Hamdi Driss

Hamdi Driss has been assistant professor of finance at the Sobey School of Business since 2014. He teaches corporate finance for undergraduate and Master’s students and is currently supervising two Master of Finance students. Hamdi’s areas of interest are corporate finance, financial intermediation, international finance, hedge funds, and mergers and acquisitions. He holds several research grants, most recently two consecutive Insight Development Grants through the federal Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Current research involves corporate finance and financial intermediation and he has contributed to research on the certification function of credit rating agencies and the quality of credit ratings under competition. Hamdi’s recent work has been published in the Journal of Corporate Finance and he is co-author of the textbook Corporate Finance, 8th Canadian edition. He has presented at many national and international conferences and annual meetings, most recently at the 7th Paris Financial Management Conference annual meeting (PFMC–2019). He has served as referee for several Canadian and international academic journals and serves on the editorial board of the American Business Review. Hamdi received his PhD (finance) in 2014 from York University, Toronto; his MSc (financial engineering) from Laval University, Quebec, in 2007; and his BA (business administration) from the University of Sfax, Tunisia, in 2002.

Interests

Credit Rating Agencies; Financial Analysts; Hedge Funds; Mergers and Acquisitions; Initial Public Offerings; Behavioral Finance

Education

• Ph.D., Finance, York University, 2014
• M.S., Financial Engineering, Laval University, 2007
• Non-Academic Work Experience
• 2007 - 2008, Senior Analyst, National Bank of Canada

Membership

• 2014 - Present, Northern Finance Association (NFA)
• 2011 - Present, American Finance Association (AFA)
• 2011 - Present, Financial Management Association International (FMA)

Honours

• SMUWORKS Saint Mary’s University - 2014
• AFA Doctoral Student Travel Grant American Finance Association (AFA) - 2011
• Trimark Doctoral Scholarship York University - 2008
• IFM2 Scholarship Laval University - 2006
• CIRPEE-Laval Scholarship Laval University - 2005
• Industrial Alliance Scholarship Laval University - 2004
• CFA Institute Scholarship CFA Institute - 2004
• Teaching: Course / Program Development
• 2014/02 - Present, FINA 3361: Business Finance II
• 2014/02 - Present, MFIN 6664: Corporate Finance
• Scholarly Contributions

Journal Articles

• Driss Hamdi, Bae Kee-Hong, Roberts Gordon. "Does competition affect ratings quality? Evidence from Canadian corporate bonds", Journal of Corporate Finance 58 (Fall - 2019), 605-623
• Driss Hamdi, Massoud Nadia, Roberts Gordon. "Are Credit Rating Agencies Still Relevant? Evidence on Certification from Moody’s Credit Watches", Journal of Corporate Finance (Spring - 2016)

Presentation

• Driss Hamdi, Massoud Nadia, Roberts Gordon. "Are Credit Rating Agencies Still Relevant? Evidence on Certification from Moody’s Credit Watches", 2015 Friday Seminar, Saint Mary's University (Spring - 2015)
• Driss Hamdi, Massoud Nadia, Roberts Gordon. "Are Credit Rating Agencies Still Relevant? Evidence on Certification from Moody’s Credit Watches", 2014 NFA Meeting, Ottawa (Spring - 2015)
• Driss Hamdi, Massoud Nadia, Roberts Gordon. "Are Credit Rating Agencies Still Relevant? Evidence on Certification from Moody’s Credit Watches", 2014 MFA Meeting, Orlando (Spring - 2015)
• Driss Hamdi, Massoud Nadia, Roberts Gordon. "Are Credit Rating Agencies Still Relevant? Evidence on Certification from Moody’s Credit Watches", 2013 FMA Meeting, Chicago (Spring - 2015)

Other Publications

Driss Hamdi, Bae Kee-Hong, Roberts Gordon. "A Double Rating Standard in the Corporate Bond Market: Evidence from a Canadian Rating Agency" (Spring - 2015)

Service: Professional or Disciplinary

• Ad-hoc Referee, Journal of Corporate Finance 2016/01 - Present
• Ad-hoc Referee, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences 2014/01 - Present