Hussein A. Abdou - Academic Staff

Professor Hussein A. Abdou is the Faculty of Business & Justice Director of Research & Enterprise; and Professor of Banking & Finance. Hussein’s academic background is in Finance and Banking, where he is widely published in international peer reviewed journals, resulting of more than 45 international peer reviewed journal articles during the past 8 years. His professional background is in building scoring models for banks in a number of developing countries; FinTech applications; Business Analytics and evaluating software packages for the financial industry in the US.

Current role

Hussein is an experienced Director of Research & Enterprise with a demonstrated history of working in the Higher Education Industry. Managing research and enterprise activities across the School of Business; The School of Management and The School of Justice. He is skilled researcher who freshly applies Artificial Intelligence (AI) modelling techniques and methodologies into banking, finance and accounting research.

Hussein's current role as The Faculty Director of Research & Enterprise and Professor of Banking and Finance includes, inter alia: supporting the Executive Dean in ensuring the achievement of strategic and operational research objectives within the Faculty, the wider University and the external environment; working closely with other Faculty Directors to provide professional leadership and achieve excellent standards; significantly contribute to the development of the Faculty academic vision, strategy, profile and innovation culture to the benefit of various stakeholders. He is also the founder and the Executive Director of our Research Centre for Business, Management & Enterprise.

Experience

Hussein joined our Faculty of Business & Justice from The Manchester Metropolitan Business School where he was a Professor of Banking & Finance and RKE lead. Prior to that, he was a Professor of Finance and Banking, and Director of Graduate Education in The Huddersfield University Business School. He held various positions prior to joining Huddersfield, including a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader at the University of Salford Business School. He previously worked at The University of Plymouth Management School, where he completed his PhD in Banking and Finance; and Mansoura University, Egypt.

Hussein’s Academic background is in Banking and Finance, including credit scoring modelling techniques, risk management in financial institutions, Islamic banking and finance, and applications of non-parametric modelling techniques such as neural networks and genetic algorithms in banking and finance. His professional background is in building scoring models for banks in a number of developing and emerging markets including Egypt, Cameroon, Vietnam, Libya and India; and evaluating software packages for financial applications. He is also a professional trainer who has extensive experience in delivering professional training courses worldwide in various areas including Business Analytics; Islamic Banking, Finance and Economics; Risk Management, Big Data Analytics in Banking and Finance; Scoring Modelling Techniques and Innovative Management.

Hussein has extensive experience of teaching at all levels in higher education and has significant strengths in all relevant areas including curriculum development, module leadership, programme management and administration, team management, quality assurance, teaching, learning and assessment, innovation and reflective practice. His leadership skills have been ably demonstrated through the development and management of various modules and programmes. As a result, he has successfully developed both MSc Islamic Banking & Finance at Salford University, UK; and MSc Islamic Finance & Economics at Huddersfield University.

Hussein’s teaching interests cut across Banking, Finance, Accounting and Risk Issues, having taught several modules including Corporate Finance; Bank Management; Applied Banking & Financial Modelling; Issues in Islamic Finance & Economics; Quantitative Finance and Methods; Financial Risk Analysis; Business Accounting; Management Accounting; and Research Methods to undergraduate, postgraduate and professional banking, finance and accounting students.

Hussein’s principle research interests lie in the field of banking and finance. In particular, credit risk, credit rating and credit scoring modelling techniques. Further research areas include Islamic banking and finance, capital structure, value relevance, merger and acquisition in banking, SMEs failure prediction, and e-banking. He has published widely in international peer reviewed journals including Knowledge-Based Systems; International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money; Expert Systems with Applications; International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Taxation; and Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management.

Hussein’s is the Editor of Cogent Banking & Finance Section, Taylor & Francis Group. He is on several Editorial Boards, including Journal of Money, Banking and Finance; International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management; Journal of Economics & Administration Science; and Journal of Financial Risk Management. He has presented his research at a number of national and international conferences, workshops, and seminars in various countries.

Areas of interest

Hussein's research interests cut across banking and finance:

Primary Research Interests:

Credit scoring modelling techniques
Credit rating and rating agencies
Credit risk management in financial institutions, especially applications of non-parametric techniques such as neural networks and genetic programming in banking and finance
Islamic banking and finance

Secondary Research interests:

Capital structure, especially for financial institutions
SMEs failure prediction
Corporate governance, especially in relation to banking risks and rating issues
Value relevance of accounting information

Other Research Profiles:

SSRN
Scopus
Mendeley

Additionally, Hussein is engaged in a number of multidisciplinary research work and activities in different areas such as dividend policy; shipping finance; credit card fraud; exchange rate risk; e-baking; CRM in banking; behavioural finance; ethics and internet gambling; and value relevance of accounting information.

