Frankfurt School and WM Gruppe award the Philipp Sandner Memorial Award in Digital Finance Research

Research on liquidity risks in crypto exchanges and the impact of financial apps on retail investment decisions is recognised.

26 March 2026 – Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and WM Gruppe have awarded the Philipp Sandner Memorial Award in Digital Finance Research for the second time. The award, endowed with a total of €10,000, is shared this year by two recipients, Judith Bohnenkamp and Professor Lorenzo Schönleber, and was presented on 25 March 2026 at the Crypto Assets Conference.

Judith Bohnenkamp, a PhD candidate at the University of Miami, examines in her award-winning paper “The Tech Aficionado: Household Finance in the Age of Digital Access”, how the adoption of financial technology, such as banking apps, influences household investment decisions. Her findings show that technology primarily helps financially literate individuals to overcome portfolio inefficiencies. At the same time, however, technology adoption leads to less prudence and shorter planning horizons—particularly among user groups with lower levels of financial literacy.

Lorenzo Schönleber, Assistant Professor at Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin, and his co-authors analyse in their paper “The Implied Impermanent Loss in Decentralised Liquidity Provision” how the risk of so-called impermanent losses for liquidity providers on decentralised crypto exchanges can be quantified. The study documents the existence of an impermanent loss premium that captures the variance and correlation premia of the underlying tokens and increases with pool size.

The international Philipp Sandner Memorial Award in Digital Finance Research was established in 2025 and is awarded annually. It is aimed at early-career researchers working on current technological developments in the financial industry.

Judith Bohnenkamp commented: “I am very honoured to receive this award and would like to thank the jury for recognising my work. It shows that digital financial tools can help retail investors make better decisions. At the same time, it highlights that financial literacy remains crucial to ensure users can make meaningful use of digital offerings”.

Professor Lorenzo Schönleber added: “I would like to thank the jury for this recognition. Our research examines a key risk faced by liquidity providers on decentralised crypto exchanges. We show that these risks can be systematically measured using option pricing methods—and that investors receive a corresponding risk premium”.

Professor Co-Pierre Georg, Director of the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center and member of the award’s academic committee, said: “Banking and finance have become technology-driven industries. The two awarded papers combine current technological developments in the financial sector with rigorous academic analysis. They demonstrate how research can help us better understand new technologies and their impact on markets and investors”.

Joachim Lauterbach, Chief Executive Officer of WM Gruppe and Co-Chair of the award jury, added: “Digital technologies are fundamentally transforming the financial industry. This ranges from the mechanisms of crypto markets to financial apps that influence retail investors’ investment behaviour. The award-winning papers demonstrate how scientific research can contribute to a thorough analysis and classification of these innovations. We are delighted to support this initiative”.

The award is granted based on a two-stage selection process: an academic committee reviews the submitted papers and draws up a shortlist, from which a jury, made up of representatives from business, academia, and public administration, selects the winner or winners.

Academic Committee:
• Professor Andrea Barbon, Assistant Professor of Finance, University of St. Gallen
• Professor Jean-Edouard Colliard, Associate Professor of Finance, HEC Paris
• Professor Martina Fraschini, Assistant Professor in Digital Finance, Université du Luxembourg
• Professor Co-Pierre Georg, Professor of Practice in Digital Finance and Technology, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
• Professor Alfred Lehar, Professor in Finance, University of Calgary
• Professor Jiasun Li, Associate Professor in Finance, George Mason University
• Professor Cyril Monnet, Professor of Economics, University of Bern
• Professor Maarten van Oordt, Professor of Money and Banking, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Professor Tarik Roukny, Associate Professor of Finance, KU Leuven
Jury:
• Professor Nils Stieglitz (Co-Chair), President and CEO, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
• Joachim Lauterbach (Co-Chair), CEO, WM Gruppe
• Souad Benkredda, Member of the Management Board, DZ BANK
• Dr Stephanie Eckermann, Member of the Executive Board, Deutsche Börse
• Thomas Vlassopoulos, Director General Market Infrastructure and Payments, ECB
• Professor Jens Weidmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Commerzbank

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About Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
Frankfurt School of Finance & Management is a private business school accredited by AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS. The university focuses on finance, economics, and management, and offers Bachelor, Master, MBA, and doctoral programmes as well as executive education courses and seminars for professionals and trainees. Frankfurt School is regularly placed among the top performers in major university rankings. For example, it ranks 31st in the latest Financial Times (FT) European Business School Ranking, and in the latest UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings, it has secured the top position in Germany. In the WirtschaftsWoche university ranking, Frankfurt School ranks 3rd among all German universities for business administration. In addition to the main Frankfurt campus, Frankfurt School has study centres in Hamburg, Munich and Dubai and is globally connected with around 150 partner universities.

About WM Gruppe
The WM Gruppe, located in Frankfurt am Main, is an international information service provider and a leading media company for the financial industry. With over 70 years of experience and around 450 employees, it offers reliable data solutions, particularly for financial instruments, as well as comprehensive services for meeting regulatory requirements. The WM Gruppe combines the two company divisions WM Datenservice and Börsen-Zeitung. As market-leading provider, the WM Gruppe works closely with national and international committees and is a key partner for supervisory bodies, central banks, banks, asset managers, insurance companies and numerous service providers and software providers.

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