Professor Andrew Urquhart

The Department of Finance
Professor of Finance and Financial Technology
Head of the Department of Finance

Contact details

Email
a.urquhart@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
University House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Andrew Urquhart is Professor of Finance and Financial Technology and Head of the Department of Finance at Birmingham Business School (BBS), University of Birmingham.  He is co-editor-in-chief at the International Review of Economics and Finance, as well as associate editor at British Accounting Review,  Economics Letters, European Journal of Finance, Financial Review, Global Finance Journal, International Review of Financial Analysis, and Research in International Business and Finance. Andrew’s main research interests are fintech, cryptocurrencies, corporate governance and high-frequency trading and has received over 10,000 citations. He was one of the first academics to publish in the area of Fintech, with his first paper in 2016 on the efficiency of Bitcoin receiving over 1,700 citations. He has published over 90 papers in over 20 leading international journals such as the Nature (x2), Research Policy, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Operational Research, and most major finance journals.  He has also received over £500,000 in research income and regularly writes media pieces, including a monthly column in Decrypt. 

Andrew has received a number of best paper awards at international conferences and is regularly listed in top researcher lists. He has supervised 10 PhD students to completion with another 4 currently under his supervision. He has, and continues to, provide executive courses to professionals on Digital Assets, Blockchain and Fintech in general and has delivered courses on Fintech, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Quantitative Finance and Financial Markets at undergraduate, masters and PhD level. He has/is an external examiner of programmes at Imperial College London, Durham University, Queen's University Belfast, the University of Edinburgh, SOAS, Birkbeck College.

Andrew joined BBS in 2024 and was previously Professor and Head of the ICMA Centre at Henley Business School.   Prior to that, Andrew was at the University of Southampton where was Associate Professor of Finance and previously Lecturer in Finance. Andrew holds a PhD from Newcastle University where he also received his MSc Finance (Distinction) and BA(Hons) in Economics and Politics.

Qualifications

  • PGCAP, University of Southampton 2014
  • PhD Finance, Newcastle University 2013
  • MSc Finance (distinction), Newcastle University 2009
  • BA(Hons) Politics and Economics, Newcastle University 2008

Biography

Professor Andrew Urquhart is Professor of Finance and Financial Technology and Head of the Department of Finance at Birmingham Business School (BBS), University of Birmingham.  He is co-editor-in-chief at the International Review of Economics and Finance, as well as associate editor at British Accounting Review,  Economics Letters, European Journal of Finance, Financial Review, Global Finance Journal, International Review of Financial Analysis, and Research in International Business and Finance. Andrew’s main research interests are fintech, cryptocurrencies, corporate governance and high-frequency trading and has received over 10,000 citations. He was one of the first academics to publish in the area of Fintech, with his first paper in 2016 on the efficiency of Bitcoin receiving over 1,700 citations. He has published over 90 papers in over 20 leading international journals such as the Nature (x2), Research Policy, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Operational Research, and most major finance journals.  He has also received over £500,000 in research income and regularly writes media pieces, including a monthly column in Decrypt. 

Andrew has received a number of best paper awards at international conferences and is regularly listed in top researcher lists. He has supervised 10 PhD students to completion with another 4 currently under his supervision. He has, and continues to, provide executive courses to professionals on Digital Assets, Blockchain and Fintech in general and has delivered courses on Fintech, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Quantitative Finance and Financial Markets at undergraduate, masters and PhD level. He has/is an external examiner of programmes at Imperial College London, Durham University, Queen's University Belfast, the University of Edinburgh, SOAS, Birkbeck College.

Andrew joined BBS in 2024 and was previously Professor and Head of the ICMA Centre at Henley Business School.   Prior to that, Andrew was at the University of Southampton where was Associate Professor of Finance and previously Lecturer in Finance. Andrew holds a PhD from Newcastle University where he also received his MSc Finance (Distinction) and BA(Hons) in Economics and Politics.

Postgraduate supervision

Andrew has supervised 10 students to completion on topics such as Fintech, Blockchain, Corporate Finance, Asset Pricing and Football Finance, who are now working in academia (such as at the University of Bristol, Nottingham Trent University, University of Sussex) and in industry (such as KPMG, Sky and Lloyds Banking Group).

Research

Research Interests

  • Fintech
  • Blockchain
  • Cryptocurrencies
  • Corporate Finance
  • Asset Pricing
  • Sports Finance

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Elliott, RJR & Urquhart, A 2025, 'Bitcoin Research: What Are the New Frontiers?', Financial Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.70015

Urquhart, A & Zhang, H 2025, 'CEO Social Class Origins and Risk Taking', European Financial Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/eufm.70007

Hao, J, Sun, R, Lucey, B, He, F & Urquhart, A 2025, 'From Ecosystem Threats to Balance Sheets: Biodiversity Risks Exposure and Corporate Cash Policies', Business Strategy and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70380

Conlon, T, De Mingo‐López, DV & Urquhart, A 2025, 'Persistence and Market Timing Ability of Cryptocurrency Funds', Financial Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.12498

Dionysopoulos, L & Urquhart, A 2024, '10 years of stablecoins: Their impact, what we know, and future research directions', Economics Letters, vol. 244, 111939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111939

Rzayev, K, Sakkas, A & Urquhart, A 2024, 'An adoption model of cryptocurrencies', European Journal of Operational Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2024.11.024

Sakkas, A & Urquhart, A 2024, 'Blockchain factors', Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, vol. 94, 102012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intfin.2024.102012

Dionysopoulos, L, Marra, M & Urquhart, A 2024, 'Central bank digital currencies: A critical review', International Review of Financial Analysis, vol. 91, 103031. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2023.103031

Duan, K, Zhang, L, Urquhart, A, Yao, K & Peng, L 2024, 'Do clean and dirty cryptocurrencies connect financial assets differently? The perspective of market inefficiency', Research in International Business and Finance, vol. 70, 102351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102351

Huang, Z-C, Sangiorgi, I & Urquhart, A 2024, 'Forecasting Bitcoin volatility using machine learning techniques', Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, vol. 97, 102064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intfin.2024.102064

Schopohl, L, Urquhart, A & Zhang, H 2024, 'Labor investment inefficiency and LGBTQ+-friendliness', International Review of Financial Analysis, vol. 95, 103469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103469

Zhang, Y, Kappou, K & Urquhart, A 2024, 'Macroeconomic momentum and cross-sectional equity market indices', Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, vol. 92, 101974. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intfin.2024.101974

Chu, G, Li, X, Shen, D & Urquhart, A 2024, 'Price divergence in bitcoin market', Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11156-024-01371-4

Singleton, C, Bell, A, Chung, A, Reade, J & Urquhart, A 2024, 'Scoring goals: The impact of English Premier League football teams on local university admissions', Economics Letters, vol. 244, 111957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111957

Ren, X, Xiao, Y, Duan, K & Urquhart, A 2024, 'Spillover effects between fossil energy and green markets: Evidence from informational inefficiency', Energy Economics, vol. 131, 107317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107317

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Andrew has written many articles and made many comments in the media at places such as the Financial Times, the conversation, Crypto News Review, the Economics Observatory, Newsweek and so on.  He also has a regular column in Decrypt called ‘Prof Coin’.

Media experience

The Conversation

Decrypt