Geopolitical Risk and its Impacts on Financial Markets

Mark Cabana is the head of US Rates Strategy at BofA Global Research, based in New York. In this role, he publishes research and trade recommendations covering US short-term interest rates and macro strategy. He also meets regularly with a broad range of clients to discuss the firm's views on Fed policy, interest rates, and financial regulation. Cabana joined the firm in 2015. 

Prior to BofA Securities, Mark worked as an officer in the Markets Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He spent nearly nine years on the Open Markets Trading Desk which spanned the duration of the financial crisis. In this role, Cabana was closely involved with the design and implementation for a number of asset purchase / QE programs and also managed a team focused on analyzing global macroeconomic conditions and financial markets. 

Cabana earned a bachelor’s degree from Furman University and holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in finance and international relations. 

ChristopherDonohue is the Managing Director of the GARP Benchmarking Initiative, a datautility for financial services companies to compare sensitive data. Previously,he led GARP’s Educational and Research Programs, with oversight including the FinancialRisk Manager (FRM®) and Energy Risk Professional (ERP®).

Prior tojoining GARP, Donohue’s roles include hedge fund partner responsible for thedevelopment of asset allocation tools for pension funds and automated tradingsystems; director in the Global Research Center at Deutsche Asset Management, leadingproduct research and development; and Director of Optimization Technology atAlphatech, a technology and research defense contractor, where he led algorithmdevelopment for intelligence aircraft path planning and sensor scheduling systems.

Mark provides analysis of geopolitical, political and economic developments to senior management and the Board. The team oversees the generation of macro scenarios that guide the financial planning and capital stress testing processes of the firm. M&CR sets and enforces country risk exposure and loss limits and manages country exposure reporting across ~110 sovereign jurisdictions. The team also oversees the internal sovereign rating process for the firm.

Mark’s international career spans three decades of public and private service. Prior to joining TIAA in 2016, he was Head of Asia Pacific Country Risk at JP Morgan in Hong Kong from 2014-2016. From 2011 to 2014, Mark was Head of Developed Markets and Latin America Country Risk at JP Morgan in New York.

Paul Shotton is founder, Chairman and CEO of White Diamond Risk Advisory, a bespoke company providing risk advisory services to boards of directors and executive management across a wide spectrum of asset classes in the financial services sector. He also serves as board chair of Brighterwatts and of Great Western Care, as a board advisor to Belay Associates, and an advisor to Eleven Canterbury. 

Paul began his career as a researcher at the European Center for Nuclear Physics Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. Paul then joined Goldman Sachs as a quantitative proprietary trader in London, trading all asset classes over a nine-year period, before moving to the second line of defense as an independent risk manager. He was responsible for overseeing the trading operations of banks, asset- and wealth managers in the world, including Barclays, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and UBS. 

Paul holds a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D in physics from the University of Oxford.