I guess the news is out – I earlier this week resigned from Danske Bank to start my own business. This is what I a couple of days ago wrote about it on Facebook:
After more than 14 years with Danske Bank I have decided to resign from the bank to start my own business.
I plan to build my business around public speaking (I have made a deal with an international speaker agency), commentary and obviously advisory within the area of international economics, financial markets, Emerging Markets and obviously monetary policy.
The decision has been very long under way. I have had a wonderful time at the bank and the bank will always be “my bank”. Everybody who knows me knows to what extent I identify with the Danske Bank brand, but now it is also time to move on.
Today has been a very hectic and emotional day for me and I am very grateful for the very positive response I have got from colleagues and clients of the bank alike to my decision.
I still have contractual obligations with Danske Bank and I will continue to honour these obligations professionally and with the loyalty towards the bank that I always felt and still fell for a couple of months more until I fully throw myself into my new venture.
Thanks to all of my great colleagues at the bank. It has been truly great and you all will always remain my friends. I particularly want to thank my colleagues in Danske Bank Markets and my colleagues in Danske Bank in Poland, Russia and the Baltic States.
Bloomberg has an article on my decision:
Lars Christensen, the head of emerging market research at Danske Bank A/S, is quitting to start his own business as a consultant and public speaker.
Christensen, who spent 14 years at the biggest Danish lender, correctly predicted the downfall of Iceland’s economy two years before the island nation’s three largest banks collapsed in the 2008 global credit crunch, for which he was cited in Michael Lewis’s book “Boomerang.”
Four years ago he started The Market Monetarist, a blog about changes in economic theory in the wake of the “Great Recession,” especially on the role of central banks as they unleashed unprecedented stimulus to rejuvenate stalled growth.
“Since I started my blog, I’ve increasingly felt that the requests from conference organizers concerned areas outside of what I’ve been doing at Danske,” Christensen said by phone from Copenhagen on Thursday. “I’m leaving Danske but not emerging markets.”
Polish tabloid Fakt called Christensen a “Danish vampire,” accusing him of “speculating” against the country’s economy in 2009, when he forecast, also correctly, the zloty’s weakening to a record low. In his latest report from April 21, he predicted the Polish currency to appreciate to 3.95 per euro within three months, compared with 4.025 on Thursday, as the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program pumps cash into higher-yielding assets in eastern Europe.
Peter Kjaergaard Nielsen, a spokesman at Danske, confirmed by phone that Christensen was leaving the bank.
“When you work for a think-tank, you say how the world ought to look and when you’re in markets, you say how it will be,” Christensen said. “I’ve always been somewhere in between.”
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Contact:
Lars Christensen
lacsen@gmail.com
+45 52 50 25 06
Speaker agency: Spealist Speakers (mail: daniel@spealistspeakers.com)
David Ric
/ May 1, 2015Sir all the best for your exciting new project and I very much hope we will stay in touch !
David
Sent from my iPhone
>
Lars Christensen
/ May 1, 2015Thanks David!
Şebnem uysal
/ May 1, 2015Dear Lars,
Many years I have followed you, enjoyed your insightfull knowledge and comments.. I wish you the best in your new challange. Hope to stay in touch . I certainly will continue to follow your work.
Şebnem Uysal
Azimut Asset Management
Lars Christensen
/ May 1, 2015Thanks Şebnem!
I certainly hope you will get following me – I am pretty sure that I will not stop writing and talking about Turkey!
jamesxinxlondon
/ May 1, 2015Great news. You are too valuable a social asset to work mostly for just one master. And so much work to be done, not least with our moribund economics profession. Good luck.
Lars Christensen
/ May 1, 2015Thanks James! See you soon in London!
Eske
/ May 1, 2015Tillykke Lars. Lyder virkelig spændende men du vil blive savnet. Håber vores veje krydser igen. Mvh Eske
Lars Christensen
/ May 1, 2015Tak Eske. Vi ses på mandag i banken…jeg er der lidt endnu;-)
alexguerreroe
/ May 1, 2015Hi Lars, my best wishes for your new venture, I hope you will not abandon the blog, it is a good friend these days as economic instability is around for some time. I continue to of some help if any, about the nightmare we are living during more than fifteen years, observing, analyzing, discussing, how you some political leaders can ruin a country systematically, no unintended consequences, the destruction of a nation, punished with the worst sins any country would survive, namely, corruption, criminalization of people economic activity, controls, political and economic repression, property rights violations, confiscation of property, nearly 4000 enterprises small and big were ruined, nationalized and ruined, ..
Lars, go and pursue your dream!! Good luck and hard work!!
Lars Christensen
/ May 1, 2015Thanks Alex,
I hope freedom will prevail and the socialist horrors will soon come to an end in Venezuela.
George Selgin
/ May 1, 2015Lars, I wish you the best of luck in your new venture, though I’m sure your talent alone will ensure its success.
Lars Christensen
/ May 1, 2015Thanks a lot George. I hope that we will soon get together in DC!
Becky Hargrove
/ May 1, 2015Lars,
What good fortune, for you and all who stand to gain from what you have learned over the years. Keep us posted!
Lars Christensen
/ May 1, 2015Thanks Becky!
dajeeps
/ May 1, 2015It is very exciting news that one of founders, and of the best MM evangelists, will on the public speaking circuit spreading the good news that monetary policy shouldn’t be about inflation control. Undoubtedly the world will end up a much better place as a result. Thank you, Lars, for all you have done and will continue to do to bring rationality to monetary matters and what it will mean for posterity.
-D-
Carsten Valgreen
/ May 2, 2015Congratulations Lars!
I strongly recommend the independent Analyst life.. and I am sure you will thrive…
Take care
Carsten
Lars Christensen
/ May 3, 2015Thanks Carsten…you are a great inspiration!
Nick Rowe
/ May 4, 2015Wishing you all the best in your new line of work Lars!
Your decision makes me think about my own future work. I have been at Carleton for the last 34 years (I was just a kid when I started), and it’s been a very good 34 years, but it is a long time, so I’ve told them I will stay another 2 years, and then I really need to do something else (or nothing at all).