The Financial Research Institute (FRI) was established in 1988 within the College of Business at the University of Missouri to promote education, research and service across various areas of finance. Supported by private contributions, the FRI seeks to increase public understanding of the many business challenges that modern corporations must address. Presently the FRI operates only the Public Utilities Division which focuses on regulatory issues facing state utilities. In the future, the FRI intends to launch divisions in other areas of finance.
As part of its activities, the FRI sponsors an annual public utilities symposium which brings regulators, students, corporate managers and other academics to campus to discuss current issues facing regulated industries. Under the leadership of Dr. Ferris, the FRI will seek to establish linkages with other MU research centers and with other academic public utility centers around the country.