Professor Bang Jeon Receives Fulbright Award

Drexel LeBow School of Economics Professor Bang Jeon has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to teach and conduct research at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (BUES) in Bucharest, Romania. Professor Jeon will be visiting BUES, at their invitation, to study the impact of an increasing presence of foreign global banks on domestic banks, banking sector stability and monetary policy transmission in host emerging markets.

Jeon has previously visited universities and central banks in China, Hong Kong and Korea, conducting research on the impact of global banks on the host emerging Asian economies, but through his studies observed that Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) presents a unique opportunity to study the behavior of multinational banks in emerging markets. The foreign bank penetration ratio is very high in CEE with more than 70 percent of total bank assets possessed by foreign banks. Romania has one of the highest ratios among emerging economies at 85 percent as of 2014, making this an ideal area to study these effects.

While Jeon has studied global banking, financial markets and global economic/financial crises in recent years, Jeon says he is excited to expand on the research he has done on Central and Eastern Europe through this visit as a Fulbright Scholar. “Since my research areas are related to current global issues, I do my best to expand my global perspectives and horizons in terms of teaching and research,” he said. “BUES has an excellent faculty team dedicated to research in global banking and finance in the CEE region. Beyond conducting research on the global project, my goal is to share these experiences with colleagues and students here at Drexel and explore opportunities for mutual benefits.”

Jeon is planning a sabbatical for this project from February through June 2020.