the event, Prof. Javier Estrada presented his latest paper, "Black Swans and Market Timing: How Not to Generate Alpha," which examines how unexpected outliers can impact performance. 

Prof. Jorge Soley and Prof. Ahmad Rahnema outlined the different methods of evaluating loans to companies, in their book Basel II: A New Form of Bank-business Relationship. Prof. Javier Santomá explained his latest research about the lack of financial services in the emerging markets and the serious problems it produces. And finally, Prof. Pablo Fernández presented the results of his latest research 201 errors in company valuation.