Dr. Umar Nawaz Kayani profile picture

Associate Professor

Dr. Umar Nawaz Kayani

Dr. Umar Nawaz Kayani is an Associate Professor at HBMSU with over 15 years of academic experience in accounting, finance, and quality assurance. With a postdoctoral fellowship and PhD from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and extensive publications in international journals, his research advances understanding of corporate social responsibility, environmental accounting, and the intersection of AI and FinTech.

School of Business & Quality Management

Academic Biography

  • Accounting & Finance
  • FinTech
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled finance
  • blockchain and digital financial innovation
  • sustainable finance
  • climate finance and renewable-energy finance
  • CPA – CPA Australia – Australia – 2026
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship – Accounting & New Zealand - Lincoln University, New Zealand –2022
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship – Accounting, Istanbul Sehir University, Türkiye – 2020 
  • PhD - Accounting & Finance - Lincoln University, New Zealand – 2019
  • MPhil – National Defense University, Pakistan – 2014
  • Master of Business Administration - Foundation University, Islamabad, Pakistan – 2009
  • Chartered Public Accountant (CPA) - Institute of Certified Public  Accountant Pakistan
  • Fellowship - Commercial Education Society of Australia (FCES), Australia

Dr Umar Nawaz Kayani is an internationally recognised and highly cited scholar, academic leader and research innovator specialising in Accounting, Finance, FinTech, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled finance, blockchain and digital financial innovation, ESG, sustainable finance, climate finance and renewable-energy finance. He holds a PhD in Accounting and Finance from Lincoln University, New Zealand. His research excellence has received significant independent recognition, including being named among the Stanford–Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists and the Top 1% of scholars worldwide in ScholarGPS® Ranking Analytics. With more than 15 years of academic, research, leadership and quality-assurance experience, Dr Kayani has held senior roles including Dean, Director of Research, Program Director, and Program Coordinator. His international academic engagement includes PhD external examination, editorial and peer-review services, international research collaborations, postgraduate supervision, invited speaking engagements, media contributions and professional affiliations. 

Recent Publications

An overview of academic publications documenting research focus, methodological depth, and scholarly engagement.

  1. Kayani, U., Nawaz, F., Khan, M., & Roubaud, D. (2026). Spillover effects and volatility persistence in agricultural commodities: an empirical study of Lumber, Grain and Soft markets. Applied Economics, 1-17. 
  2. Kayani, U., Dsouza, S., Nawaz, F., & Choudhury, T. (2026). Unveiling the intriguing connection between carbon emissions, renewable energy consumption, and performance: Evidence from NSE CNX500. Finance Research Letters, 96, 109807. DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2026.109807.
  3. Aysan, A. F. F., Lemine, A. S., & Kayani, U. (2026). Kingdom of Fintech: crowdfunding shaping the future in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, 17(4), 810–828. DOI: 10.1108/JSTPM-05-2023-0066. 
  4. Kayani, U., Dsouza, S., Husain, Z., Nawaz, F., & Hasan, F. (2025). Does the performance of financial technology (FinTech) firms matter: Evidence from North American and European FinTech firms. Cogent Economics & Finance, 13(1), 2451050. DOI: 10.1080/23322039.2025.2451050. 
  5. Kayani, U. N. (2025). Exploring prospects of blockchain and FinTech: using SLR approach. Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, 16(1), 5–41. DOI: 10.1108/JSTPM-01-2023-0005.
  6. Kayani, U., Hasan, F., Choudhury, T., & Nawaz, F. (2025). Unveiling WCM and firm performance relationship: evidence from Shariah compliance United Kingdom firms. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, 18(3), 535–556. (Scopus: Q1, ABDC: B)
  7. Kayani, U., Gan, C., Choudhury, T., & Arslan, A. (2025). Working capital management and firm performance: evidence from emerging African markets. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 20(4), 1530–1547. (Scopus: Q1, ABDC: B)
  8. Kayani, U., Ullah, M., Aysan, A. F., Nazir, S., & Frempong, J. (2024). Quantile connectedness among digital assets, traditional assets, and renewable energy prices during extreme economic crisis. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 208, 123635. 
  9. Kayani, U., Hasnaoui, A., Khan, M., Zahoor, N., & Nawaz, F. (2024). Analyzing fossil fuel commodities' return spillovers during the Russia and Ukraine crisis in the energy market. Energy Economics, 135, 107651. 
  10. Kayani, U., Sheikh, U. A., Khalfaoui, R., Roubaud, D., & Hammoudeh, S. (2024). Impact of Climate Policy Uncertainty (CPU) and global Energy Uncertainty (EU) news on US sectors: The moderating role of CPU on the EU and US sectoral stock nexus. Journal of Environmental Management, 366, 121654. 
  11. Kayani, U., Hassan, M. K., Moussa, F., & Hossain, G. F. (2023). Oil in crisis: What can we learn. The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, 28, e00339. (Scopus: Q1, ABDC: B)
  12. Kayani, U. (2023). Islamic Finance an alternative mode for short term financing–working capital management. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, 16(2), 310–322. (Scopus: Q1, ABDC: B)
  13. Kayani, U., Arif, M., & Hoang, K. (2021). Chairman age and corporate diversification: The cases of old and powerful captains in Chinese firms. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 31, 100534. (Scopus: Q1, ABDC: A)

 

Conference Publications: 

  1. Return Spillovers in AI-Driven Technology Stocks During Global Crises – IEEE MCNA, 2025.
  2. Does the Performance of Financial Technology (Fintech) Firms Matter: Evidence from North American and European Fintech Firms - Finance Hybrid Conference, Menlo College, USA 2024
  3. Generative AI and Ethics: Examining the Intellectual Corpus Using Machine Learning Topic Modeling - Econometric Research Association Data Analytics and Machine Learning International Conference, Turkey 2024 
  4. Does chairman education matter to accounting quality? Evidence from Chinese firms - International Society for the Advancement of Financial Economics (ISAFE), Vietnam 2022
  5. CEO Compensation and Say on Pay: Does CEO-To-Employee Pay Ratio Matters? Presented at 4th International Virtual Conference, Al Falah University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2021
  6. Does Working Capital Management Matter? An Empirical Investigation of Australasian Firms in the Context of the Global Financial Crisis 2008 - 17th Global Business Research Conference, Japan 2018
  7. Does working capital management affect firm performance in New Zealand? A Dynamic Panel Estimation - 9th NZ Management and Accounting Conference at Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand 2017

Book Chapters: 

  1. Aysan, A. F., Kayani, U., Canga, M., Ozturk, O., & Nawaz, F. (2025). Financing renewable energy investments: strategies and models. In Renewable Energy Projects and Investments (pp. 73-91). Elsevier.
  2. Arslan, M., Faizulayev, A., Abeuova, D., & Kayani, U. (2024). Exploring the risks, challenges, and opportunities of using digital financial technologies for green finance. Impact of digitalization on reporting, tax avoidance, accounting, and green finance, 226-242.
  3. Kayani, U. (2023). Future of money and central banking in the era of technological globalization. Elsevier.

 

Media Articles: 

  1. Australia’s FinTech Crossroads: Why Cybersecurity and AI Governance Will Define the Future of Banking 
  2. Artificial Intelligence Reshaping Australia’s Financial Industry: Opportunity Meets Risk
  3. From Chatbots to Co-Pilots: How Agentic AI Could Reshape Education Worldwide