DBS appoints Taimur Baig as new chief economist

VETERAN economist Taimur Baig is joining DBS Bank on Monday as its chief economist and managing director for group research, the bank announced on Friday.

Mr Baig takes over from David Carbon, who is retiring. He will report to Timothy Wong, managing director and head of DBS Group Research.

Mr Baig is a seasoned economist, with close to 20 years' experience covering the Asia region.

His work experience in Singapore and Washington, DC spans central and commercial banks, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

His areas of specialty include international finance, macro risk spillover, exchange rate and fixed income analytics and forecasting, the economics of financial crisis, and demographics.

He joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in May as the principal economist at its economic policy group before going over to DBS.

Mr Baig had previously been at Deutsche Bank AG's Singapore office for almost a decade, where his last position was managing director and chief economist, Asia.

Before Deutsche Bank, Mr Baig was at the IMF for eight years from 1999. His last position there was senior economist, covering macro forecasting, monetary policy and exchange rate in Argentina, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Ukraine.

He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and attended Wabash College and the London School of Economics for his Bachelor of Arts degree.

Mr Wong said Mr Baig's strong grasp of Asian economies makes him "the perfect addition to DBS".

"I believe he will make invaluable contributions to the bank's deep insights on the region, he added.

Mr Wong also thanked Mr Carbon for his 12 years of service as the bank's chief economist for DBS.