Campus for Finance Association is a student association at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany. It was founded in 2001 in cooperation with the Endowed Chair of Finance, held by Prof. Dr. Markus Rudolf, to support and organize the student-run “Campus for Finance”-conferences. The association annually hosts the “WHU New Year’s Conference” and the “WHU Private Equity Conference”. The mission of the association is entitled “Uniting the World of Finance”.
Campus for Finance started as a student initiative in 2001 and organized the first “WHU New Year’s Conference”, entitled “Old/New Economy – One Finance”, in the same year. The conference is intended as a platform for mutual exchange at the contact point of academic work and practice. In addition to the “WHU New Year’s Conference” the “WHU Private Equity Conference” was launched in 2004 and deals with topics around private equity and venture capital.
The “WHU New Year’s Conference” and the “WHU Private Equity Conference” share the same concept: A program over two days that provides a forum for presentations and discussions of academics, corporate and media representatives, politicians and students.
The “WHU New Year's Conference” is the biggest conference organized by the Campus for Finance Association with 500 participants. It takes place annually in January and covers topics that refer to the current issues of the financial world. Due to the rising number of participants the “WHU New Year’s Conference” took place at the Rhein-Mosel-Halle in Koblenz in 2014 for the first time.
"Innovation in Finance – Shaping Tomorrow's Business Models", 2017
"Financing European Business - Where does the Future of Corporate and Institutional Funding lie", 2016
"Cheap Money – Easy Borrowing, Tough Investing?", 2015
"Tomorrow's Financial Services – Breakdown or Revival?", 2014
"Financial Markets, Media & Politics: Who rules the world?", 2013
"Sustainable Finance – How to benefit from global mega trends?!", 2012
"Financial vs. Real Economy – Two Sides of the Same Coin?", 2011
“Finance 2020 – Perspectives on Tomorrow’s Markets”, 2010
“Behavioral Finance – How to Account for Irrationality?”, 2009
“New Horizons for Financial Markets – Investing in a Changing World” 2008
"Future of Banking – Between Markets and Institutions", 2007
"Fixed Income – Lending, Borrowing and Taking Risk", 2006
"Options and Futures: How Derivatives Shape Corporate Risk Management", 2005
"Corporate Finance - How to Create Value", 2004
"Rationality of Stock Markets & Empirical Finance", 2003
"Asset Management & Asset Pricing", 2002
"Old/New Economy - One Finance", 2001
The WHU Private Equity Conference takes place annually in spring and is organized by students of the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. The focus lies on topics around changes in the private equity and venture capital industry. During the conference graduates and students come together with executives from funds, financial institutions, consultancies and lawyers to discuss present topics.
"Performance Differentiation Through Operational Value Creation" und "Replacing Capital Markets Through Private Growth Investors?!", 2016
"Circling Around the same Targets", "The Changing Role of LPs" and "From Profitability to Growth", 2015
"Private Equity Growing Up – Value Creation Strategies in a Maturing Market", 2014
"Heading for new Shores – Crisis as a Chance", 2013
"Private Equity 2.0 – Redefining the industry’s chessboard", 2012
"Value Creation - Exploiting this Decade’s Opportunities", 2011
Wolfgang Schäuble, Federal Minister of Finance of Germany
Sir John Major, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Brady W. Dougan, CEO Credit Suisse
Oswald Grübel, former CEO of Credit Suisse and UBS
Dame Clara Furse, former CEO of the London Stock Exchange
Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank
John Forbes Nash, Jr., Princeton University, Nobel Prize 1994
Reinhard Selten, University of Bonn, Nobel Prize 1994
Finn E. Kydland, University of California, Santa Barbara, Nobel Prize 2004
Robert Aumann, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Nobel Prize 2005
Hans-Paul Bürkner, CEO Boston Consulting Group
Alexander Dibelius, CEO Germany, Austria, Russia and Central and Eastern Europe Goldman Sachs
Eckhard Cordes, CEO Haniel and Metro Group
Axel A. Weber, President of the German Federal Bank
Jochen Sanio, President of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)
Peter Wuffli, former CEO UBS
Hilmar Kopper, former CEO Deutsche Bank AG
Paul Achleitner, chairman Deutsche Bank AG
A number of contributions from the series "Campus for Finance" were apprehended in the scientific discussion. For example, the paper "How to Pay a Non-family Manager in a Family Firm - a Multi-task Principal-agent Analysis" by Jörn Block and Joachim Henkel at the "Campus for Finance - Research Conference 2009" on the pricing models of management taken. The lecture "Rational International Investment" by Campbell Harvey held on the "WHU New Year's Conference 2003" was discussed further.
At the "WHU New Year's Conference 2010" Alexander Dibelius, head of the investment bank Goldman Sachs Germany, said that "Banks ... have no obligation to promote the common good." For this he earned considerable criticism, both from politicians and society as well as colleagues and generated considerable media coverage. Especially in connection with the intensive bailout for the banking industry around the world due to the international financial crisis, this statement is highly controversial. The speech by Axel Wieandt was intensively discussed, too, as he spoke about the plans of Hypo Real Estate to establish a "bad bank”. The attendance of John F. Nash, Jr. earned the conference high media interest, which was reported of in newspaper articles and in numerous interviews.
Andreas Buhr: Finanzkongress Campus for Finance wählt für 2010 bedeutende Redner, Online Artikel, 7. Januar 2010, New Year’s Conference 2010 Online
Handelsblatt: Verschnaufpause für Banken geht 2010 zu Ende, Handelsblatt, 18. Januar 2010, New Year’s Conference 2010 Online
wiwi-Journal: Campus for Finance – New Year’s Conference 2009, wiwi-Journal, 11.2008, Seite 52/53, New Year’s Conference 2009
Handelsblatt: Ackermann erklärt die Welt von Morgen, Handelsblatt, 17. Januar 2008, New Year’s Conference 2008 Online
Onvista: Investing in a Changing World, Onvista, 7. August 2010 (updated), New Year’s Conference 2008 Online
Mathias Peer: Banken sparen nicht am Nachwuchs - Das Finanzgewerbe wird immer akademischer, Hochschulanzeiger no. 95, 2008, page 38, New Year’s Conference 2008 Online
Manager Magazin: Eine Million Neukunden bis Dezember, Manager Magazin, 12. Januar 2007 New Year’s Conference 2007 Online
Jörg Hilpert: Die internationale Finanzwelt versammelt sich in Vallendar, Rhein Zeitung, 13. Januar 2006, page 7, New Year’s Conference 2006
UNICUM: Zukunft der Finanzwelt, UNICUM, 13. Dezember 2004, no. 12, page 36, New Year’s Conference 2005
Christiane Buck: Herkömmliche Bewertung nicht sinnvoll, Welt, 21. Januar 2001, New Year’s Conference 2001 Online