In addition, during the past 5 years, Hussein has supervised more than 10 PhD students to completion and examined over 25 PhD theses and DBA, focusing on topics in banking, finance and accounting in different universities worldwide. He is currently supervising a number of PhD students at different stages, conducting their research on topics across his current research interests.

Hussein will consider research proposals that are associated with any of his current research interests in banking, finance and accounting from prospective PhD students with strong research potential for example, excellent quantitative research and writing skills. Particularly, PhD proposals focusing on cross-country or regional studies rather than single country studies are highly recommended.

External Roles

Membership of professional associations

Professional Member of The Financial Management Association (FMA), USA
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK.
Islamic Studies Network, the Higher Education Academy in the UK.
Member of the British Accounting and Finance Association.
Member of the European Accounting Association
Member of the African Accounting and Finance Association.
Member of the International Finance and Banking Society.
Affiliated with the Centre for Maritime Logistics, Economics and Finance (CEMLEF); previously called Economics and Finance Research Unit of the Peninsula Centre for Sustainable Governance (PCSG) at The University of Plymouth Business School, UK.
The American Finance Association, Publisher of the Journal of Finance.
The Risk Management Association (RMA) USA.

Expert reviewer for journals and publishers.

Reviewer of ESRC, and member of ESRC Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) assessment panel for two years. External reviewer and marker for CIMA Certificate in Islamic Finance. Also, academic reviewer in a number of international academic refereed journals including, for example:

European Journal of Operational Research;
Knowledge-Based Systems;
Journal of Empirical Finance;
The European Journal of Finance;
Quantitative Finance;
International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management;
Journal of Risk Finance &
The Journal of Credit Risk.

Editorial board membership

Editor of Cogent Banking & Finance Journal, Taylor & Francis Group.
Member of the EDITORIAL BOARD of a number of international peer reviewed journals including:

Frontiers in Management Research;
Journal of Economics & Administration Science;
Journal of Financial Risk Management;
Journal of Money, Banking and Finance;
Global Islamic Finance Magazine;
International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management;
Journal of Banks & Bank Systems;
Journal of Banking & Finance Letters.

Projects

Development of:

MSc Islamic Banking & Finance, The University of Salford Business School, UK, 2010;
MSc Islamic Finance & Economics, The University of Huddersfield Business School, UK, 2016; and
MSc FinTech, The Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, UK, 2018.

Academic Enterprise: involvement and achievement

Invited as a keynote speaker in a number of international events and conferences including:

a) Future of Islamic Investment Opportunities in Artificial Intelligence, 6th DIFC, Doha, Qatar. 25th February, 2020.
b) Discussant of the FMA 2018 Annual Meeting ‘Bank Reporting Issues’, San Diego, California, USA.
c) Member of the Scientific Committee at the 3rd International Conference on Business, Economics and Social Sciences (ICBESS); Kuta, Bali - Indonesia, 10 - 11 of August 2016.
d) Innovation Arabia 9 (IA9), 7th-9th March, 2016, Dubai, UAE, Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Member of the Panel Discussion on Islamic Financial Landscape: Current Development.
e) The ICI, the 14th International Conference on Information Development, 7th-8th November, 2015, Egypt (Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning).

Invited workshop on ‘The Future of Fintech in the Financial industry’, 6th DIFC, Doha, Qatar. 26th February, 2020.
Invited guest lecture on ‘Non-parametric Modelling Techniques as a Superior Alternative Methodology in Finance and Accounting: A Practical Approach’ Portsmouth University, UK, 21st November, 2018.
Invited guest lecture on ‘How to Publish in International Refereed Journals’ Mansoura University, Egypt, 6th November, 2016 and University of Manouba, Tunis, Tunisia, 14th July, 2018.
Invited guest lecture on ‘Non-parametric Modelling Techniques as a Superior Alternative Methodology in Finance and Accounting: A Practical Approach’ University of Manouba, Tunis, Tunisia, 14th July, 2018.
Invited guest lecture/training on ‘Disruption of the Financial Industry by Fintech’ BIBF Leading Excellence, Coventry University, UK, 11th July, 2018.

