Inaugural Lectures by Professor Julia Redenius-Hövermann and Professor Francesco Sangiorgi

On 11 June 2025, Professor Dr Francesco Sangiorgi and Professor Dr Julia Redenius-Hövermann gave their inaugural lectures on the occasion of their promotion to full professors at Frankfurt School.

Prof Dr Francesco Sangiorgi, Professor of Finance, presented on the topic “The Economics of Information in Financial Markets: A Journey from Market Microstructure to AI”. In his lecture, he demonstrated how stock prices reflect the knowledge of investors—and why this pricing information is relevant for the overall economy. He focused in particular on so-called “learning frictions” — barriers to learning and information processing —  and how they limit the information embedded in market prices. These distortions can feed back into real decisions, causing capital misallocation and persistent inefficiencies.

Prof Dr Julia Redenius-Hövermann, Professor of Civil and Company Law, spoke on “Current Issues in Corporate Governance – A Corporate Law Perspective”. She explained the role and legal nature of the German Corporate Governance Code and explored the tension between statutory regulation and voluntary codification. Her lecture focused on two current developments: first, the role of sustainability in corporate management and governance — particularly regarding internal organisational structures and the duties of governing bodies. Secondly, she shed light on share culture, the responsibility of management boards and the composition of committees — topics that have long been the subject of discussion. Her conclusion: good corporate governance requires a clear regulatory framework, but also room for entrepreneurial judgement.

The lectures were introduced by Prof Dr Grigory Vilkov, Professor of Finance, and Prof Dr Markus Reisinger, Professor of Industrial Organisation and Microeconomics and Head of the Economics & Law Department. Comments were provided by Prof Dr Antonio Mele, Professor of Finance at the Università della Svizzera Italiana and the Swiss Finance Institute; Prof Dr Roland Koch, Professor of Management Practice in Regulated Environments and Director of the Frankfurt Competence Center for German and Global Regulation (FCCR); and Prof Christian Strenger, Director of the Corporate Governance Institute (CGI) at Frankfurt School.

Frankfurt School congratulates Julia Redenius-Hövermann and Francesco Sangiorgi!