2^nd Annual International Undergraduate Finance Research Conference (IUFRC) - 2022

The Sri Lanka Finance Association in collaboration with the Department of Business Finance,
Faculty of Management, University of Peradeniya successfully conducted the 2^nd Annual
International Undergraduate Finance Research Conference 2022 with a conference theme of
“Value Creation Through Sustainable Finance” on Friday 25th November 2022 via zoom
platform.

This conference was a great opportunity for undergraduates to present their research findings
to a wider audience and the conference was conducted with five conference tracks namely,
financial markets and investment, Banking, insurance and Risk Management, Corporate
Governance and Accountability, Corporate Finance, Public Finance and Economics and the
Special topics covering the management discipline. Each paper submitted to the conference
was double-blind reviewed and accepted for publication in the conference proceeding.

Prof. Douglas Cumming, Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship, College of Business,
Florida Atlantic University, Florida, USA delivered a quality keynote speech on “Market
Manipulation and ESG Violations” describing how market manipulation enables corporate
deception, which in turn facilitates ESG manipulation. Further, Mr. Nishan Fernando,
Chairman, of First Capital Holdings PLC, and the Managing Director of BDO Consulting
delivered a keynote speech titled “Sustainable Finance- Risk to Opportunity” while
concentrating on the elements of sustainable finance and the sustainability challenges to
society. The session concluded by providing a deep idea about how finance contributes to
sustainable development in a society.

In the technical sessions, five concurrent sessions were conducted for the five tracks, and
presentations were evaluated by session chairs and two panelists of each session. At the
concluding session of the conference, the Best Paper Award was presented to D.M.H.R.
Dissanayake of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka with the paper titled “Financial
Development and Environmental Quality: Evidence from Sri Lankan Perspective”.
The conference was wrapped up by Dr. Sujeewa Kodithuwakku, Conference Chair of IUFRC
2022.