Thorsten Beck is Professor of Banking & Finance at Cass Business School in City University London and Professor of Economics at Tilburg University. He was the founding chair of the European Banking Center at Tilburg University from 2008 to 2013. He is also a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Previously he worked in the research department of the World Bank and has also worked as consultant for – among others - the IMF, the European Commission, and the German Development Corporation. He has published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Money Credit & Banking, Journal of Financial Intermediation, etc. Additionally, he has co-authored several policy reports on access to finance, financial systems in Africa and cross-border banking. His country experience, both in operational and research work, includes Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, Russia and several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

 

Bruno Biais is Research Professor of Economics and Finance at the Toulouse School of Economics (CNRS-CRM & PWRI-IDEI). He is currently Co-editor of the Journal of Finance, and he was previously Editor of the Review of Economic Studies and Associate Editor of the Journal of The European Economic Association, the European Economic Review, the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Financial Markets. He has been scientific adviser to Euronext, EuroMTS, the European Federation of Fund Management Associations, the London Investment Banking Association and the New York Stock Exchange. He held the Deutsche Bank visiting chair of finance at Oxford University, was Wim Duisenberg Fellow at the European Central Bank, and gave the Rotman Distinguished Lectures at the University of Toronto. He has taught economics and finance in MBA and PHD programs at the University of Toulouse, the London Business School, Oxford University, HEC, Mannheim University, the Tinbergen Institute in Amsterdam and Carnegie Mellon University. His research, on market microstructure, corporate finance and contract theory, has been published in Econometrica, the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies and the Review of Economic Studies. 

 

Steven Ongena is Professor of Banking at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Finance Institute. He is also a Research Professor at Bangor University, a research fellow in financial economics of CEPR, a fellow of CFS, and a co-editor of the Review of Finance. He contribute to reports or working papers issued by the Banco de Espana, BI, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, AEI-Brookings Joint Center, CEPSECRI, CESifo, CFS, CentER, CEPR, CES, CSEF, European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, EBC, ECGI, European Investment Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, SITE, Swiss National Bank, TILEC, and Wharton Financial Institutions Center. He is a director of the European Finance Association and of the Financial Intermediation Research Society, a council member of the European Banking Center, a research advisory council member of SAFE, and an advisory board member of FINEST. In 2009 he received a Wim Duisenberg Research Fellowship of the European Central Bank and in 2012 a Fordham-RPI-NYU Rising Star in Finance Award. He has published in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of International Economics, and Review of Finance, among other journals.