IESE Business School

The Grupo Santander Chair of Financial Institutions and Corporate Governance promotes research and publications in the area of financial institutions and corporate governance. Its purpose is to foster a wider awareness and understanding of the most important aspects of corporate governance through participation in conferences, the publication of general interest articles and the development of teaching materials.

IESE and Grupo Santander consider the Chair to be an effective platform for the diffusion of a body of knowledge that will contribute to the design and implementation of better business and regulatory policies, and to the growth of the economy and business in general.

The current holder of the Chair is José Manuel Campa, Professor of Financial Management and Director of Research at IESE. Holder of a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and author of numerous research papers and articles in academic journals, José Manuel Campa was Associate Professor at the Stern School of Business (New York University) from 1991 to 2001. In 2002, he received the Germán Benácer Prize from the ECB Observatory, and currently is Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center for Economic Policy Research. He is also a member of the Editorial Boards of the business and financial newspaper Expansión and the magazine Actualidad Económica.

His areas of specialization include the international structure of the financial industry, international financial expansion and integration strategies, exchange rate trends, and management of financial risk.

1) Case writing and research projects

The Chair supports and conducts research and prepares teaching materials on corporate governance and the management of financial institutions.  Among the subjects studied are:

    1.1. The abolition of anti-takeover provisions from company by-laws.

    1.2. Commitments to information transparency with respect to directors' pay.

    1.3. Value creation in merger and acquisition processes in the financial industry.

    1.4. Integration of the financial industry in Europe. 

2) Conferences and Seminars

The Chair is also actively involved in organizing training seminars and specialized conferences, both at IESE and in collaboration with respected international bodies. 

The activities carried out by the Chair include: 

-  CEO's Forum.

-  Focused program at IESE on “Corporate Governance: Boards of Directors”, held yearly. 

-  Regular sessions within IESE's Continuous Education Program.

-  Organizer of the 24th Colloquium of the European Financial Research Society in October 2004.

3) Conference participation

The Chair is an active participant in national and international conferences with a view to disseminating its work.  For example, it belongs to the European Corporate Governance Institute and regularly takes part in conferences organized by CEPR, Asociación Española de Finanzas, Instituto MEFF and other institutions.

Detailed information on each of these activities may be obtained from
http://web.iese.edu/campa