William De Vijlder, PhD

Group Chief Economist

Email: william.devijlder@bnpparibas.com

Blog & videos: w-devijlder-ecoblog.bnpparibas.com

Career

William De Vijlder is the Group Chief Economist of BNP Paribas. He began his career in the Economic Research Department at Belgium’s Generale Bank in 1987 and became Chief Investment Strategist in the Asset Management division in 1989. He was subsequently Managing Director and Global Chief Investment Officer at Fortis Investments. When Fortis Investments merged with BNP Paribas Investment Partners in 2010, he became a member of the Executive Committee of BNP Paribas Investment Partners as CIO Partners and Alternative Investments and subsequently CIO Strategy and Partners. In September 2013, he was appointed Vice Chairman of BNP Paribas Investment Partners. Since September 2014 he is Group Chief Economist of BNP Paribas.

Academic background

William has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Ghent (Belgium). He has been a senior lecturer in Finance and Economics at the same university since 1991.

Social networks, media and conferences

Since 2008, William maintains a blog on which he regularly comments on the economic and market environment. He also runs a Twitter account where he comments on hot topics in financial markets.

In 2014 William has been selected to become one of the 500 LinkedIn Influencers worldwide.

For more than ten years, he has hosted the biannual Market Outlook press conference held in various European cities. He is a regular columnist and contributor for Les Echos (FR), Le Revenu TV (FR), La Bourse et la Vie (FR), Option Finance (FR), Moneytalk/Trends (BE), De Tijd/L’Echo WebTV, Kanaal Z-Expert (BE), RTBF La Une Radio (BE), Le Jeudi (Lux), l’Agefi (Switzerland) and has made regular live appearances on CNBC US/Europe/Asia Squawk Box, Thomson Reuters TV (UK), Bloomberg TV (UK), Fondsnieuws Webcast (NL), Beleggers Belangen (NL), the Canadian Broadcasting Corp – The Lang & O’Leary Exchange and Times Group India.

In addition, William has been a guest speaker at numerous conferences, summits, and roundtables. He has been keynote speaker at the World Pension Summit (Amsterdam), at the International federation of pension funds (FIAP) and the Columbian association of pension funds (ASOFONDOS) conference in Cartagena (Colombia) and a speaker or panelist at the CFA Institute European Investment Conference (FR); Edhec Risk Days (UK and US); Reuters Investment Summit (UK); Eurobond Investor Congress (UK), MoneyTalk Finance Day (BE), Morningstar Fund Summit, VFB Happening, PIPS Seminar Mercer, Finance Avenue; Fondsevent (NL); Morningstar Institutional Conference (AU); Bonds, Loans and Derivatives Brazil; Bonds, Loans, Sukuk Middle East (Dubai). He has given major interviews with international publications & newswires such as The Financial Times, FT MandateWire, Reuters, Bloomberg, IPE and Asian Investor. He also served as a panelist for the Market Outlook Roundtable of Beleggers Belangen (Netherlands), IEXProfs Magazine (Netherlands), Moneytalk (Belgium), ACPM and IMN (Canada and US).