Arka P. Bandyopadhyay
Portrait of Arka P. Bandyopadhyay

Arka Prava Bandyopadhyay

Adjunct Professor — Columbia University · New York University · Yeshiva University

Household finance, financial intermediation, and real estate and mortgage markets, with machine learning, causal inference and applied econometrics as tools. Ph.D. in Finance, Baruch College (CUNY).

Download CV Job market paper (PDF) Email Google Scholar
Published in JFQA, JEDC, JREFE and QJFHousehold finance and mortgage markets
Brattle Group Ph.D. Award, WFA 2022One of 11 Ph.D.s selected worldwide
Former Head of AI and Quantitative ResearchFranklin Templeton, private equity and commercial real estate
Research

What I study

I study how intermediaries ration relief and credit to households when funding, information and regulation bind, using loan-level mortgage data, servicer–borrower communications and machine learning. A second line of work builds econometric tools for causal direction and confounding in financial data.

Household Finance Financial Intermediation Real Estate and Mortgage Markets Machine Learning and AI in Finance Causal Inference and Applied Econometrics FinTech
Two lines of research: intermediaries and household relief, and econometric tools for causal direction Intermediaries and household relief Servicer funding and buyouts Forbearance and communications Insurance and CRE default Narratives and order flow Tools for causal direction and confounding Residual-independence tests Instrument invalidity Risk-premium inference Social ties and housing demand Loan-level mortgage data · call transcripts · machine learning
4Published
3Under review
6Working papers
Job market paper

Buy to Hold or Buy to Sell? Servicer Business Models, Guarantees, and Mortgage Relief

Solo-authored · This version: 18 October 2026

A government-insured mortgage can be modified only after its servicer buys it out of its bond at face value. Within servicer and month, nonbank servicers, which fund ownership with short-term credit and resell, buy back loans whose bond clears a two-point resale premium at more than twice the rate of loans a quarter point lower; deposit-funded banks do not. The pattern replicates out of sample in 2014–2018. Without the buyback, these loans would have stayed seriously delinquent, in a bond that bars modification, for seven to eleven of the next eighteen months.

Read the paper (PDF)SSRN

Revision in progress. I am awaiting servicer-level liquidity data, which will bring in the variation in servicer funding that the current version lacks. A revised version will be posted before the end of December 2026.

Papers

Publications and working papers

Click a title to open the paper. Each entry also links to its SSRN page, and published papers to the journal version where one is available.

Curriculum vitae

CV

The full academic CV: research, publications, teaching, appointments, industry experience and references.

  • Last updated November 2026
  • 3 pages, PDF
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Teaching

Teaching

Ten courses across five universities, undergraduate through MBA and specialized masters. Teaching evaluations at Yeshiva University: 4.8 or above out of 5.

CourseWhere and whenLevel
Finance and quantitative methods
Financial EconomicsColumbia SPS (Fall 2025, Spring 2026)
Financial Risk and AnalyticsNYU Tandon (Spring 2024–2027); YeshivaBS, MSF
Options and FuturesCU Boulder (2021–22); Yeshiva (Spring 2026)
Principles of FinanceCU Boulder (2022); Miami (2023); Yeshiva (2025)BS
Decision ModelingCU Boulder (2022); Yeshiva (2026)MBA, MSF
Quantitative ModelingYeshiva (Spring, Fall 2026)MSF
Real estate
Real Estate FinanceCU Boulder (2021, 2022); Yeshiva (2025, 2026)BS, MBA, MSRE
Real Estate RiskCU Boulder (2022); Miami (2022); NYU (2024, 2025)MBA
Data Analytics for Real EstateNYU Schack (Fall 2026)MSRE
Statistics in Finance and Real EstateColumbia SPS (2026); NYU Schack (2026)
Experience

Appointments and industry

Academic appointments

  • 2025 – presentAdjunct ProfessorColumbia University, School of Professional Studies
  • 2025 – presentAdjunct ProfessorYeshiva University, Sy Syms School of Business
  • 2023 – presentAdjunct ProfessorNew York University, Tandon and Schack
  • 2022 – 2023Professor of Professional PracticeUniversity of Miami, Herbert Business School
  • 2021 – 2022Scholar-in-ResidenceUniversity of Colorado Boulder, Leeds School of Business

Industry

  • 2024 – 2026Head of AI and Quantitative ResearchFranklin Templeton, private equity and commercial real estate. Led AI and quantitative research at one of the largest U.S. real estate investment managers; built and put into production agentic AI, LLM/RAG and knowledge-graph systems for investment research.
  • 2019 – 2021Principal Data ScientistRocktop Partners. Mortgage credit and Ginnie Mae early-buyout modeling.
  • 2018 – 2019Investment Quantitative Research, Cross-AssetNuveen / TIAA
  • 2013 – 2018UBS, Santander, Deloitte & ToucheCredit-loss forecasting (CECL), stress testing, structured credit and derivatives.
Education and honors

Education and honors

  • 2021Ph.D., Finance (Household Finance and AI)Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, CUNY. Beta Gamma Sigma; Dean’s Merit List.
  • 2013M.S., Mathematical Finance; graduate coursework for Ph.D. in Applied MathematicsCourant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
  • 2011M.S., Computer ScienceLouisiana State University. Thesis on partial order and quantum information, published as a book.
  • 2008B.Math. (Honors), MathematicsIndian Statistical Institute. Topper in the best math school in India.
  • Brattle Group Ph.D. Award, Western Finance Association, 2022 — one of 11 Ph.D.s selected worldwide
  • AREUEA Dissertation Award, 2020
  • American Finance Association Doctoral Student Grant, 2020
  • PSC-CUNY Research Grant (with L. Maliar)
Presentations

Conference presentations

  • 2022AFA–AREUEA Joint Session (ASSA); Western Finance Association; Financial Management Association; FHFA; Ginnie Mae; AEA Poster Session; Econometric Society; CEPR–RFS Household Finance Conference
  • 2020ASSA (AREUEA); Financial Management Association
References

References

Prof. Lilia MaliarProfessor of EconomicsPh.D. Program in Economics, The Graduate Center, City University of New Yorklmaliar@gc.cuny.edu
Prof. Liuren WuWollman Distinguished Professor of FinanceZicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New Yorkliuren.wu@baruch.cuny.edu
Prof. Archishman ChakrabortyHarris Chair and Professor of Finance; Chair, Finance DepartmentSy Syms School of Business, Yeshiva Universityarchishman@yu.edu
Prof. Amine OuazadAssociate Professor of EconomicsDepartment of Applied Economics, HEC Montréalamine.ouazad@hec.ca
Skills

Methods and tools

Programming
Python, R, SAS, Stata, MATLAB, VBA
AI / ML
PyTorch, LangChain, LangGraph; LLMs, RAG, agentic AI, knowledge graphs
Methods
Deep learning, financial NLP, reinforcement learning, causal inference, panel econometrics
Contact

Contact

Emailapb321@nyu.edu
Phone+1 (347) 260-0869
LocationNew Hyde Park, NY · U.S. Permanent Resident