Spring Meetings

Tobias Adrian is the Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In this capacity, he leads the IMF’s work on financial sector surveillance, monetary and macroprudential policies, digital money, financial regulation, bank resolution, debt management, capital markets, and climate finance. He also oversees capacity building activities in IMF member countries with regard to the supervision and regulation of financial systems, bank resolution, central banking, monetary and exchange rate regimes, central bank digital currency, and debt management. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Adrian was a Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Associate Director of the Research and Statistics Group. At the Federal Reserve, he contributed to monetary policy, financial stability policies, and to crisis management. Mr. Adrian has published extensively in economics and finance journals. His research spans macro-finance, monetary policy, financial stability, and climate finance, with a focus on aggregate consequences of capital markets developments. He has taught at Princeton University and New York University. He is member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Central Banking and the Annual Review of Financial Economics. Mr. Adrian holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Economics, an MSc from the London School of Economics in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, a Diplom from Goethe University Frankfurt and a Maîtrise from Dauphine University Paris. He received his Abitur in Literature and Mathematics from Humboldtschule Bad Homburg.

Prior to his appointment as Governor, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Eswatini Sugar Association and Standard Bank Eswatini. Before then, he served as Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Eswatini. A Chartered Marketer Southern Africa (CMSA), and member of the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoD), Phil holds a PhD in Leadership and Management from Logos University, USA; a Masters Degree in Business Leadership (MBL) from the University of South Africa (UNISA), a B.Com (Accounting) Degree and has completed an Executive Leadership Development Program from GIBS University and a Program on Investment Appraisal Management from Harvard University, USA. His corporate leadership experience spans more than 25 years in Eswatini and abroad. In South Africa, he worked for ABSA as Head of Group Talent Management and was a member of the Senior Leadership Group. Prior to joining ABSA, he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Bankers (IOB). In Eswatini, he held senior positions at Nedbank, Eswatini Industrial Development Company (EIDC) and the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC). Dr. Phil is experienced in corporate governance, strategy and leadership after serving in various companies and organizations locally and internationally as a Chairman and/or Board member. He has also served in multiple national commissions as Chairman.

Pablo Saavedra leads the World Bank’s Practice Group that work on macroeconomics, fiscal policy, growth, trade, finance, investment, competitiveness, poverty, governance, and climate economics. A Bolivian national, he served in several positions of responsibility across the Bank. He was the Chief of Staff of the World Bank Group. Prior to that, he served as the Country Director for Mexico, and earlier as the Practice Manager of the Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment unit in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. He worked as Economic Adviser at the Country Economics department of Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS) Vice Presidency and was the Operations Committee (OC) Secretary. He held several economist positions in the Prosperity unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region.