Industry links

FinTech North, 2017 Speaker
FinTech Fundamentals Panel Discussion Interview (link: http://www.whitelabelcrowd.fund/professor-hussein-abdou-finance/)

Consultancy interests:

Scoring Modelling Techniques;
Big Data Analytics;
Business Analytics;
FinTech;
AI;
Risk Management;
Islamic Banking Performances;

Media appearances or involvement

Manchester Evening News – 14th December, 2009.
BBC Radio Asian Network Reports – 27th January, 2010.
Islamic Finance Education in Manchester - MEDIAPLANET LTD – 12th January 2012.
Interest grows in Islamic Banking by Jennifer Taylor - THE TIMES Wednesday May 2nd 2012.
Global Banking & Finance Review – Friday 29th January, 2016
Yorkshire Post Main – Islamic Finance MSc Thought First in UK - Monday 1st February, 2016
Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Kirklees Business News), Banking on success of Islamic University course, Tuesday 2nd 2016.
IFN Education – Islamic Finance & Economics - Friday 12th February, 2016.
Professor Hussein Abdou on Finance and the impact of FinTech on HE and the industry.
The Future of FinTech, Qatar TV, 26th February, 2020
Future of Islamic Investment Opportunities in Artificial Intelligence, CNBC Arabia, 26th February, 2020.

PhD Banking & Finance titled 'Credit scoring models for Egyptian banks: neural nets and genetic programming versus conventional techniques', The University of Plymouth Management School, Plymouth, Devon, UK, April, 2009.
BCom (Hons) Business Administration, Very Good with Honour, The University of Mansoura Business School, May 1997.
PGCert. in Higher Education.
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK.
Words of wisdom.

Recent Peer reviewed publications:

Abdou, H. A., Ellelly, N. N., Elamer, A. A., Hussainey, K., and Yazdifar, H. (2020) Corporate governance and earnings management nexus: evidence from the UK and Egypt using neural networks, International Journal of Finance & Economics, Accepted 18th June, 2020. Forthcoming.

Elamer, A.A., Ntim, C. G., Abdou, A. A., Owusu, A., Elmagrhi, M. and Ibrahim, A. E. A. (2020) Are bank risk disclosures informative? Evidence from debt markets, International Journal of Finance & Economics, Accepted 18th June, 2020. Forthcoming.

Abdou, Hussein, A., Mitra, Shatarupa, Fry, John and Elamer, Ahmed, A. (2019) Would two-stage scoring models alleviate bank exposure to bad debt? Expert Systems with Applications. 128, pp. 1-13. ISSN 0957-4174.

Elamer, Ahmed A., Ntim, Collins G., Abdou, Hussein, A., Zalata, Alaa and Elmagrhi, Mohamed (2019) The Impact of Multi-Layer Governance on Bank Risk Disclosure in Emerging Markets: The Case of Middle East and North Africa. Accounting Forum. 43 (2), pp.246–281. ISSN 0155-9982.

Mulkeen, Abdou, Hussein, A., J. Leigh, P. Ward (2019). Degree and Higher Level Apprenticeships: An Empirical Investigation of Stakeholder Perceptions of Challenges and Opportunities. Studies in Higher Education. 44(2), pp. 333-346.

Elmagrhi, Mohamed H., Ntim, Collins G., Wang, Yan, Abdou, Hussein A. and Zalata, Alaa M. (2018) Corporate Governance Disclosure Index-Executive Pay Nexus: The Moderating Effect of Governance Mechanisms. European Management Review. ISSN 1740-4754.

Abdou, Hussein, A., W. Abdallah, J. Mulkeen, C. Ntim, Y. Wang (2017). Prediction of financial strength ratings using machine learning and conventional techniques. Investment Management and Financial Innovations. 14(4), pp.194-211.

Elamer, C. Ntim, Abdou, Hussein, A. (2018). Islamic Governance, National Governance, and Bank Risk Management and Disclosure in MENA Countries. Business and Society. pp.1-42.

Alnabsha, Abdou, Hussein, A., CG. Ntim, AA. Elamer (2017). Corporate Boards, Ownership Structures and Corporate Disclosures: Evidence from a Developing Country. Journal of Applied Accounting Research. 19(1), pp.20-41.

Ntim, S. Lindop, DA. Thomas, Abdou, Hussein, A., KK. Opong (2017). Executive pay and performance: the moderating effect of CEO power and governance structure. The International Journal of Human Resource Management.

