Thorsten Beck Appointed as Director of the Florence School of Banking and Finance

“I am very excited to join the EUI community. Over the past few years, the Florence School of Banking and Finance has had a great success in training financial sector stakeholders across the globe and in contributing to the financial sector policy debate in Europe. I am looking forward to further deepen and broaden the role of the FBF in research, training and policy dialogue across the globe over the next five years.” Said Professor Beck.

His research so far focuses on two major questions: What is the relationship between finance and economic development? What policies are needed to build a sound and effective financial system? Recently, his work concentrates on access to financial services, including SME finance, as well as on the design of regulatory and bank resolution frameworks.

In addition to numerous academic publications, 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 Albania, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Russia and several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  

“We are delighted to welcome Professor Thorsten Beck to the Schuman Centre. His appointment as full-time Director of the School of Banking and Finance is an important milestone in its development." said Brigid Laffan, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre.

Over the next two academic years, the Florence School of Banking and Finance (FBF) will create an ambitious research cluster around its newly-created Chair in Financial Stability. Beside the FBF, the Robert Schuman Centre also hosts the Pierre Werner Chair and the Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Chairs. Together, the three programmes form part the Robert Schuman Centre’s ‘Regulating Markets and Governing Money’ research theme.