Overview

Dr. Cherie H. Chen joined the University of Exeter Business School as a Programme Director and Senior Lecturer in BSc Applied Finance in 2020. Prior to joining the University of Exeter, she served as the Programme Director of the MSc in Insurance and Risk Management at Cass Business School for many years. The programme has gained international recognition by winning the GCIE (Global Centres of Insurance Excellence) designation under her leadership.

Dr. Chen has over fifteen years of working experience in multinational companies, including Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Reinsurance Company, Standard Chartered Bank, and Allianz Global Investors, before joining academia. Her working experience spanned insurance, reinsurance, retail banking, and wealth management. Her time with the financial industry has provided a sound foundation in practice and allowed her to bridge the gap between theory and practice in teaching.

Dr. Chen completed her PhD in Edinburgh in 2012. Her research area is Behavioural Finance focuses on the psychological impact on an individual’s investment decision and investigates the relationship between risk attitude and investment biases. She has presented her research at conferences and universities in Asia, Europe, and the United States. She’s a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Behavioural Accounting and  Finance and an ad hoc referee for several international journals. She also served as an external examiner for several universities in the UK. She holds several professional designations, including CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter), FLMI (Fellow, Life Management Institute), ARe (Associate in Reinsurance), and CMBE (Certified Management and Business Educator).

Qualifications

Academic Qualifications: 

• PhD in Behavioural Finance, Edinburgh, UK
• MBA in St. John's University, New York, USA (with distinction)
• BSc in Insurance and Risk Management, Taiwan 

Professional Qualifications:

• CMBE, Certified Management and Business Educator
• CPCU, Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter
• ARe, Associate in Reinsurance
• FLMI, Fellow Life Management Institute
• The securities investment trust and consulting professionals
• Financial planning specialist
• Trust licence
• Licence for investment-linked products

Career

• Vice President, Marketing Dept., Allianz Global Investors Securities Investment Consulting Co., Ltd.
• Senior Manager, Wealth Management Dept., Standard Chartered Bank (SCB)
• Manager, Specialty Lines Dept., AIU (a subsidiary of AIG)
• Manager, Underwriting and Marketing Dept., Swiss Reinsurance Company
• Underwriting Specialist, International & Industrial SBU, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

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Research

Research interests

• Investment Biases and Market Anomalies 
• Investors Psychology 
• Finance and Investment 
• Insurance and Risk Management 
• Alternative Risk Transfer 

There is a palpable link between financial investment decision-making and investors’ behaviour. Research into investors’ behaviour may prove useful in increasing our understanding of the extremely complex financial marketplace. In many cases, investors are unaware of their predisposition for error. And more often, an irrational investor is a dissatisfied investor, because biases usually undermine financial goals. By adopting an experimental approach, Dr. Chen tries to correlate established investor biases with the psychographic profiles of investors to see whether specific risk personality profiles correlate with susceptibility to four biases: herding, endowment, loss aversion, and framing. 

Many studies have focused on exploring the demographics of investment behavioural flaws, but very little attention has been paid to the risk attitude of investors and their actual investment behaviour. The findings of her study bridge two aspects of literature: attitudes towards financial risk and behavioural investment biases.

Research networks

Membership of Professional Associations and Bodies: 

• Chartered Management Institute (CMI)
• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
• Chartered Insurance Institute (CII)
• International Insurance Society (IIS)
• Airmic – Association of Risk Management and Insurance
• American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA)
• Asia Pacific Risk and Insurance Association (APRIA)
• European Group of Risk and Insurance Economists (EGRIE)

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External Engagement and Impact

Editorial responsibilities

• Referee of International Journal of Behavioural Accounting and Finance
• Member of Editorial Board of the International Journal of Behavioural Accounting andFinance
• Referee of International Management Research Academy
• Member of Board of Director in IAFICO (International  Academy for Financial Consumers)

External Examiner Positions

• External examiner at GCU Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
• External examiner at The London Institute of Banking and Finance, UK
• External examiner at Edinburgh Napier University, UK

Conferences and invited presentations

• IRFRC (Insurance Risk and Finance Research Conference),  “Opportunities and Challenges of Insurance Development at MENA Region”  in Singapore  2015               
• 35th Uk Insurance Economists’ Conference,  “Risk behaviour in investment decision making” in Nottingham 2013

Keynote addresses or prestigious public lectures given in international forums

• Economics Forum of Entrepreneurship & International business,  Keynote Speech on "Behavioural Economics - From Theory to Practices" in  Oxford 2013

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Teaching

• Principles of finance 
• Corporate finance and risk management 
• Behavioural issues in finance 
• Strategic financial management 
• Research project management skills 
• Theory of risk and insurance markets 
• Reinsurance 

Modules

2023/24

• BEAM080Z - Finance for International Managers

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