EFL - the Data Science Institute

11/02/2026

We are pleased to have gained usd AG, a leading expert in cyber security in Germany, as a new industry partner. Headquartered in Neu-Isenburg and with several locations throughout Germany, usd AG has been a major player in strengthening the information security and resilience of international organizations since 1994. As one of the few consulting companies with a pure focus on cyber security, usd AG offers a comprehensive portfolio – from security audits and technical security analyses to strategic security consulting. Especially in highly regulated industries such as the German financial sector or critical infrastructures, its in-depth testing and industry expertise make it a trusted partner for leading organizations. Welcome to efl!

28/01/2026

The next EFL Jour Fixe will take place on Monday, February 2nd, 2026, at 5:00 pm in the House of Finance (E.01). See: https://www.eflab.de/events/detail/household-income-and-volatility-in-germany. If you would like to participate, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

12/01/2026

The next EFL Jour Fixe will take place on Monday, January 19th, 2026, at 5:00 pm in the House of Finance (E.20). See: https://www.eflab.de/events/detail/how-firms-grow-with-their-customers. If you would like to participate, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

05/12/2025

The efl Annual Conference on “AI 2035: Visions for Business and Society” successfully took place on November 27th, 2025, at Finanz Informatik in Frankfurt. The focus of the conference was on the impact of AI on business and society over the next decade, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and offering insights from research and real-world applications across sectors and disciplines. Overall, six exciting presentations from 3 to 6 pm took place. Afterwards, there was plenty of opportunity to exchange ideas with the other participants during dinner. As always, participation was free of charge, but very enriching. We thank Prof. Oliver Hinz and his team for the organization of the conference and Finanz Informatik for hosting. For more information, please visit: https://www.eflab.de/events/efl-annual-conference-2025

03/12/2025

efl members Tino Cestonaro and Niklas Trimpe won the SFA (Southern Finance Association) Best PhD Paper Award for their paper "Efficient or not? Price measures in market microstructure". In their paper, the authors demonstrate that commonly used price measures, such as the transaction price and midpoint, incorporate public information with substantial delay, whereas advanced measures like the micro-price capture it almost instantaneously. Their findings show that relying on inefficient price proxies can cause systematic distortions in research and trading, providing essential guidance for future studies and investor decision-making. Congratulations! See:

Tino Cestonaro and Niklas Trimpe won the SFA Best PhD Paper Award.

24/11/2025

The next EFL Jour Fixe will take place on Monday, December 1st, 2025, at 5:00 pm in the House of Finance (1.28). See: https://www.eflab.de/events/detail/who-saves-with-a-savings-plan-investors-or-market-makers-an-execution-quality-analysis-of-savings-plan-orders. If you would like to participate, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

Who Saves with a Savings Plan – Investors or Market Makers? An Ex*****on Quality Analysis of Savings Plan Orders

03/11/2025

The next EFL Jour Fixe takes place today, November 3rd, 2025, at 5 pm in the IG-Farben-Haus (IG 1.314). See: https://www.eflab.de/events/detail/echos-of-the-ping-how-push-notifications-shape-app-engagement-and-its-implications-for-targeting. If you would like to participate, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

12/09/2025

Former efl member Dr. Micha Bender won the BAI (Bundesverband Alternative Investments) science award for his dissertation "The Impact of Regulation on Securities Trading". In his dissertation, he examines the effects of regulatory measures on securities trading, analyzing specific topics such as the impact of the MiFID II directive, soft commissions, trading fragmentation, index rule changes, and the increasing volume of closing auctions. The aim of his thesis is to deepen our understanding of the effects of regulation on market quality and price discovery. Thereby, he contributes to the current academic debate and offers valuable insights into the complex interactions between market rules and market behavior. Furthermore, he shows how index rule changes and trading mechanisms can influence the efficiency and stability of financial markets and what implications this has for market participants and regulatory authorities. Congratulations!

03/07/2025

Top 1 and Top 3 in Fintech Research: In the current bibliometric analysis „Financial technology (Fintech) research trend: a bibliometric analysis“ of Jafri et al. (2025), the papers "Gomber, Peter; Kauffman, Robert J.; Parker, Chris; Weber, Bruce W. On the Fintech Revolution: Interpreting the Forces of Innovation, Disruption, and Transformation in Financial Services. In: Journal of Management Information Systems (2018)" (Top 1) and "Gomber, P.; Siering, M.; Koch, J.: Digital Finance and FinTech: current research and future research directions. Journal of Business Economics (2017)" (Top 3) from efl researchers were identified as the most highly cited articles in Fintech research from 1986 to 2024. Thanks a lot for this appreciation!

13/06/2025

Tino Cestonaro received the Best PhD Paper Award at the 41st International Conference of the Association Française de Finance (AFFI) in Dijon, France for his paper “High-Frequency Trading and Price Discovery: The Role of Strategic Runs”. His findings indicate that these activities of high-frequency traders do not enhance price discovery but rather dilute it by triggering a substantial number of limit order book events that contain limited informational value. We are delighted to receive this award and congratulate him on his success.

05/06/2025

This year's efl participation in the JP Morgan Run was again a success and our runners had fun. The weather was rainy but our runners remained steadfast. Frederik Hering was our fastest runner with an official finish time of less than 24 minutes. Congratulations!

08/05/2025

The next EFL Jour Fixe will place on Monday, May 12th, 2025, at 5:30 pm in the House of Finance (1.28). See: https://www.eflab.de/events/detail/ai-in-empirical-finance-can-llms-tackle-complex-research-questions. If you would like to participate, please send an e-mail to [email protected].