Professor Nicholas Wilson

Profile

I am Professor of Credit and Finance and Director of the Credit Management Research Centre. My academic work focuses on credit analytics and forecasting, corporate finance and performance, private equity portfolio company performance, venture capital, diversity, governance and performance, trade finance and entrepreneurship. I have a keen interest in the development of Financial Technology and work closely with financial services and the credit industry on the development and application of analytics in lending and debt management including AI and neural networks. I am an associate and founding member of the Leeds Institute of Data Analytics and a co-investigator in the Consumer Data Research Centre and the ESRC Productivity Institute project on small firm growth. See our new paper at The Productivity Institute

Citations: Google Scholar c10,000 H-Index 46

Research Impact

In my research I endeavour to combine academic rigour with policy and practitioner relevance. I have worked closely with the credit industry and government (HM Treasury, Department of Business and Trade, National Audit Office) over the years. I sat on the Better Payment Practice Group from the mid-90's investigating small firm finance and the late payment of commercial debt, completing studies for the Department of Business and Trade including a policy report: An Investigation into Payment Trends and Behaviour 1997-2007, an evaluation of late payment legislation in the UK published in 2008. In the early 2000's I completed a series of studies with the National Audit Office and HMRC on the tax collections and recovery systems, including reports on debt management in the Redundancy Payment Service and the Criminal Justice System. I was appointed to a Government ‘Expert Working Group’ on consumer credit information in 2008 and work relating to the commercial credit data sharing scheme. A report for the Welsh Assembly was produced in 2010 on SME performance in Wales and on growth firms in Wales and the regions. I was a panel member for the Independent Commission on Banking’s public forum in Leeds, November 2010. I sat on the Expert Economists sub-panel of the Breedon Task Force 2012 that investigated alternative sources of (non-Bank) finance for the small firms' sector. Early in my academic career I completed a series of funded (ESRC) studies on firm level productivity and performance in relation to ownership and governance, specifically employee participation, employee ownership and profit sharing schemes.

Most recently work on venture capital investment has informed policy and practice. Research that quantified the nature and scale of the ‘equity gap’ was used directly by the government in their case and rationale for policy intervention (Enterprise Investment Scheme) presented to the European Union.  Changes to the EIS were announced (2015) and implemented (April 2018) based on recommendations in the research. Further analysis commissioned by DBT has quantified the size of the equity gap in the UK regions and informed the development of  regional investment funds (REF2021 Impact Case).  Since 2020 we have worked with the Department of Business and Trade on business finance forecasting and policy modelling. This work involved modelling the policy interventions and guaranteed business loans (Covid loan schemes).  Our work on finance for high growth companies and the impact of proposed pension reforms was cited in the Autumn Statement 2024. 

My research is published in a wide range of journals including the Journal of Corporate Finance, Economic Journal, Regional Studies, British Journal of Management, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Enterpreneurship: Theory and Practice, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Business History. I have written more than 150 papers in academic and professional journals (c10,000 citations, h-index 46). Most recently I have published on small firm finance and growth, private equity backed firms, venture capital investment, corporate risk, board diversity, family business, and related topics. I have researched and written many reports for business, professional bodies and government. 

My research findings have been reported in the international press (e.g. Financial Times, Wall Street Journal) and Professional and Trade Magazines on a regular basis.

A recent panel roundtable organised by ICAEW discussed “How do resilient companies manage adversity ?”

Our work on boosting Venture Capital and Growth Finance for private companies is cited in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement 2023

A recent report Innovate-UK (2024) analyses the impact of innovation grants on firm-level outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Director, Credit Management Research Centre
• Head of Department 2017-2021
• ESRC Productivity Project: ES/W010259/1 : SME finance, investment and productivity

Research interests

I am working with the Department of Business and Trade (formerly BEIS) on the evaluation of the Bounce Back and COVID Business Interruption Loan Schemes; Business Finance Forecasting and Policy Modelling; and policy related work on Venture Capital Finance with HM Treasury.  Phase II of the DBT project is funded by the UKRI and the Innovation Caucus. I am a member of the Expert Peer Review Panel for policy evaluation studies coordinated by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). I am currently co-investigator on the ESRC project: Understanding how constraints on access to finance and under-investment impact on productivity growth in smaller firms (grant ES/W010259/1) – with a focus on equity finance (venture capital and private equity).

Recent publications examine:  Private equity backed firms performance during crises, and portfolio firm performance post exit; Government loan guarantee schemes; Default and insolvency risk in the Covid Loan Portfolio; Convertible loans and the Future Fund; Mechanical correlation in econometric modelling; Regional disparities in equity finance demand and supply; Credit scoring using machine learning and AI; Venture Capital Investment in the UK: 2011-2023. Potential High Growth Companies and Crises.

Phd Graduates

Robert Hope (1998); Andrew Robinson (1998); Carole Howarth (1999);  Kathryn Watson (2001); Barbara Summers (2002); Paula Hill (2002); Christina V Atanasova (2004); Norazman Ismail (2007); Salima Paul (2007); Alena L Audzeyeva (2008); Duc T Le (2008); Ali Altanlar (2008); Felix Aveh (2011); Sharon K Sewards (2012); Abd Razak Ahmad (2003); Andreea Bordianu (2014); Mario Hernandez Tinoco (2014); Nnamdi J Uzonwanne (2014); Pananda Pasaribu (2016); Boon Ping Hong (2017); Mingchen Li (2021); Xinyue Cai (2023).

Qualifications

• BA (hons) Applied Economics
• Phd (Nottingham)

Professional memberships

• FICM
• Certified Management and Business Educator

Student education

LUBS2226 Applied Credit Analytics

Research groups and institutes

• Credit Management Research Centre

Current postgraduate researchers

• Xinyue Cai
• Mingchen (Leighton) Li