Asset Management | Sebastian Stöckl

1st Liechtenstein Workshop on AI in Finance

Wed, 06 May 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Initiated, founded, and convened by Sebastian Stöckl at the Department of Finance & Economics, Liechtenstein Business School, University of Liechtenstein. Hosted at H6 Campus, University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, May 6–7, 2026.

The Liechtenstein Workshop on AI in Finance (LW-AIF) was conceived by Sebastian as the academic companion to the practitioner conference organized annually by , with the aim of creating synergies between rigorous academic research on AI in finance and the questions that matter most to sophisticated practitioners. From an open Call for Papers, the Organising Committee — chaired by Sebastian — received a substantial number of high-quality submissions and selected thirteen papers for presentation. Each paper is allotted a 45-minute slot (30 minutes presentation, 10 minutes discussion, 5 minutes Q&A).

Scientific Committee: Sebastian Stöckl (chair, University of Liechtenstein), Wolfgang Schadner (University of Liechtenstein). Organising Committee: Sebastian Stöckl (chair), Natalie Moosleithner (University of Liechtenstein). Workshop Partner: Günter Jäger, Founder & Managing Partner, PLEXUS Investments Ltd.

Programme

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Session 1 — ML and the Cross-Section of Returns

12:30 Investor Disagreement in the Options Market — Mathis Moerke (University of St. Gallen), with Turan G. Bali (Georgetown) and Bryan T. Kelly (Yale). Discussant: Sebastian Weibels.
13:15 Transaction Costs and the Stochastic Discount Factor — Daniele Bianchi (Queen Mary University of London), with Teng Jiao and Hao Ma (both Queen Mary). Discussant: Mathis Moerke.

14:00 — Coffee break

Session 2 — LLMs in Financial Analysis

14:15 Corporate Earnings Calls and Analyst Beliefs — Giuseppe Matera (EPFL / Swiss Finance Institute). Discussant: Swaminathan Balasubramaniam.
15:00 When LLMs Agree Too Much — Swaminathan Balasubramaniam (NEOMA Business School), with Jorge Sabat (Universidad Andrés Bello). Discussant: Giuseppe Matera.

15:45 — Coffee break

Session 3 — ML Frontiers in Asset Pricing

16:00 Reviving Anomalies — Jonas Wortmann (University of Münster), with Heiner Beckmeyer (Münster), Florian Berg (MIT), and Timo Wiedemann (Münster / Potsdam). Discussant: Daniele Bianchi.
16:45 Hard to Process: Atypical Firms and the Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns — Sebastian Weibels (University of Cologne). Discussant: Christian Schlag.
17:30 Nonlinearities and Pricing Complexity in the Cross-Section of Stock Returns — Christian Schlag (Goethe University Frankfurt and Leibniz Institute SAFE), with Fabio Girardi (WU Vienna) and Lukas Koerber (Goethe Frankfurt). Discussant: Jonas Wortmann.

19:30 — Speakers’ dinner, Restaurant Lio, Vaduz

Thursday, May 7, 2026

Session 4 — AI in Practice

09:00 Machine Learning the Performance of Mutual Funds on a Global Scale — Manuel Mazidi (Université de Neuchâtel), with Christian Breitung, Sebastian Müller, and Florian Weigert (all TU Munich). Discussant: Richard Blades.
09:45 Analysts’ Response to ‘AI Washing’ in Earnings Conference Calls — Richard Blades (Bayes Business School, University of London), with Pawel Bilinski and Art Kraft (both City St. George’s, University of London). Discussant: Rubén Fernández-Fuertes.

10:30 — Coffee break

Session 5 — AI Applications: NLP, Corporate Disclosure & Credit

10:45 Monetary Policy Shocks: A New Hope — Large Language Models and Central Bank Communication — Rubén Fernández-Fuertes (Bocconi University). Discussant: Paulina M. Verhoff.
11:30 AI Errors — Wenqian Huang (Bank for International Settlements), with Albert J. Menkveld (VU Amsterdam) and Shihao Yu (Singapore Management University). Discussant: Manuel Mazidi.
12:15 Understanding Risk: Lessons from Mutual Fund Disclosures — Nikola Kiprijanovski (INSEAD). Discussant: Wenqian Huang.
13:00 Do Institutional Investors Trade on Covenant Violations? — Paulina M. Verhoff (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management), with Anthony Saunders (NYU Stern) and Sascha Steffen (Frankfurt School). Discussant: Nikola Kiprijanovski.

13:45 — End of workshop

After the workshop

The University of Liechtenstein’s (published May 8, 2026) summarizes the workshop and quotes Sebastian on the inaugural edition:

“Die Qualität der Arbeiten und die Tiefe der Diskussionen haben unsere Erwartungen für eine erste Ausgabe übertroffen.” — Sebastian Stöckl, on the first edition of LW-AIF

The 2nd edition is planned for spring 2027 at the University of Liechtenstein.

Sebastian’s — #LWAIF2026 #AIinFinance #MachineLearning #AssetPricing #LLMs #LiechtensteinBusinessSchool #UniversityOfLiechtenstein.

Asset Allocation and AI

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Invited lecture at the CFA Society Liechtenstein 59th After-Work Lecture series (November 13, 2025, University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz).

Event page:

AI in Finance: Hype or Sustainable Transformation?

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Co-organized by Sebastian Stöckl (Liechtenstein Business School) with (CEO Günter Jäger). Hosted at the University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, on November 25, 2024 — second edition of the annual AI in Financial Practice series, following the .

