Haoyong Zhou, an assistant professor of finance from Keele University, United Kingdom, gave a seminar on empirical corporate finance in the CER on 20 April 2017. Dr. Zhou and his co-authors examine the role of U.S. independent directors on cross-listed firms' boards. They find that U.S. directors are associated with higher firm value, as well as a bigger increase in value when foreign firms cross-list in U.S. exchanges. The impact of U.S. directors on cross-listing benefits is stronger for foreign firms from weak investor protection countries. In addition, their analyses reveal that cross-listed acquirers with U.S. directors conduct better mergers and acquisitions, regardless of the target location. Collectively these results are in conformity with the notion that U.S. independent directors tend to serve the monitoring role rather than the advisor role on foreign firms’ boards. Their findings provide a new perspective on the growing evidence on the important issue of on the role of foreign directors on corporate boards.