William (Bill) White

William (Bill) White (1943) is currently the Chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee of the OECD in Paris.

From 1995 to 2008 he was the Economic Adviser and Head of the of the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements. In this function, one of his responsibilities was leading the preparation of the BIS Annual Report. In this capacity, he is now widely credited with being one of the few who foresaw the current economic and financial crisis.

He has previously worked for the Bank of Canada as economist and deputy chief with the Department of Banking and Financial Analysis, as deputy chief and then chief of the Research Department, as appointed adviser to the Governor and finally as the Bank’s deputy governor. He has also worked as an economist at the Bank of England.

From the late 1980s until he left the BIS, he was an active participant in many international committees.