As Acting Head of Division, Rob Patalano directs a team of economists and policy analysts that develop analytical reports and policy recommendations for the OECD's Committee on Financial Markets, its Experts Group on Finance and Digitalisation, the Working Party on Public Debt Management, and the Taskforce on Long-term Investment. These bodies include delegates from central banks, finance ministries, market regulators, and public debt managers from OECD member countries. Through these bodies, Rob oversees market structure analyses and policy recommendations related to global financial markets, digitalisation of finance, and sustainable finance including ESG, markets and climate transitions. In this capacity, Rob represents the OECD on the Financial Stability Board’s working groups on financial stability and climate, the Network for the Greening of the Financial System, the European Securities and Markets Authority’s Financial Innovations Consultative Working Group, the G20 Sustainable Finance Study Group, and the B20 Finance and Infrastructure Group. He is a frequent speaker and moderator for conferences and policy roundtables on sustainable finance and digitalisation of finance. 

Prior to joining the OECD, Rob spent five years at the Financial Stability Board, where he led the assessment of global financial stability risks for the Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities and chaired its Analytical Group on Vulnerabilities. Also, he spent a decade at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in managerial and analytical roles in the Markets Group, and served on the NY Fed’s commercial paper and AIG liquidity facilities during the global financial crisis. Also, during the European financial crisis, he was a senior economist on the sovereign crisis management team at the European Central Bank, which managed surveillance and adjustment programs for Ireland and Italy.

Prior to this, he was a sovereign and investor relations director in New York and several Asian capitals. He led the on-site investor relations programme for the Korean Ministry of Finance during the Asian Financial Crisis, and also consulted on investor relations programmes for Hyundai.

Rob earned an MBA in finance and corporate strategy from the University of Michigan and an MA in international relations and economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS and is a CFA charterholder. He was married in Seoul.