Conference report

On November 25, experts from the regional financial industry, academics and interested participants gathered at the University of Liechtenstein for the conference “Artificial Intelligence: Hype or Sustainable Transformation?”, a cooperation between Sebastian Stöckl and the Liechtenstein Business School with PLEXUS Investments under the leadership of CEO Günter Jäger. The afternoon was moderated by Aurelia Rauch of Bergos.

The numerous presentations by renowned experts offered a deep insight into the rapidly advancing development of artificial intelligence (AI) in finance.

The Dean of the Liechtenstein Business School, Prof. Dr. Michael Hanke, opened the conference with a brief address in which he emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence for the University of Liechtenstein. He stressed how essential it is to offer this topic in education and continuing education, and to actively bring the university’s expertise into practice through knowledge transfer and targeted research.

The opening keynote by Dr. René Deist (ZF Friedrichshafen) gave a fascinating insight into rapidly progressing generative AI. Following this, Günter Jäger (PLEXUS Investments) examined the potential of AI in asset management. Jäger underlined the dynamic of the field with the words:

“Artificial intelligence in finance is less hype than transformation. And it will change the industry at increasing speed.”

Sebastian Stöckl (University of Liechtenstein) continued the afternoon, emphasizing in his talk that AI is no mere hype but already has transformative effects on sectors such as finance and services, while at the same time highlighting the challenges that must be overcome to realize its full economic potential. Dr. Christopher Krauss (Artellium) then explained the mechanics of AI-based stock selection in an engaging presentation, paying particular attention to the role of the human factor.

Finally, Dr. Reto Degen (Financial Market Authority Liechtenstein, FMA) addressed the upcoming European regulation of AI and gave an insight into the use of AI among financial intermediaries.

A highlight of the day was the dynamic panel discussion “AI – Hype or Sustainable Transformation”, in which renowned experts — Dr. Reto Degen, Dr. Christopher Krauss and Sebastian Stöckl — shared their perspectives.

The closing networking apéro offered participants not only the opportunity for informal exchange but also room for further discussion of the fascinating connection between investing and artificial intelligence.

“We are delighted by the positive response to the conference and the great interest in artificial intelligence, not only in finance. Given this success, we are pleased to announce the planning of next year’s conference already, to continue this exciting format.” — Sebastian Stöckl

Speakers

Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Prof. Dr. Michael Hanke	Liechtenstein Business School (Dean)	Opening address
Dr. René Deist	ZF Friedrichshafen	Opening keynote — generative AI
Günter Jäger	PLEXUS Investments	AI in asset management
Sebastian Stöckl	University of Liechtenstein	AI: hype vs. transformation
Dr. Christopher Krauss	Artellium	AI-based stock selection
Dr. Reto Degen	FMA Liechtenstein	European AI regulation
Aurelia Rauch	Bergos	Moderation

Source: Original conference report in German, available via the (published December 2, 2024).

AI in Finance: Investing with Artificial Intelligence

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Co-conceived and co-organized by Sebastian Stöckl (Liechtenstein Business School) with (CEO Günter Jäger). Hosted at the University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, on November 21, 2023.

Conference report

On November 21, experts from the regional financial industry, academics and interested participants gathered at the University of Liechtenstein for the conference “Investing with Artificial Intelligence”, a cooperation between the Liechtenstein Business School (with Sebastian Stöckl as organizer) and PLEXUS Investments under the leadership of CEO Günter Jäger. The afternoon was moderated by Aurelia Rauch (Bergos).

The numerous presentations by renowned experts gave a deep insight into the rapidly advancing development of AI in finance.

The opening keynote by Günter Jäger (PLEXUS Investments) gave a fascinating insight into AI in asset management. Jäger underlined the dynamic of the field with the words:

“Asset managers are gradually using more artificial intelligence to make a wide range of business functions more efficient. Even for the core business — investment decisions — there are increasingly more applications that are superior to human intelligence. We will therefore experience correspondingly more AI in the investment process in the years to come.”

Dr. Simon Weinberger (BlackRock) then examined the potential of AI in portfolio management, while Michael Günther (Tungsten Capital Management) presented an insightful view on effective diversification through AI.

A highlight of the day was the dynamic panel discussion “AI – Opportunities and Risks”, in which renowned experts — Michael Günther, Dr. Hendrik Leber (ACATIS), Sebastian Stöckl and Dr. Simon Weinberger — shared their perspectives.

Hendrik Leber continued the afternoon, emphasizing in his talk that AI is more than quantitative analysis and requires versatile training — comparable to a top athlete who consistently gives their best. Finally, Dr. Matthias Feiler (LGT Capital Partners) addressed the question of whether AI can be used as a systematic source of alpha.

“We are overwhelmed by the positive response to this conference and the interest in the topic of artificial intelligence in finance. Given the great success, we at the University of Liechtenstein and PLEXUS Investments are pleased to announce already now the next conference for the coming year, to continue this exciting dialogue.” — Sebastian Stöckl

Speakers

Speaker	Affiliation	Topic
Günter Jäger	PLEXUS Investments	Opening keynote — AI in asset management
Dr. Simon Weinberger	BlackRock	AI in portfolio management
Michael Günther	Tungsten Capital Management	Diversification through AI
Dr. Hendrik Leber	ACATIS	AI as more than quantitative analysis
Dr. Matthias Feiler	LGT Capital Partners	AI as a systematic alpha source
Sebastian Stöckl	University of Liechtenstein	Panellist
Aurelia Rauch	Bergos	Moderation

Source: .

Asset Management | Sebastian Stöckl

1st Liechtenstein Workshop on AI in Finance

Programme

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Thursday, May 7, 2026

After the workshop

On social media

Asset Allocation and AI

AI in Finance: Hype or Sustainable Transformation?

Conference report

Speakers

AI in Finance: Investing with Artificial Intelligence

Conference report

Speakers