Appointments within Societe Generale Cross Asset Research team

• Klaus Baader is named Global Chief Economist for SG CIB replacing Michala Marcussen who was promoted Group Chief Economist. Based in London, Klaus will lead Societe Generale Cross Asset Research’s team of recognised economists based in major locations around the world. In his new role, he reports to Brigitte Richard-Hidden, Global Head of Research for SG CIB.
• Mark Keenan is appointed Head of Research for Asia-Pacific and retains his previous role as Global Commodities Strategist. Based in Singapore, Mark will report to Brigitte Richard-Hidden and to Yann Garnier, Head of Global Markets in Asia-Pacific. He will continue to report to Michael Haigh, Head of Commodities Research.
• Wei Yao is appointed Lead Economist for Asia-Pacific and as such she will be coordinating the economic studies for the region. This new role comes in addition to her position as Chief China Economist for SG CIB. Based in Paris, Wei will report to Klaus Baader.

Leveraging on a team of economists and analysts, Societe Generale Cross Asset Research offers strong global coverage with leading expertise on market trends. This expertise was again recognised by leading positions in the 2017 Extel survey, the 2017 Euromoney survey and the Energy Risk Commodity rankings 2017.

Biographies

Klaus Baader joined Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking in July 2009 as Chief Euro Area Economist in London before moving to Hong Kong in 2012 as Chief Asia Pacific Economist. Since 2014, he was Head of Research for Asia-Pacific in addition to his role as Chief Asia Pacific Economist. He had been Chief Europe Economist at Merrill Lynch since 2006 after working at Lehman Brothers, UBS and Deutsche Bank. Klaus began his career at Salomon Brothers in 1989.

Klaus studied Economics and Political Science at the University of Cologne and the London School of Economics. He received his B.Sc. in Economics from the LSE in 1988, and completed the Master course in Economics in 1989.

Mark Keenan joined Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking in April 2013 as Global Commodities Strategist. Before joining, he was CEO of Cubit Commodity Research in Singapore, a firm dedicated to fundamentally-driven commodity investment strategies. Prior to that, Mark worked as a quantitative commodity analyst at RWC Partners (formerly MPC Investors) in London and thereafter as head of Portfolio Analytics and Risk for the firm. Before joining RWC Partners, Mark worked at UBS Investment Bank, where he set up the commodity investment products capability within its exchange traded derivatives division and was responsible for the generation of all technical analysis and quantitative research for commodities. Mark had also worked at ABN AMRO and Prudential Bache as a trader and broker in the energy markets, covering European and Asian corporate clients specifically.

Mark holds a Master of Arts in Biochemistry from Oxford University.

Wei Yao joined Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking in April 2010 and was appointed Chief China Economist in 2016. Wei offers unique insight into the complex transition of the world's second-largest economy. Wei has been continuously ranked among the top forecasters for China since 2012 by Bloomberg and Consensus Economics. Prior to joining SG CIB, Wei Yao worked on Asia economic research for Kuwait-China Investment Company (now Asiya Investment), based in the Middle East.

Wei obtained a Bachelor's degree from Fudan University, and holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Tufts University.