Avinash Persaud

Avinash D. Persaud (born 22 June, 1966 in Barbados, West Indies) is Chairman of Intelligence Capital Ltd [http://www.intelligence-capital.com/pers.html] , a company specializing in analyzing, managing and creating financial liquidity in investment projects and portfolios.

Previously he was managing director and Global Head of Research at State Street Bank, the world's largest institutional investor, (1999-2003) and Global Head of Currency and Commodity Research at J.P. Morgan & Co.(1993-1999). He was ranked within the top 3 of currency analysts in major international investor surveys, (e.g. Institutional Investor and Global Finance) between 1992 and 1999.

Prof Persaud is Co-Chair of the OECD Emerging Market Network [http://www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_33731_1_1_1_1_1,00.html] . He is a Director of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP [http://www.garp.com/] ). In 2008 he was appointed member of a French Presidential Commission on the global credit crunch. He is the economic expert on the UK Government's Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI [http://www.appsi.gov.uk/] )In 2001 he was made a Distinguished Visitor of the Republic of Singapore. He was appointed a Visiting Scholar at the IMF (2001-2002) working on risk appetite measures [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=879914] and at the ECB (2005) working on issues of liquidity and transparency in European financial markets [http://www.ecb.int/pub/scientific/ops/author/html/author819.en.html] . He is frequently a guest speaker at G20 central banks and meetings of officials [http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Conferences/2007/index.html] .

He held the Mercer Memorial Chair in Commerce at Gresham College (2002-2005) and was subsequently elected a Fellow of Gresham College (2005-2008) and Emeritus Professor of Gresham College (2007-). He is an elected member of the Council of the Royal Economic Society (2006-2010). He is a Governor and Member of the Council of the London School of Economics (2004-2008) and served on its Investments and Audit committees. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Financial Analysis and Policy [http://www-cfap.jbs.cam.ac.uk/] , at the Judge Institute, University of Cambridge and is a Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Centre for Money and Banking Reports on the World Economy (Geneva, Switzerland).

Prof Persaud has published widely in academic and professional journals including "International Finance [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2362.00102?cookieSet=1&journalCode=infi] ", "Oxford Review of Economic Policy", "Central Banking" and the "Financial Regulator [http://www.centralbanking.co.uk/publications/journals/frj.htm] " and his work has appeared in the financial press including the "The Economist" and "BusinessWeek". He has authored a dozen "Op Ed" pieces for the "Financial Times [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/94f92422-3238-11dd-9b87-0000779fd2ac.html] ". He co-authored with John Plender "Ethics and Public Finance [http://www.garpdigitallibrary.org/display/product.asp?pid=1381] ", published by Longtail(2007) and edited "Liquidity Black Holes", published by Risk Books, 2005 [http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/218983] .

Prof Persaud has won a number of prizes and awards in finance, including First Prize, Jacques de Larosiere Award [http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:Fh6afxPFmswJ:www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap02l.pdf+Jacques] from the Institute of International Finance (2000) and a Bronze, Amex Bank Award in 1994. He is known for creating a number of practical ideas and tools in finance including the EMU Calculator [http://www.euromoney.com/Article/1005916/Category/1/ChannelPage/0/The-real-time-story.html] (1997), the Risk Appetite Index [http://ideas.repec.org/p/bca/bocawp/03-23.html] (1996) and the idea that market-sensitive risk management systems can create [liquidity black holes] [http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:m2_FfJI5m7cJ:www.g24.org/pers0403.pdf+Liquidity+Black+Holes&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&client=firefox-a] in financial markets.

Professor Persaud is actively involved in education and poverty related charities. He is Deputy Chair of the Overseas Development Institute, He is a Member of the Finance Committee of Coram Family. He is a patron of the Bishnodat Persaud Scholarship and a former trustee of the Nita and Errol Barrow Educational Trust and the Lokahi Foundation.

Prof Persaud is the son of development economist, Professor Bishnodat Persaud and novelist, Dr. Lakshmi Persaud [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi_Persaud] . His elder brother is psychiatrist Prof Dr. Rajendra Persaud and his younger sister is Sharda Dean.

Major publications

Valuation, Regulation and Liquidity, Financial Stability Review, Bank of France, Autumn 2008.

Will Basel II Help Prevent Crises or Worsen Them? Jesus Saurina and Avinash Persaud, Finance & Development, IMF, Volume 45, Number 2. June 2008 Implications for liquidity from innovation and transparency in the European Corporate bond market, Occasional Paper 50, European Central Bank, M. Lagana, M. Perina, I. von Koppen-Mertes and A. Persaud, August 2006.

Redesigning Regulation of Pensions and Other Financial Products, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 22, No. 1, John Nugee and Avinash Persaud, Spring 2006.

The Seven Rules of Foreign Exchange, Quarterly Journal of Central Banking, A. Persaud, May 2004.

Liquidity Black Holes, Risk Books, Ed. 2003.

Pure Contagion and shifting risk appetite, International Finance, M. Kumar, and A. Persaud, Winter 2002.

The Knowledge Gap, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2001.

Sending the herd off the cliff edge: the disturbing interaction between herding and market-sensitive risk management systems, Institute of International Finance, Washington, 2000.