About Olivier Desbarres
I worked 15 years as a senior Economist, Rates and FX strategist for Credit Suisse and Barclays in Moscow, London and Singapore between 1998 and 2012.
As Head of Asia-Pacific FX Strategy at Barclays in Singapore, my primary responsibility was devising Asia-Pacific FX strategies, trade recommendations and regional macro views. My team was also the focal point for G10 research during Asian trading hours, conducting its own analysis of G10 economies, currencies and interest rate markets.
I was highly ranked by a number of institutions and polls and participated regularly in high-profile events and presentations. I was frequently quoted in the written press, including the Financial Times, and was a guest host on CNBC and regular participant on the BBC, Bloomberg, Channel News Asia, CNBC TV 18 and Reuters TV.
Prior to that, I was for 10 years the Economist, Rates and FX strategist for Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Credit Suisse in London where I built a strong track record and following amongst the world’s largest fund managers and corporates. I was also the UK Rates Strategist for two years and wrote extensively on European Union and eurozone membership.
After leaving investment banking I ran a respected Macro & FX Research website. My 2,000 subscribers were based in 77 countries in Europe, America, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East and worked for, amongst others, Fortune 500, FTSE-100 and S&P 500 companies and some of Europe’s largest corporations.
Over 1,000 of my subscribers worked on the buy-side, including in sovereign wealth funds and central banks, 115 of the world’s 500 largest real money fund managers, 40 of the world’s leading 100 hedge funds, international financial and insurance groups, private equity firms (including five of the ten largest) and family offices. On the sell-side, I had 330 subscribers across 70 commercial and investment banks, 10 private banks and over 20 brokerages.
I also had a strong following within corporates, including global commodity producers, retail and telecoms groups, healthcare providers, property groups and industrial conglomerates, as well as industry associations, international organisations, credit rating agencies, consultancies and law firms.
I subsequently founded 4X Global Research, a London-based Macro & FX Research consultancy providing institutional and corporate clients with focused, actionable, independent and connected research on Emerging and G20 fixed income and FX markets and economies.
I hold a Master of Science in the Political Economy of Transition in Europe from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Cambridge. I am fluent in French and English and speak conversational Russian and Spanish.
I am a keen skier, surfer and scuba diver and hold Advanced PADI and Nitrox diving certificates. I am an avid advocate of food and wine and was honoured to become the youngest member of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, a Burgundy wine tasting society founded in 1703.
You can connect with me personally on social media, including LinkedIn and Twitter.