On March 3, 2026, at 15:30 PM, the special lecture for"The 55th Frontier Forum on Digital Technology and Economic Finance:Debt Enforcement and Corporate Debt Structure:International Evidence"was successfully held in Conference Room 508,South Wenzuan Building.The lecture was delivered by Associate Professor Hai Zhang from Strathclyde Business School. It was chaired by Associate Professor Xin Xia, currently working at the School of Finance, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, and the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance. Over 20 faculty members and students from the School of Finance attended the lecture offline.

The lecture officially began with a brief opening address by Associate Professor Xin Xia. First, Associate Professor Hai Zhang introduced the research background of the study. He pointed out that debt enforcement, as an important part of the legal environment, has a profound impact on corporate financing decisions. This study aims to explore, from an international perspective, how the intensity of debt enforcement in different jurisdictions shapes corporate debt structure.

Next, Associate Professor Hai Zhang elaborated on the empirical findings of the study. Using cross-country data, the research confirms a significant correlation between the efficiency of debt enforcement and corporate debt maturity as well as the choice of debt types. He particularly emphasized that in countries and regions with more effective debt enforcement, firms tend to obtain longer-term loans and exhibit a greater diversification in their debt structure, which helps reduce corporate financial risk and optimize capital allocation.

When discussing the specific mechanisms at play, Associate Professor Hai Zhang analyzed how factors such as collateral disposal efficiency and the duration of bankruptcy proceedings influence creditors' expectations, which in turn affect corporate financing costs, by comparing cases under different legal systems. The study finds that a strong debt enforcement environment can significantly mitigate the adverse selection problem arising from information asymmetry.

Subsequently, the faculty and students present engaged in an in-depth academic discussion with Associate Professor Hai Zhang on topics such as the handling of heterogeneity in data sources, the position of the Chinese market in international comparisons, and the long-term impact of debt structure on corporate innovation.

Finally, Associate Professor Xin Xia expressed his gratitude to Associate Professor Hai Zhang for his insightful presentation and emphasized that studying corporate debt structure and its governance mechanisms from the perspective of legal environment and institutional differences is a key topic in current international accounting and finance research. This lecture provided valuable academic insights for faculty and students in the design of cross-country empirical studies and the interdisciplinary field of law and finance. With this, the lecture concluded successfully.

Speaker Introduction

Dr. Hai Zhang is currently an Associate Professor and PhD Supervisor in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Strathclyde Business School (a top 10 business school in the UK). He obtained his PhD in Quantitative Finance from the University of Glasgow, with his doctoral research fully funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). During his PhD studies, he was awarded a scholarship to become a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in the United States. Dr. Zhang's main research areas include innovations in incomplete financial markets and their impact on the investment and financing of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). His principal research findings have been published in leading international finance and economics journals, such as Economic Research Journal, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, The European Journal of Finance, and European Financial Management, among others.

Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance introduction

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic acceleration in a digital revolution in economic sectors and a rapid adoption of the new generation of information technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, big data, etc. These technologies effectively set off the digital economy. It has become a key driving force in creating global economic growth, improving the modernization level of governance capabilities, and promoting high-quality economic development in China. In particular, digital finance is the most important part of the digital economy. To explore the development direction of the cross-integration of digital technology and finance, the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance is hosting the “Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance”, in collaboration with the School of Finance, Wenlan School of Business, Economics School, School of Information and Safety Engineering, School of Statistics and Mathematics, School of Public Finance and Taxation of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL). This lecture series will invite the well-known scholars at home and abroad in digital technology, digital economy, digital finance, and other related fields as guest speakers, providing an open and cutting-edge academic exchange platform for interdisciplinary research on digital technology and finance.