Keynote Speaker - Satyajit Das - Biography

Satyajit Das works in the area of financial derivatives and risk management. He anticipated much of what is now unfolding.

His Traders, Guns and Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives (2006, FT-Prentice Hall), is an insider's account of derivatives trading and the financial products business filled with black humour and satire. He exposes the sophistry of derivatives and the structured credit market, and highlights the moral hazards and distorted incentive structures that posed major threats to market stability. It has been described by the Financial Times, London as

" fascinating reading ... explaining not only the high-minded theory behind the business and its various products but the sometimes sordid reality of the industry".

In a 2006 speech - The Coming Credit Crash - Das argues that,

"an informed analysis ... shows that risk is not better spread but more leveraged and (arguably) more concentrated ... This does not improve the overall stability and security of the financial system but exposes it to increased risk of a 'crash'"

Therefore he has exposed the problems that are now becoming readily apparent.