Elbakry, JC. Nwachukwu, Abdou, Hussein, A., T. Elshandidy (2017). Comparative evidence on the value relevance of IFRS-based accounting information in Germany and the UK. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation. 28, pp.10-30.

Abdou, Hussein, A., MDD. Tsafack, CG. Ntim, RD. Baker (2016). Predicting creditworthiness in retail banking with limited scoring data. Knowledge-Based Systems. 103, pp.89-103.

Abdou, Hussein, A., O. Agbeyo, K. Jones, K. Sorour (2016). The impact of M&A on the Nigerian financial market: a pre-post analysis. Investment Management and Financial Innovations. 13(1), pp.138-150.

Abdou, Hussein, A., S. T Alam, J. Mulkeen (2014). Would credit scoring work for Islamic finance? A neural network approach. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management.7(1), pp.112-125.

Recent achievements

Recent publication entitled “Degree and Higher Level Apprenticeships: An Empirical Investigation of Stakeholder Perceptions of Challenges and Opportunities” is a pioneer study provides a first time investigation to explore the challenges and opportunities of designing and delivering Degree and Higher Level Apprenticeships at levels 4–7 from a multi-stakeholder perspective using twenty-seven face-to-face interviews.
Recent publication entitled "comparative evidence on the value relevance of IFRS-based accounting information in Germany and the UK", is the most downloaded article in The Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, since it was published in December 2016.
Recent publication entitled "Predicting creditworthiness in retail banking with limited scoring data", is in the top 5 most downloaded articles in The Knowledge-Based Systems, since it was published in July 2016 until July 2020.

Use the links below to view their profiles:

Hussein is involved in a number of research projects across Banking, Finance & Accounting. Currently is focus, inter alia, is around the following Research projects:
Credit scoring modelling techniques e.g. personal loans and Islamic mortgage
Corporate Governance in banking e.g. African banks
Prediction of bank ratings and rating agencies Apprenticeship students experience and satisfaction
Bank efficiency and measurements Impact of FinTech on bank performance

A. Elamer, HAH. Abdou, C. Ntim (2017). Islamic Governance, National Governance, and Bank Risk Management and Disclosure in MENA Countries. Edinburgh, UK, 10/4/2017.
A. Elamer, HAH. Abdou, C. Ntim Are Risk and Governance Disclosures Informative? Evidence from MENA banks’ credit ratings. Newcastle, UK, 1/3/2017.
HAH. Abdou (2015). Forecasting creditworthiness in retail banking: a comparison of cascade correlation neural networks, CART and logistic regression scoring models. Amsterdam, Netherlands, 12/2/2015.
A. Elbakry, HAH. Abdou The impact of the compulsory adoption of IFRSs in Europe: a comparative study between Germany and the UK. Athens, Greece, 26/5/2014.
W. Mostafa, HAH. Abdou The Effect of Bank Capital Structure and Financial Indicators on CI's Financial Strength Ratings: The Case of the Middle East. Capital IC, Rhodes, Greece, 15/6/2011.
HAH. Abdou Sample size selection in credit scoring models and banks' credit decisions. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 2/10/2008.
HAH. Abdou (2008). Sample size selection in credit scoring models and banks' credit decisions. In: Proceedings of the School of Law & Social Sciences with The Business School & School of Geography. 1/5/2008.
HAH. Abdou Neural Net Credit Scoring Models for Egyptian Banks: An Evaluation of Consumer Loans. The University of Edinburgh Management School, Credit Research Centre, 29/8/2007.
HAH. Abdou (2007). An Evaluation of Alternative Credit Scoring Models in the Egyptian Banking Sector. In: Proceedings of the Plymouth Business School, School of Law & Social Science and School of Geography Postgraduate Symposium. Plymouth Business School, 1/3/2007.
HAH. Abdou Credit Scoring Models for Personal Loans in the Egyptian Banking Sector. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 15/10/2006.
HAH. Abdou Credit Scoring Models in Egyptian Banks. Plymouth, UK, 8/9/2006.
HAH. Abdou (2006). Credit Risk in Egyptian Banks. In: Proceedings of The Plymouth Business School and School of Sociology, Politics and Law Postgraduate Symposium. University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK, 1/1/2006.

Telephone:+44 (0)1772 894700

Email: Email:Professor Hussein A. Abdou