Trade Research Institute Hosts Global Forum

The Trade Research Institute (Director: Prof. Hongjoo Jung) hosted the 2025 Global Conference of the International Academy of Financial Consumers (IAFICO), the Global Forum for Financial Consumers (GFFC), on August 22–23 in lecture halls 33402 and 33405 of the Business Building. Following opening remarks by Prof. Hongmoo Lee of Waseda University, Japan, and a congratulatory address by SKKU Foundation Chairman Jaewan Park, the conference featured keynote speeches by Dr. Bambang Brodjonegoro, Head of the Asian Development Bank Institute (former Minister of Finance of Indonesia and Professor at the University of Indonesia), and Prof. David Laibson of the Department of Economics at Harvard University. Over the two days, 50 research papers were presented.

IAFICO, founded 12 years ago and now with 150 members from over 20 countries including the United States, Japan, China, Germany, Italy, Poland, and South Africa, focuses on the role of financial consumer protection. Chairman Jaewan Park, former Minister of Strategy and Finance, emphasized its importance by calling it the “seatbelt of financial markets.” Dr. Brodjonegoro proposed diverse strategies for advancing financial consumer protection, while Prof. Laibson highlighted the challenges of implementation by citing failures in U.S. financial consumer policy and underscored the importance of behavioral economics.

After last year’s annual meeting at Cornell University in the U.S. and this year’s at SKKU, IAFICO decided to hold its next three conferences at leading universities worldwide: the University of Konstanz in Germany, Universiti Putra Malaysia, and the University of Warsaw in Poland. Prof. Hongjoo Jung, newly elected as IAFICO’s next Chairman for a three-year term, noted that many of this year’s presentations focused on financial digitalization and stated that future efforts will also promote research on financial exchange and development cooperation between developed and emerging economies.