Ibrahim Chowdhury is the World Bank Senior Economist for China based in the Beijing office. In this function he is responsible for shaping macroeconomic assessments and managing lending operations on economic and fiscal aspects. He is also the lead author of the World Bank’s semi-annual China Economic Update report. Before joining the Beijing office, Ibrahim spent four years in Cairo where he led the Bank’s policy dialogue on macro-fiscal and structural issues and led a multibillion-dollar financing program. He joined the World Bank in 2012 in the Credit Risk Department and was part of a team managing the credit risk in the World Bank’s loan portfolio.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Ibrahim spent three years at the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund. As an Advisor to the Executive Director of the Switzerland-led constituency he prepared policy and strategy positions on many global economic and financial issues.
Ibrahim also has central bank experience having spent half a decade at the Swiss National Bank in Zurich. Earlier in his career, he held the position of Assistant Professor at the economics department of the University of Cologne, Germany, and worked for Merrill Lynch in London. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from the Universities of Bonn and London, and a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Oxford.

Chris Torrens is a Partner in Control Risks’ Greater China and North Asia region, based in Beijing. Chris heads up the North China geomarket and oversees the company’s growing Chinese client base, advising both state-owned and private Chinese multinational companies operating globally. In these capacities he has consulted with multinational and Chinese corporations across various industries on risk and strategy issues, particularly in relation to geopolitical and regulatory risks.

Ether Yin is the Co-founder and Head of Policy Research at Trivium China, a Beijing-based strategic advisory firm. Before founding Trivium, Yin was the China analyst at BowerGroupAsia, a US strategic advisory firm, where he advised multinational companies on developments of China’s political and policy space. Previously, Yin was the senior consultant at North Head, a Beijing-based public affairs consultancy, where he advised multinational companies and foreign governmental organizations.