Saqib Aziz

Teaching

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Corporate Finance
• Financial Risk Management
• International Trade & Finance
• Advance Portfolio Management

Qualifications

• Ph.D. Finance, University of Rennes 1, France, 2016
• (Qualified by CNU, Ministry of Higher Education and Research France)
• Master SKEMA Business School Lille, Lille, 2008
• Master University of Lille 2, Lille, 2008
• M.B.A. NUST Business School, Pakistan, 2002

Work Experience

Academic

• Associate Professor, Finance and Accounting Academic area, Rennes School of Business (September 2020 – Present)
• Director of DBA Programmes, Rennes School of Business (2019 – Present)
• Assistant Professor, Finance and Accounting Academic area, Rennes School of Business (2016 – August 2020)
• Senior Lecturer, Finance and Accounting Academic area, Rennes School of Business (2014 – 2016)
• Adjunct Faculty, SKEMA Business School Lille (2013 – 2012)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Lille 2 (2010 – 2012)
• Adjunct Faculty, IESEG School of Management (2009 – 2013)

Non-Academic

• Financial Analyst, ZONG – China Mobile (2005 – 2006)
• Credit & International Trade Officer, Bank Alfalah Ltd (2004 – 2005)

Research interests

• Corporate Finance
• Corporate Governance
• Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
• Banking Stability
• Culture
• Sustainable Finance

Research Awards & Honors

• Prix Recherche IGR-IAE Fondation, Université de Rennes 1 on a paper published in Finance (2018)

Service

Services to the Institution

• Co-Chair 38th International AFFI Conference, May 2022, Saint-Malo, France
• Co-Chair 1st IBFRC Conference, October 2018, Agadir, Morocco

Services to profession

• Member editorial board, Journal of Financial Management & Economics (2018)
• Referee services for Banker, Markets, & Investors (BMI); Business & Economic Review (2018)
• Dublin City University: Programme Reviewer Bachelor of Business Studies
• Global Association for Risk Professionals (GARP): Subject Matter Expert on Panel of Experts over Machine Learning Topics in Finance
• Referee Services: JIFMIM, EFM, Applied Economics, FRL, RIBAF, JBEF, AIB

Technology-Related Training

• Training Session for Bloomberg, ESC Rennes, Rennes, France (2015)

Professional Development Research-Related Conference/Seminar

• Theory of Corporate Finance by Prof. Armin Schwienbacher (University Lille Nord de France), Lille, France (2011)
• CEMS PhD course on Empirical Corporate Finance by Prof. Jay Ritter, University of Florida, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (2010)
• Topics in Corporate Finance, Université Paris-Dauphine, Paris, France (2010)

Intellectual contributions

Refereed Articles

Discipline-Based Scholarship

• Muhammad Farooq Ahmad, Saqib Aziz, Rwan El-Khatib, Oskar Kowalewski (2023) Firm-level political risk and dividend payout, International Review of Financial Analysis, Volume 86, March 2023, 102546
• Muhammad Farooq Ahmad, Saqib Aziz, Michael Dowling, Oskar Kowalewski (2023) Board reforms and innovation, International Review of Financial Analysis, Volume 88, 2023, 102707
• Ahmad, M. F., Aziz, S., Michiels, Y., & Nguyen, D. K. (2023). Tracing environmental sustainability footprints in cross-border M&A activity. European Financial Management, 1– 31. https://doi.org/10.1111/eufm.12437
• Ahmad, Muhammad Farooq , Saqib Aziz, and Michael Dowling (2022) Does target country cultural orientation influence M&A?” British Journal of Management, Volume 33 Issue 2, April 2022 pp 906-938
• Saqib Aziz, Nihat Aktas, Muhammad Farooq Ahmad (2022) Does bilateral trust matter during M&A negotiations?” British Journal of Management https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12692

