The 2026 International Finance Workshop on
“New Research Developments in Financial Innovation: Navigating Disruption, Determinants, and Consequences”
Special Issue in Financial Innovation
Rome, Italy
May 28- 30, 2026
We are pleased to announce the 2026 International Finance Workshop, co-hosted by Sapienza University of Rome and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE). The workshop will take place from May 28th to 30th, 2026, in Rome, Italy.
This workshop aims to foster academic exchange and promote research at the frontier of financial innovation. A special issue of Financial Innovation (IF 7.2) will be associated with the event. Selected papers from the workshop will be invited to submit to the Special Issue where they will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process.
Guest Editors
Prof. Rita Laurea D’Ecclesia (Sapienza University of Rome)
Prof. Yan Dong (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)
Prof. Gianluca Vagnani (Sapienza University of Rome)
Prof. Ji Wu (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)
Backgrounds and Motivation
The financial system is undergoing profound transformation, shaped by technological change, evolving consumer behavior and shifting global dynamics. Key trends include:
New market competition, in which FinTechs and Big Tech firms challenge traditional institutions through flexibility, data-driven customization, and platform-based business models.
Changing consumer expectations, particularly among digital-native generations with different trust structures and brand relationships.
Emerging geographical innovation hubs, especially in the Asia-Pacific region and developing economies, where leapfrogging and financial inclusion are reshaping financial access.
At the same time, Machine Learning and AI applications in finance have progressed from theoretical promise to wide empirical use. Although these methods improve predictive performance in areas such as asset pricing, they also raise critical questions regarding interpretability, overfitting, economic meaning, and the balance between sparse and dense models. This workshop and special issue aim to move beyond technological novelty to focus on conceptual clarity, empirical rigor, and theoretical integration. We especially encourage research that uncovers mechanisms, societal implications, and long-run consequences of financial innovation.
As recent studies (Bagnara, 2024; Nejad, 2022) highlight, this new era is defined by three key shifts: (1) A new competitive environment where FinTech startups and Big Tech companies challenge traditional players with flexible, customer-focused approaches; (2) The rise of new consumer groups who expect seamless digital experiences and have different relationships with financial brands; and (3) Evolving geographical patterns, with innovation hubs emerging strongly in the Asia-Pacific region and developing nations, creating unique opportunities for leapfrogging and financial inclusion.
Concurrently, the application of Machine Learning (ML) and AI in finance has moved from promise to practice, particularly in empirical asset pricing. These methods are critically employed to address long-standing problems like the "factor zoo," offering superior prediction accuracy but raising new challenges in economic interpretation, overfitting, and the debate over sparse versus dense stochastic discount factors (SDFs) (Bagnara, 2024). While technologies like deep learning show exponential growth in research, the field now demands a critical examination of their real-world impact, interpretability, and integration with financial theory.
Building on these key insights, this special issue aims to guide the upcoming wave of financial innovation research. We aim to move beyond mere technological demonstrations and focus on comprehensive empirical and theoretical studies that critically examine interdependencies, societal impacts, and methodological maturity. Submissions should explore the central tensions of this new era: the rivalry between disruptive newcomers and established companies, the balance between predictive accuracy and economic interpretability, and the contrast between global technological trends and localized consumer needs.
Topics of Interest
We welcome original research, surveys, and case-based studies related to financial innovation, including (but not limited to):
·AI and Machine Learning in Finance: Predictive performance, interpretability, and integration with economic theory
·FinTech Competition and Ecosystems: Business models, strategy, and firm-level outcomes
·Consumer Behavior and Financial Inclusion: Adoption dynamics, trust, and digital finance accessibility
·Regulation, Governance, and Intellectual Property in rapidly evolving financial markets
·Risks, Ethics, and Systemic Implications of Financial Innovation
·Sustainable Finance and Long-Term Financial System Evolution
We encourage both quantitative and qualitative approaches, including empirical analyses, theoretical contributions, comparative cases, and mixed-methods research.
Submission and Workshop Format
A three-day development workshop will be held in Rome in Spring 2026. Authors of selected papers will receive detailed feedback from Guest Editors and invited scholars. Participation is encouraged but not required for special issue consideration, and workshop participation does not guarantee publication.
All papers submitted to the special issue will undergo a double-anonymous peer-review process.
We welcome original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and case studies. Submissions should not only apply new methods but also provide clear economic interpretation and address the critical gaps highlighted in recent literature reviews.
Important Dates
· Proposal Submission Deadline: February. 28th, 2026
· First Round of Reviews: March 31st, 2026
· Final Manuscript Due: April 30th, 2026
· Workshop Date: May 28th to May 30th, 2026
· Expected Publication: 2027
Proposal/Manuscript Submission
ifw2026_submit@163.com
Introduction to Financial Innovation
Financial Innovation (FIN) is a Springer OA journal sponsored by Southwestern University of Finance and Economics of China. It provides a global academic forum for exchanging research findings across all fields in financial innovation in the era of electronic business that spans over several technological waves such as mobile computing, blockchain, and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). It seeks to promote interactions among researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners, and to foster research ideas on financial innovation in the areas of new financial instruments as well as new financial technologies, markets and institutions.
FIN emphasizes emerging financial products, processes and services that are enabled by the introduction of disruptive technologies. FIN is peer-reviewed and publishes both high-quality academic (theoretical or empirical) and practical papers in the broad ranges of financial innovation. It has been indexed in SSCI, Scopus, Google Scholar, CNKI, CQVIP and so on. The Journal Impact Factor of FIN in 2024 is 7.2 and its Five-Year Journal Impact Factor is 7.5.
