I was born in Beirut to a Lebanese mother and to a French father who worked for 38 years as a Diplomat, after serving in the “Forces Françaises Libres” with de Gaulle during the Second World War.
I lived in and traveled across the Middle East: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey…
My professional career was entirely accomplished in Geneva, where I started as a trader in financial markets within various banking institutions, before being appointed at the age of 27 as the head of the trading floor in a major French bank based in Switzerland.
Subsequently, I created and managed two companies (still in Geneva) active in wealth management. During this period, I founded and managed several investment and hedge funds active in FX, on the stock markets and their derivatives.
Since 2006, as an independant macro economist, I have been advising Central Banks and public organizations in emerging and in developing countries.
I have also been a Finance Professor in Geneva for several years, a member of the World Economic Forum (Davos) and of IFRI (French Institute of International Relations).
I am currently an active member:
- Qualified (founder) of the NGO “Finance Watch” based in Brussels, which works for a better financial regulation.
- Of “Lebanese International Financial Executive,” a group of Lebanese (or of Lebanese origin) bank executives worldwide.
In parallel, since 2015, being passionate about art, I advise collectors in their acquisitions, mainly in the United States where I spend several months a year.
I am the author of:
- Splendeurs et misères du libéralisme, Preface by Patrick Artus
- L’Europe: chroniques d’un fiasco économique et politique, Preface by Christine Kerdellant
- Misère et opulence, Preface by Romaric Godin
- Capitalism without a conscience, in English, Oxford
- Pour un capitalisme entre adultes consentants, Preface by Philippe Bilger
- Do banks have a moral responsibility in triggering the crisis?
- Global finance: a finite world – collective work
- The testament of a disillusioned economist
- The future of the eurozone – collective work (with Jean-Claude Trichet, Michel Aglietta, Clément Beaune, etc.)
- BNS: A central bank should not do this
Since 2011, I have been writing a weekly macroeconomic column in La Tribune (France), after having written for several years for L’Agefi and Le Journal de Genève in Switzerland, for L’Orient Le Jour in Lebanon.
In 2017, I was an (unsuccessful) candidate for chair 37 of the Académie Française and wrote a book about it, Chair 37, prefaced by Edgar Morin.
I am Franco-Swiss (naturalized in 1997) and I hold a superior Master’s degree in Economic Law (Bank and finance attorney) from the University of Nice/France.