Basic or Discovery Scholarship

• Jalan, A., Matkovskyy, R., Aziz, S. (2021) The Bitcoin options market: A first look at pricing and risk. Applied Economics, Volume 53, Issue 17, pp. 2026-2041
• Z. Umar, S. Aziz and D. Tawil (2021) The impact of COVID-19 induced panicon the return and volatility of precious metals.Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance. Volume 31, September 2021, 100525
• Aziz, Saqib , Michael Dowling, Helmi Hammami, and Anke Piepenbrink (2021) Machine learning in finance: A topic modeling approach. European Financial Management, https://doi.org/10.1111/eufm.12326
• Saqib Aziz, Dawood Ashraf, Rwan El-Khatib (2021) Societal trust and Sukuk activity. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Volume 74, sept 2021, 101384
• Saqib Aziz, Mahabubur Rahman, Dildar Hussain, Duc K. Nguyen (2021) Does corporate environmentalism affect corporate insolvency risk? The role of market power and competitive intensity. Ecological Economics, Volume 189, 107182
• Aziz, S., Jalan, A., Matkovskyy, R. and Bouraoui, T. (2021) Does Shariah compliance affect investor behaviour in the COVID-19 times: Evidence from herding in the global energy market. Applied Economics https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2021.1999384
• Faheem Aslam, Khurrum S. Mughal, Saqib Aziz, Muhammad Farooq Ahmad & Dhoha Trabelsi (2021) COVID-19 pandemic and the dependence structure of global stock markets, Applied Economics, DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2021.1983148
• Ahmad, MF., Aziz, S., & Dowling, M. (2020). Does target country cultural orientation influence M&A? British Journal of Management (ABS rank 4), Forthcoming.
• Jalan, A., Matkovskyy, R., & Aziz, S. (2020). The Bitcoin options market: A first look at pricing and risk. Applied Economics (CNRS Rank 2), Forthcoming.
• Aslam, F., Mohmand, Y.T., Aziz, S., & Ouenniche, J., (2020). A complex networks based analysis of jump risk in equity returns: An evidence using intraday movements from Pakistan stock market.Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, (28),100418. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100418.
• Aslam, F., Aziz, S., Nguyen, D. K., Mughal, K. S., & Khan, M. (2020). On the Efficiency of Foreign Exchange Markets in times of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 160, Dec 2020, p.120261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120261
• Qureshi, M.A., Ahsan, T., Aziz, S., Yusuf, M. (2020) Technological capabilities and rent eroding battles: Scandinavia centric evidence on firm profitability. International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp.130–151
• Rahman, M., Aziz, S., Hughes, M. (2020) The product-market performance benefits of environmental policy: Why customer awareness and firm innovativeness matter. Bus Strat Env. 2020;1–18. DOI: 10.1002/bse.2484
• Mashwani, A., S. Dereeper, M. Dowling, and S. Aziz. (2019). “Learning the Wealth Effects from Equity Carve-outs”, Finance Research Letters, forthcoming
• Trabelsi, D., Aziz, S., Lilti, J.-J. (2019) A behavioral perspective on corporate dividend policy: evidence from France. Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, Vol. 19 Issue 1, pp.102-119
• Aziz, S., Chikh, S., Dowling, M., Trabelsi, D. (2018) Committing to widespread disclosure of carbon impact. Bankers, Markets & Investors, Vol.154-155, Nov Dec 2018, pp. 12-24
• Aziz, Saqib and Jean-Jacques Lilti, “Bank Deregulation, Consolidation and Stability: Evidence on U.S. M&A Centric Activity.” Revue Finance 38. (2017): 85-128.
• Aziz, Saqib , Jean-Jacques Lilti, and Khalid El Badroui, “Bank Acquisitiveness and Bailouts: Evidence on European Banks during the 2008 Financial Crisis.” Bankers, Markets & Investors 149. (2017): 40-61.
• Aziz, Saqib , Michael Dowling, and Jean-Jacques Lilti, “Bank Acquisitiveness and Financial Crisis Vulnerability.” Bankers, Markets & Investors 143. (2016): 26-44

Refereed proceedings

Discipline-Based Scholarship

• Ahmad, Muhammad F., Saqib Aziz, Yannick Michiels and Duc Nguyen. Tracing the environmental sustainability footprints in cross-border M&A activity. IFABS, Oxford, United Kingdom, 24-26 July 2023
• Ahmad Ashaal, Saqib Aziz, Jad Bazih, Akanksha Jalan. Financing Decisions and Innovation in SMEs: The Moderating Role of Trust. FEBS 2023 Greece, Chania, Greece, 1-4 June 2023
• M. Farooq Ahmad, Saqib Aziz, Rwan El Khatib, Oskar Kowalewski. Firm-Level Political Risk and Dividend Payout. IFABS, Napoli, Italy, 7-9 Sep 2022
• Ahmad, Muhammad Farooq, Saqib Aziz, Rwan El-Khatib and Oskar Kowalewski. Firm-Level Political Risk and Dividend Payout. FMA Europe, Lyon, France, 11-13 July 2022
• Ahmad, Muhammad Farooq, Saqib Aziz, Rwan El-Khatib and Oskar Kowalewski. Firm-Level Political Risk and Dividend Payout. European Financial Management, Rome, Italy, 29 June – 2 July 2022
• M. Farooq Ahmad, Nihat Aktas, Saqib Aziz. Does bilateral trust matter during M&A negotiations? Evidence from crossborder transactions. AFFI, Saint Malo, France 23-25 June 2022
• M. Farooq Ahmad, Nihat Aktas, Saqib Aziz. Does bilateral trust matter during M&A negotiations? Evidence from cross-border transactions. 1st Conference on International Finance; Sustainable and Climate Finance and Growth. Naples, Italy, 12-14 June 2022
• Aziz, Saqib. Does bilateral trust matter during M&A negotiations? Evidence from cross-border transaction. 2nd Boca Raton Corporate Finance and Governance Conference 2021, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, 11-12 December 2021
• Aziz, Saqib, Michael Dowling, Helmi Hammami and Anke Piepenbrink. Machine learning in finance: A topic modeling approach. In: 1st International Banking and Finance Research Conference, Agadir, Morocco, October 2019
• Aziz, Saqib, Michael Dowling, Helmi Hammami and Anke Piepenbrink. Machine learning in finance: A topic modeling approach. In: IFABS, Angers, France, June 2019
• Aziz, Saqib and Muhammad Farooq Ahmad. Do differences in societal trust let the cross-border mergers die? In: INFINITY FMA Europe, Glasgow, United Kingdom, June 2019
• Aziz, Saqib and Muhammad Farooq Ahmad. Do differences in societal trust let the cross-border mergers die? In: AIB International, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 2019
• Aziz, Saqib, Jean-Jacques Lilti, and Dhoha Trabelsi. A behavioral perspective on corporate dividend policy: Evidence from France. In: 9th International Research Meeting in Business and Management (IRMBAM-2018), Nice, France, July 2018
• Aziz, Saqib and Muhammad Farooq Ahmad. (2018). Do differences in societal trust let the cross-border mergers die? 3rd Corporate Governance Workshop, Paris, France, June 2018

