Research Papers Policy Publications Working Papers Blogs Media

Bio

Imtiaz Ul Haq is an Economist in the Development Economics (Private Markets) group at the World Bank Group. His research focuses on firm financing, capital markets, and private sector development, with a particular interest in how financial systems influence investment, growth, and economic development in emerging and developing economies. 

Previously, he worked in a global team at the World Bank where he advised governments and regulatory authorities on financial sector policies related to financial inclusion, digital finance, and financial innovation. He was previously affiliated with Harvard University as a Research Fellow and served as an Assistant Professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He holds a PhD in Accounting and Finance and an MSc in Finance from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, and a BSc (Honors) in Economics from LUMS, Pakistan. 

Beyond research, Imtiaz is interested in the intersection of finance, technology, and economic development. He previously founded and led a financial technology startup in Chile and remains interested in how innovation can expand access to opportunity and improve economic outcomes. 

Imtiaz is based in the Washington, D.C. area and enjoys playing badminton and exploring new cuisines. 

Research Papers

The Power of Religion: Islamic Investing in the lab 

International Review of Financial Analysis 

This paper provides experimental evidence that religious beliefs shape investment behavior, with religious investors willing to accept lower financial returns in exchange for investments aligned with their faith. 

Citations: 17

It’s all in the name: Mutual fund name changes after SEC Rule 35d-1 

Journal of Banking and Finance 

Our research provides novel evidence that mutual funds in the US continue to adopt misleading names despite regulation to curb such name changes (SEC Rule 35d-1).  This is particularly alarming as our research finds that investors lose out as they are drawn to such funds despite their poor performance. Our findings highlight inefficiencies in the US mutual fund market and hold important implications for the stakeholders involved.  

Citations: 27 | Media mention: 1 |  Policy citations: 4 

Structural loopholes in Sustainability-Linked Bonds

World Bank Policy Research working paper series

Sustainability-linked bonds – one of the fastest-growing sustainable finance instruments – can help raise the funding needed for the private sector to meet their climate goals. However, our research is the first to uncover potential weak points in their effectiveness that could damage their reputation and leave them vulnerable to charges of greenwashing.  

 Citations: 60 | Media mentions: 4 | Blog | Policy Blog

Issuer Composition and Stock Market Growth

World Bank Policy Research working paper series

Does issuer composition change as stock markets grow, and, if so, how? Using a novel dataset, this paper examines how the number, concentration, and sectoral diversity of issuers change as domestic stock markets grow, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.

The Power of Religion: Islamic Investing in the Lab

World Bank Policy Research working paper series

This paper adopts a novel approach to understand the role of non-financial information in investment decisions. It focuses on social and faith-based investments, and finds evidence that help to explain the resilience of such investments in face of a financial market crash.

Policy Publications

Financing Firm Growth: The Role of Capital Markets in Low- and Middle-Income Countries 

International Finance Corporation

Using data on nearly 80,000 firms across 147 economies, this report shows how capital markets help firms in developing countries access financing, invest, grow, and become more productive, while identifying policies that can expand these benefits. 

Curbing the Cost of Borrowing for Businesses 

International Finance Corporation (forthcoming)

This report analyzes why firms in developing economies face higher borrowing costs than their peers in advanced economies and identifies policy reforms that can expand access to affordable debt. 

Scaling up Private Finance for Clean Energy in Emerging and Developing Economies

International Energy Agency and International Finance Corporation

This special report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) examines how to scale up private finance for clean energy transitions by quantifying the investments required in different regions and sectors to build modern, clean energy systems, including achieving universal access.  

 Media mentions: 15+

Building Green: Sustainable Construction in Emerging Markets

International Finance Corporation

Switching to greener technologies in construction and operation of buildings and materials, combined with more climate-friendly capital markets, could reduce the construction value chain’s carbon footprint 23 percent by 2035, while creating an $1.5 trillion investment opportunity in emerging markets.

 Media mentions:  10+

Leveraging Geospatial Technology for Financial Inclusion

World Bank

Geospatial technology can be used to map financial access points and assess the distribution of financial services across space, allowing authorities to identify gaps in existing coverage clearly and with much higher precision than is otherwise possible. It can also help to prioritize gaps with respect to various policy objectives as well as design appropriate policy interventions at a subnational level. This note provides financial sector authorities and other stakeholders practical guidance for leveraging geospatial tools to inform financial inclusion policymaking. 

 Citations: 4 | Seminars: 2 | Downloads = 1043

Tools for Digitizing Government Payments: Learnings from Financial Inclusion Support Framework 

World Bank

Governments are often the largest users of a country's payment systems, and hence can leverage their central role to promote government efficiency, public welfare and the broader economy. This report documents  the experience of several countries in leveraging a range of innovative tools to optimize government payments through digitization and extracts useful lessons for policymakers on this front.

   Citations: 2 | Seminars: 1 | Downloads = 762

Lessons from Implementing a National Financial Inclusion Strategy

World Bank

This report draws new insights on policy implementation from World Bank's experience in supporting  policymakers across the globe with national policies to promote financial inclusion. It leverages country case studies to highlight implementation experiences, identifying nine good practices for successful policy outcomes.

