Weill, Laurent

(Professor, University of Strasbourg Business School, France) Laurent Weill is Full Professor of Economics at University of Strasbourg. He is the Program Director of the Masters Degree in Islamic Finance at University of Strasbourg. In 2008, this became the first such available degree program and diploma in Islamic finance established in a Continental European university. He has organized conferences in Islamic finance in Strasbourg, including a workshop in March 2010 gathering together prominent scholars in Islamic finance. He was a visiting researcher at Bank of Finland and at Université Libre de Bruxelles. His research focuses on banking and institutions in emerging markets. His current fields of interest are Islamic finance and banking in Russia and China. He has widely worked on bank efficiency, financial stability, and large debt instruments (syndicated loans, sukuk). He has also investigated the role of institutions on financial development, with a special focus on corruption. He has published more than 50 papers in journals and books, including World Development, European Financial Management, Economics of Transition, Applied Economics and Comparative Economic Studies. He has spoken at more than 100 conferences including Middle East Economic Association – ASSA Meeting 2011 in Denver and the Economic Research Forum in Cairo in 2009.