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

• Aziz, S. & Dowling, M. (2018), “AI and Machine Learning for Risk Management”, T. Lynn et al (eds.), The Fintech Ecosystem and Technology Innovation, Palgrave (Forthcoming)

Presentations of Refereed Papers

International

• Ahmed, M. F., & Aziz, S., (2018), Do differences in societal trust let the cross-border mergers die?, The 2nd INFINITI Conference on International Finance ASIA-PACIFIC, Sydney, Australia
• Ahmed, M. F., & Aziz, S., (2018), Do differences in societal trust let the cross-border mergers die?, 3rd Corporate Governance Workshop, Paris, France
• Aziz, Saqib, Sabrina Chik, Michael Dowling and Dhoha Trabelsi. (2017). Corporate Environment Management Practices: International Evidence on Carbon Emission Disclosures. World Finance Conference, Sardinia, Italy.
• Aziz, Saqib, Sabrina Chik, Michael Dowling and Dhoha Trabelsi. (2017). Corporate Environment Management Practices: International Evidence on Carbon Emission Disclosures. 24th Global Finance Conference, New York, United States of America.
• Aziz, Saqib and Jean-Jacques Lilti. (2016). Bank deregulation, consolidation and stability: M&A centric evidence on U.S. World Finance & Banking Symposium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
• Aziz, Saqib and Jean-Jacques Lilti. (2016). Bank Deregulation, Consolidation and Stability: M&A Centric Evidence on U.S. 6th International Conference of the Financial Engineering and Banking Society, Malaga, Spain.
• Aziz, Saqib, Khalid El Badroui, and Jean-Jacques Lilti. (2016). Tracing the M&A Footprints in Bailouts and Credit Ratings of European Banks During the 2008 Financial Crisis. 6th International Conference of the Financial Engineering and Banking Society, Malaga, Spain.
• Aziz, Saqib, Michael Dowling, and Jean-Jacques Lilti. (2016). Bank Acquisitiveness and Financial Crisis Vulnerability. World Finance Conference New York, New York, United States of America.
• Aziz, Saqib (2015). Deregulation, M&A activity and Bank Stability: Evidence on U.S. Commercial Banks. 6th International Research Meeting in Business and Management, Nice, France.
• Aziz, Saqib, E de Bodt, and F Lobez. (2014). M&A Activity and Financial Distress of European Banks: Bailout and Credit Rating Perspective. 4th Conference of Financial Engineering & Banking Society (F.E.B.S), Surrey, United Kingdom.
• Aziz, Saqib, E de Bodt, and F Lobez. (2013). Bank M&A and financial crisis vulnerability. 30th AFFI International Conference, Lyon, France.

Presentations of Non-Refereed Papers

National

• Aziz, Saqib (2010). Tracing the M&A footprints in European bank distress during financial crisis. PhD Symposium, Lens, France.
• Aziz, Saqib (2011). Tracing the M&A footprints in European bank distress during financial crisis. 3L Finance Research Workshop, Brussels, Belgium.
• Aziz, Saqib (2012). Regulatory reforms and US Bank Consolidation : a broad picture. PhD Workshop, Lille, France.
• Ahmad, Muhammad Farooq, Nihat Aktas, Saqib Aziz and Olivier Bertrand. Does bilateral trust matter during M&A negotiations? Evidence from cross-border transactions. 2nd Annual Boca Corporate Finance and Governance Conference, Boca, Florida, 2021.
• Aziz, Saqib, Michael Dowling, Helmi Hammami and Anke Piepenbrink. Machine learning in finance: A topic modeling approach. IFABS, Anger, France, 2019.
• Aziz, Saqib and Muhammad Farooq Ahmad. Do differences in societal trust let the cross-border mergers die? FMA Europe, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2019.
• Aziz, Saqib and Muhammad Farooq Ahmad. Do differences in societal trust let the cross-border mergers die? AIB International, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2019