The Centre for Financial Research (CFR) is a research institute at the University of Cologne and conducts independent, cutting-edge research of practical relevance in the area of financial markets. The CFR is an initiative of Professor Dr. Alexander Kempf and Professor Dr. Drs. h.c. Axel Weber. It was founded in 2004.

The central goal of the CFR is to generate new knowledge in the field of financial markets and thus to contribute to the solution of problems arising in practice. Currently, the main focus of the CFR is asset management and risk management. As a competence centre for research on financial markets the CFR benefits from the existing research competence at the University of Cologne and international research cooperations.

The results of our research will be available via three channels:

Firstly, the results will be presented at relevant international conferences and will be published in renowned, relevant journals. This constitutes the basis for establishing a good reputation of the CFR in the research community.

Secondly, the research will be available to those practitioners, for whom it is immediately relevant. Good communication between theory and practice allows on the one hand feedback from practitioners to inform research projects and on the other hand it allows early access for practitioners to new knowledge and methods.

The third way in which knowledge will be channeled is the transfer to students via lectures. The aim is to provide additional training in the field of financial markets for top students in Cologne.

In addition, the involvement of particularly talented students in research projects of the CFR is planned. The goal is to create strong links between students and the CFR and those individuals and organizations collaborating with the CFR.

We would especially like to thank the sponsors whose donations made it possible to establish the Assistant Professorship for Sustainable Finance at the University of Cologne: