Professor Md Akhtaruzzaman

Professor of Finance
Faculty of Law and Business, Peter Faber Business School

Areas of expertise: financial contagion, financial crisis, green finance, climate finance, sustainable finance, financial literacy

Phone: +61 2 9739 2725

Email: [email protected]

Location: ACU North Sydney Campus

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: HDR Principal Supervisor (Full)

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7795-1451

Professor Md Akhtaruzzaman was recognised as Australia's leading researcher in Finance in The Australian's 2025 and 2026 Research magazines, achieving this distinction in two consecutive editions. He was also included among the Stanford–Elsevier World's Top 2% Scientists in 2024.

He is Head of the Discipline of Accounting and Finance, Australian Catholic University (ACU) and has served on ACU’s Academic Board. Prior to joining academia, he held extensive industry experiences, including a board member in a credit rating company, managing director of a risk management company in Singapore and assistant vice president in a commercial bank in various countries such as Australia, South Africa, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Nepal, and Bangladesh. He is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA).

He received the Best Paper Award at the 81st Academy of Management Annual Meeting in 2021. He holds several editorial roles in Q1 journals such as The Journal of Accounting Literature and Economic Analysis and Policy.

He is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and has received several learning and teaching awards for excellence, including the 2020 ACU Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.

Select publications

Akhtaruzzaman, M., & Rahman, M. (2026). Commonality in systemic risk from green and conventional energy. Energy Economics, 107404. [A*-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Mensi, W., Rahman, M.R. & Sensoy, A. (2026). Systemic risk sharing among conventional and socially responsible investments. Financial Innovation [Impact factor: 6.4]
Basarkod, G., Cahill, L. S., Burston, A., Barnett, D., Mahoney, J., Griffith, S., Swaryandini, G., Bradshaw, E. L., Devine, E. K., Akhtaruzzaman, M., Dicke, T., Wilks, M., Slattery, P., Saeri, A. K., Grundy, E. A. C., Lonsdale, C., Marsh, H. W., Chambers, S. K., & Noetel, M. (2026). Educational interventions are effective in improving students’ ethical and moral outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nature Human Behaviour. [Impact factor: 17.5]
Banerjee, A.K., Akhtaruzzaman, M., & Chatterjee, S. (2026), Earnings management: the influence of peer group and the corporate governance intervention. Journal of Accounting Literature, 48 1 pp. 111–129
Bose, S., Akhtaruzzaman, M., Zaman, R. & Abbasi, W. (2025). Global Cybersecurity, Cyber Risks and Firm Value: International Evidence. International Journal of Accounting [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Banerjee, A. K., & Boubaker, S. (2025). Government intervention and green innovation in renewable energy. Energy Economics, 108185. [A*-ranked]
Kakhkharov, J., Bianchi, R. J., & Akhtaruzzaman, M. (2024). The impact of monetary and fiscal policy on FinTech firms during the crisis. International Review of Economics & Finance, 96, 103556. [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Banerjee, A. K., Le, V., & Moussa, F. (2024). Hedging precious metals with impact investing. International Review of Economics & Finance, 89. [A-ranked]
Mehedi, S., Akhtaruzzaman, M., & Zaman, R. (2024). Board demographic, structural, and capital diversity, and corporate carbon performance: International evidence. Journal of Accounting Literature. [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Banerjee, A. K., Boubaker, S., & Moussa, F. (2023). Does green improve portfolio optimisation?. Energy Economics, 106831. [A*-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Boubaker, S., & Goodell, J. W. (2023). Did the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank catalyze financial contagion?. Finance Research Letters, 56, [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Banerjee, A. K., Ghardallou, W., & Umar, Z. (2022). Is greenness an optimal hedge for sectoral stock indices?. Economic Modelling, 117, 106030. [A-ranked]
Banerjee, A. K., Akhtaruzzaman, M., Dionisio, A., Almeida, D., & Sensoy, A. (2022). Nonlinear nexus between cryptocurrency returns and COVID–19 news sentiment. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 36, 100747. [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Boubaker, S., Nguyen, D.K., & Rahman, M. (2022). Systemic risk-sharing framework of cryptocurrencies in the COVID–19 crisis. Finance Research Letters, [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Chiah, M., Docherty, P., & Zhong, A. (2021). Betting Against Bank Profitability. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organisation, 192, 304–323. [A*-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Boubaker, S., & Sensoy, A. (2021). Financial contagion during COVID–19 crisis. Finance Research Letters, 38, 101604. [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Boubaker, S., Lucey, B. M., & Sensoy, A. (2021). Is Gold a Hedge or Safe Haven Asset during COVID–19 Crisis?. Economic Modelling, 102, [A-ranked]
Siddique, A., Akhtaruzzaman, M., Rashid, A., & Hammami, H. (2021). Carbon disclosure, carbon performance and financial performance: international evidence. International Review of Financial Analysis,75, [A-ranked]
Akhtaruzzaman, M., Sensoy, A., & Corbet, S. (2020). The influence of Bitcoin on portfolio diversification and design. Finance Research Letters, 37, 101344. [A-ranked]

Editorial roles

2025 – current, Associate Editor, Economic Analysis and Policy (A-ranked)
2026 – current, Associate Editor, Journal of Accounting Literature (A-ranked)
2024 – current, Associate Editor, Journal of Economic Asymmetries (B-ranked)
2022 – current, Associate Editor, Journal of Risk Finance (B-ranked)
2025 – current, Member, Editorial Board, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications (Impact Factor 4.8)

Awards and nominations

2025 – ACU Teaching Champion
2022 – The Faculty of Law and Business Innovation Award
2022 – ACU Nominee: Citations for the Australian Awards for University Teaching
2021 – The Best Paper in the 81^st Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2021
2021 – ACU Nominee: Citations for the Australian Awards for University Teaching
2020 – ACU Citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
2020 – Executive Dean's Innovation in Assessment Practices Award 2020

Appointments and affiliations

Academic Board member, Australian Catholic University, 2023–2025
Senior Fellow in Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), Advance HE
Certified Practising Accountant (CPA), CPA Australia
Chartered Accountant (CA), Chartered Accountant Australia and New Zealand
Board member, National Credit Ratings Limited, 2009, 2025
Visting Research Fellow, UCB Stock Brokerage Limited
Managing Director, SimArch Asia, Singapore, 2007–2009

Public engagement

In 2026, I wrote articles in The Conversation such as ‘Could the ban on car surcharges lead to a ris in tax evasion’, and ‘How a nationwide Telstra outage rocked the Australian economy and what we can learn’.
My interview on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was broadcast on SBS Prime time news at 6.30pm in March 2023.
Had an interview at Australian Radio Network News on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023.
Provided insights on the Reserve Bank of Australia's cash rate increase on Win Television News in March 2023.
Had an on-air live interview on Bloomberg ME on the French Presidential Election and global stock markets in May 2022.
The news of being a top researcher in Finance by The Australian's 2025 Research Magazine has been published in Prothom Alo, the most circulated newspaper in Bangladesh in 2024.

ACU Researcher