  Citations: 3 | Downloads = 1014

Key Facts Statement Testing: Options, Methodologies, and Tools 

World Bank

This reports provides a framework for policymakers on designing optimal Key Facts Statements, which can promote disclosure and transparency in the market and hence ensure robust financial consumer protection and build trust in the national financial system.

 Citations: 1 | Downloads = 679

Financial Inclusion in Ethiopia: Key Findings from the Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey 2018/19

World Bank

This report presents key findings on account ownership, gender gap, financial behavior and knowledge of financial institutions and products in Ethiopia, based on the financial inclusion module of the national socioeconomic survey conducted in 2018/19. 

Full report can be found here.

  Downloads = 671

Working Papers

Beyond Green Claims: The Market Value of Credibility in Sustainability-Linked Bonds 

Using a novel dataset of sustainability-linked bond contracts, this paper shows that credit markets reward credible sustainability commitments by pricing enforceable contractual provisions rather than the size of penalties or sustainability disclosures themselves. 

Environmental Penalties and ESG Disclosure

Despite growing interest in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors, there is a lack of transparency around corporate ESG due to high informational asymmetries. In such an environment, what happens to firms’ ESG disclosure when new, unbiased ESG information becomes available from an independent external source? This study examines firms’ decision to disclose ESG information in response to the imposition of an environment administrative penalty.

Performance-chasing in Venture Capital Investments

This paper documents herding in investments by venture capital funds in the US. It finds that more money is allocated towards sectors that have experienced large exits recently, pushing up valuations despite evidence suggesting that such investments are not more likely to be profitable. 

Investor Behavior across the business cycle

Does the behavior of US mutual fund investors vary across the business cycle? This study finds that investors no longer chase recent winners during contractions, despite no change in fund performance consistency. Instead, investors are more concerned about controlling their risk exposure, especially to the market, during periods of economic downturn.

Evidence of fund-selection ability amongst U.K. mutual fund investors

Does investor fund-selection ability explain the impressive growth of the UK mutual fund industry? Using three alternative measures of selection ability and two for performance measurement, this paper finds that fund-selection ability is explained away by the momentum factor due to investors naively chasing recent winners.

Select Conferences

1. Australasian Finance & Banking Conference, UNSW, Sydney, Australia. 2024.

2. Sustainability-linked bonds: climate, biodiversity, and gender. United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28). Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 2023.

3. Sustainable Finance for Asia’s Net Zero Transition. SOAS (University of London) and Asian Development Bank Institute. Virtual. 2023.

4. Structural Loopholes in Sustainability-Linked Bonds, Private Sector Development Research Network, Washington D.C., United States. 2023.

5. Experimental Finance Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (hybrid). 2022.

6. Pakistan beyond Seventy: The Long View. John Hopkins University. Washington D.C., United States. 2018.

7. Essex Finance Centre Conference in Banking & Finance.  University of Essex.  Essex, United Kingdom. 2017.

8. Annual Conference of Western Economics Association International.  Portland, United States. 2016.

9. Annual meeting of International Finance and Banking Society. ISCTE Business School. Lisbon, Portugal. 2014.

10. Annual meeting of International Finance and Banking Society. Fundación Universidad Empresa – ADEIT. Valencia, Spain. 2012.

11. Annual meeting of the European Financial Management Association. University of Minho. Braga, Portugal. 2011.

12. Annual meeting of Manchester Doctoral Conference. University of Manchester. Manchester, United Kingdom. 2010.

Blogs

Making Sustainability-Linked Bonds more Impactful

International Finance Corporation

This blog outlines structural loopholes in Sustainability-Linked Bond structures and measures to address them to make them more effective. 

Saving Sustainability-Linked Bonds

International Finance Corporation

This blog offers practical guidance on promoting the development of the Sustainability-Linked Bond market. 

Shedding Light on Economic Performance in South Asia

Harvard University

This blog outlines how cutting-edge economic tools can leverage novel satellite data to estimate economic activity more accurately, frequently and with more depth. This can be particularly helpful for policymaking in developing countries where data constraints are more severe.

Leveraging Geospatial Technology

World Bank

This blog illustrates how geospatial technology can be leveraged by financial regulators to better understand the distribution of financial access points, enabling them to identify weaknesses in national or local financial systems that may act as barriers for financial consumers.

Key Facts Statements: A simple way to protect consumers

World Bank

This blog discusses how Key Fact Statements can help consumers better understand financial products, and ultimately facilitate improved financial decision-making. The blog highlights the importance of such tools in environments where misadvertising of financial products is common and there is low trust in the financial system.

Spotlight and Media coverage

• A very bad product, destined to fail (Financial Times)

• One of World's Top-Performing Stock Markets Has a Facebook Issue (Bloomberg)

• World Bank: 'Save' SLBs with stricter standards and scrutiny (Environmental Finance)

• Sustainability-Linked Bonds and how to use them credibly (Eco-Business)

• World Bank warns of SLB greenwashing risk from 'structural loopholes' (Environmental Finance)

• Spotlight on SAI Fellow (Harvard University)

• Pakistan Beyond Seventy: The Long View (John Hopkins University)