Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (CMCRC), the Australian independent academic centre for capital market research, has launched a European equivalent in partnership with European universities and corporates.

Australian Ambassador to Italy David Ritchie, chief scientist to the State of NSW Mary O’Kane, CMCRC board member David Skellern and CMCRC chief executive Alex Frino (pictured) presented to 30 representatives of educational, government and corporate institutions from Italy, UK, France, Germany and Bulgaria at the launch in Rome.

The Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre is regarded as one of Australia’s most productive CRCs in Australia.  It was founded in 2001 and is a AUD100m research facility based in Sydney backed by the Australian Federal Government and NSW government and is dedicated to enhancing global financial market’s integrity and efficiency.

The CMCRC engages with 29 industry research partners including government regulators, exchanges and brokers as well as Australian and overseas universities.  The CMCRC has developed AUD40m in research infrastructure, a range of spin-off companies and supports 50 PhD students at any time and has produced 82 PhD graduates.

Participants at the Rome launch highlighted the shortage of high frequency capital markets data in Europe for academic research purposes and the challenges of accumulating and storing such data - the problem that the new centre will aim to solve.

"The centre’s research will help offer insights into turbulent European financial markets,” says Skellern.