Disclosure quality and political connection in determination of interest rate in Chinese internet lending market

Requirements:
The candidate should have a first class or upper second class honours degree, or a master’s degree (or equivalent qualification), in accounting, finance or economics disciplines. Evidence of good spoken and written English is essential. The candidate should have an IELTS score of 6.5 or above, or an equivalent qualification, if the first language is not English. This position is open to all qualified candidates irrespective of nationality.

Degree:
The student will be awarded a PhD degree from the University of Liverpool (UK) upon successful completion of the program.

Funding:
The PhD studentship is available for three years subject to satisfactory progress by the student. The award covers tuition fees for three years (currently equivalent to RMB 80,000 per annum) and provides a monthly stipend of 3500 RMB as a contribution to living expenses. It also provides up to RMB 16,500 to allow participation at international conferences during the period of the award. It is a condition of the award that holders of XJTLU PhD scholarships carry out 300-500 hours of teaching assistance work per year. The scholarship holder is expected to carry out the major part of his or her research at XJTLU in Suzhou, China. However, he or she is eligible for a research study visit to the University of Liverpool of up to three months, if this is required by the project.

Project Description:
P2P (Peer-to-peer) internet-based lending platforms have grown fast in China since 2007. P2P online lending market is primarily unregulated and the interest rate is mainly determined by market forces. There are several objectives in this research project. First, this project will investigate the business models and risk management strategies of internet lending platforms. Second, this project will investigate how the interest rate is formulated in the online lending market, whether interest premium on internet lending market represents higher risk. Third, this project are going to investigate whether voluntary disclosure of financial information has a mitigating effect on the risk and (or) on interest rate. Fourth, since there are many internet lending platforms being partly controlled by state-owned enterprises or connected to the political party or government agency, this project will investigate whether political connections have any impacts on risk and interest rate. Research output from this project will provide significant findings to Chinese regulators, bankers, accountants, auditors and other professionals, as well as academics on many issues about online lending in China, e.g. whether this sector needs to be regulated, if so, how to do it and to what extent; whether lending platforms have adequate incentives to voluntarily disclose at socially optimal levels and whether disclosure should be mandated by regulators; whether political connection has played an important role in the determination of interest rate in China’s internet lending market.
For more information about doctoral scholarship and PhD programme at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU): Please visit
http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/admissions/phd.html

http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/admissions/phd/feesscholarships.html

How to Apply:
Interested applicants are advised to email [Email Address Removed] (principle supervisor’s email address) the following documents and copy [Email Address Removed] (please put the project title in the subject line).
• CV
• Two reference letters
• Personal statement outlining your interest in the position
• Proof of English language proficiency (an IELTS score of above 6.5 or equivalent is required
• Verified school transcripts in both Chinese and English (for international students, only the English version is required)
• Verified certificates of education qualifications in both Chinese and English (for international students, only the English version is required)

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr. Xudong Ji ([Email Address Removed] ), whose personal profile is linked below,
http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/faculty/ibss