Management Practice Professor of Finance
Director and Co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF)
BCom (Queen’s University), MBA (University of Chicago Booth School of Business), MSc (LSE), PhD (University of Cambridge)
My research interests include the sociology of financial markets, trust, comparative institutionalism, innovation, and entrepreneurship. I’m an economic sociologist interested in understanding how and why channels and instruments of finance emerge outside the traditional system and how this impacts regulators, incumbent financial institutions and consumers. I previously had an international career as a professional investor.
I’m part of the Finance subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which focuses on the investment and financial decisions of firms and institutions.
Professional experience
Bob is an economic sociologist interested in understanding how and why channels and instruments of finance emerge outside the traditional financial system and how this impacts regulators, incumbent financial institutions and consumers. In addition to his role in the School, Bob is a member of the Steering Committee for the Cambridge Centre for Data-Driven Discovery (C2D3), an interdisciplinary research centre at Cambridge bringing together expertise from across academic departments and industry to drive research into the analysis, understanding, and use of big data.
Prior to pursuing his academic career in 2010, Bob had an international career as a professional investor, most recently as a Managing Director in the investment group of one of the largest privately-owned companies in the United States where he was responsible for a portfolio of European corporate debt and equity investments. He has held several board directorships and advisory roles with academic, governmental and commercial organisations over the course of both his academic and non-academic career.
Publications
Selected publications
- Wardrop, R., Rau, R. and Zingales, L. (eds.) (2021) The Palgrave handbook of technological finance. Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Zhang, B., Rowan, P., Wardrop, R. et al (2018) Early lessons on regulatory innovation to enable inclusive fintech. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
- Zhang, B., Wardrop, R., Garvey, K. et al (2017) The Africa and Middle East alternative finance benchmarking report. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
- Wardrop, R. and Ziegler, T. (2016) “A case of regulatory evolution: a review of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s approach to crowdfunding.” CESifo DICE Report, 14(2): 23-32
- Wardrop, R., Rosenberg, R., Zhang, B. et al (2016) Breaking new ground: the Americas alternative finance benchmarking report. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
- Zhang, B., Deer, L. Wardrop, B. et al (2016) Harnessing potential: the Asia-Pacific alternative finance benchmarking report. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
Journal articles
- Cornelli, G., Frost, J., Gambacorta, L., Rau, P.R., Wardrop, R. and Ziegler, T. (2022) “Fintech and big tech credit: drivers of the growth of digital lending.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 148: 106742 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106742)
- Wardrop, R. and Ziegler, T. (2016) “A case of regulatory evolution: a review of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s approach to crowdfunding.” CESifo DICE Report, 14(2): 23-32
- Zhang, B.Z., Wardrop, R., Rau R. and Gray, M. (2015) “Moving mainstream: benchmarking the European alternative finance market.” Journal of Financial Perspectives, 3(3): 60-76
Books, monographs, reports and case studies
- Wardrop, R., Rau, R. and Zingales, L. (eds.) (2021) The Palgrave handbook of technological finance. Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Zhang, B., Rowan, P., Wardrop, R. et al (2018) Early lessons on regulatory innovation to enable inclusive fintech. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
- Zhang, B., Wardrop, R., Garvey, K. et al (2017) The Africa and Middle East alternative finance benchmarking report. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
- Wardrop, R., Rosenberg, R., Zhang, B. et al (2016) Breaking new ground: the Americas alternative finance benchmarking report. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
- Zhang, B., Deer, L. Wardrop, B. et al (2016) Harnessing potential: the Asia-Pacific alternative finance benchmarking report. Cambridge: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
Awards and honours
- Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2022
News and insights
We meet alumni from the MBA and Master of Finance (MFin) programmes and ask them how choosing the very popular elective, New Venture Finance, run by Robert Wardrop, Management Practice Professor of Finance, has helped them develop and grow their career in finance and the fintech sector.
Professor Robert Wardrop talks about why his elective ‘New Venture Finance’ is the most popular choice on the MBA programme and why when he co-founded the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) in 2015, it was the first of its kind in the world.
Seven members of the Cambridge Judge faculty are awarded teaching prizes for excellence across the Business School's various programmes.
Media coverage
The Fintech Times | 4 April 2022
New initiative to advance suptech for financial supervisors and regulators in low-income countries
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at Cambridge Judge Business School has announced the establishment of the Cambridge SupTech Lab, a new initiative that takes financial supervisors on a journey to shape the future of financial supervision accelerating the development of cutting-edge, globally scalable supervisory technology (suptech) applications.
Financial Times | 7 February 2022
Culture change, CLO training survey, school diversity
Dr Robert Wardrop, Faculty (Professor level) in Management Practice at Cambridge Judge Business School, responded to Andrew Hill’s management challenge. Andrew was asking to send him ‘any examples of cultural or structural change programmes gone wrong, and how you might put them right.’
Credit Collections & Rik Magazine | 26 November 2021
New study highlights progress in fintech regulation in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the Cambridge Judge Business School today published the report of findings from its “Fintech regulation in Sub-Saharan Africa” study, which provides one of the first overviews of the regulatory landscape in the region, assessing where sectoral and cross-sectoral regulatory frameworks have been established.
Cambridge Independent, 25 April 2021
Regulatory Genome Project is ‘sequencing’ financial regulations worldwide
Finextra, 24 March 2021
Mastercard joins Regulatory Genome Project
Business Weekly, 11 January 2021
Cambridge-Singapore alliance to speed fintech research and commercialisation
Cambridge Business Magazine, 1 August 2015
Common-sense solutions to ethical maze
Biz Ed Magazine, 29 April 2015
Spy games
Forbes, 7 January 2021
Bringing sanity to global financial regulation
Crowdfund Insider, 7 January 2021
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance launches collaboration network
Mirage News, 21 December 2020
Cambridge launches Regulatory Genome Project
Business Weekly, 25 October 2020
Cambridge drives FinTech and digital intel deeper into crucial territories
Sigma Live, 21 October 2020
Strategic synergy of the European University of Cyprus with the CCAF
Crowdfund Insider, 25 September 2020
Global cryptoasset benchmarking study: Updates on digital asset ecosystem during period of growth
Crowdfund Insider, 19 September 2019
Second Global Blockchain Report: Enterprise utilisation and network development
City Press, 30 August 2019
How technology is driving a revolution in financial services
Fintek News, 3 June 2019
Cryptoasset global regulations made simple
EXAME, 2 May 2019
The days when we interact with a human in the bank are disappearing quickly
Financial Times, 17 June 2018
Business schools race to offer lessons in blockchain and bitcoin
Atlanta Business Chronicle, 11 May 2018
The world of payments is changing
Crowdfund Insider, 31 January 2018
European alternative finance market expanded by 41 per cent in 2016