Dr Lei Chen is a Reader in Accounting and Finance at Loughborough Business School. She holds a PhD in Accountancy from the University of Glasgow and previously worked at the University of Sheffield, Keele University, and the University of Exeter before joining Loughborough University in 2021. Prior to her academic career, Lei worked in the banking sector in China for several years.
Lei has interdisciplinary research interests spanning accounting, finance, and management. Her current research focuses on banking and financial institutions, financial innovation, digital transformation, sustainability, and financial wellbeing. Her work has been published in leading international journals.
In her academic career to date, Lei has taught and developed curricula across both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, with a particular focus on financial accounting and management accounting. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Lei has supervised and is currently supervising PhD projects in areas including bank liquidity creation, banking regulation, auditing and assurance, and corporate sustainability. She has expertise in mixed methods research and welcomes PhD projects employing qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches. She is particularly interested in supervising projects aligned with her research areas and welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD candidates.
Lei’s research sits at the intersection of accounting, finance, and management, with a particular focus on banking and financial institutions. Her work explores how financial innovation, digital transformation, and regulatory environments shape organisational behaviour and outcomes, alongside growing interests in sustainability and financial wellbeing. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, she employs qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches to address complex, real-world challenges. Her research has been published in leading international journals and contributes to both academic debates and policy-relevant discussions.
- Zhang, H, Ji, J, Zhang, H, Chen, L (2026) Does ownership matter for corporate social responsibility disclosure in banks? evidence from China, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, ISSN: 0924-865X. DOI: 10.1007/s11156-026-01519-4.
- Kladakis, G, Chen, L, Bellos, SK (2023) Ethical bank disclosures and liquidity creation, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 84, 101754, ISSN: 1042-4431. DOI: 10.1016/j.intfin.2023.101754.
- Kladakis, G, Chen, L, Bellos, SK (2022) Bank regulation, supervision and liquidity creation, Journal of International Money and Finance, 124, 102629, ISSN: 0261-5606. DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2022.102629.
- Chen, L, Danbolt, J, Holland, J (2018) Information about bank intangibles, analyst information intermediation, and the role of knowledge and social forces in the ‘market for information’, Accounting Forum, 42(3), pp.261-276, ISSN: 0155-9982. DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2018.08.002.
- Chen, L, Danbolt, J, Holland, J (2014) Rethinking bank business models: the role of intangibles, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 27(3), pp.563-589, DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-11-2012-1153.