René Karsenti is Senior Advisor to the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), having previously served as President. From 1995 until joining ICMA in 2006, Mr. Karsenti was Director General of Finance at the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg, having previously served as Treasurer of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London from its inception in May 1991 to 1995. Prior to joining EBRD, from 1979 Mr. Karsenti held a variety of senior positions in the treasury organisations of the World Bank Group (IBRD & IFC), including as IFC Treasurer.

He is also a member of the Strategic Committee of the French Debt Management Office (Agence France Trésor), a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and a member of the G20 Independent Review Panel on MDBs capital adequacy frameworks .

He was Chairman of the International  Finance Facility for Immunization ( IFFIm – 2011 to 2019), Chairman of the International Council of Securities Associations (ICSA – 2009 to 2011), and Chairman of the European Capital Market Institute (ECMI – 2008 to 2014).

Mr. Karsenti holds an engineering degree from ESCIL Lyon and a PhD in Economics from the Sorbonne University in Paris. He has also carried out research in finance and economics at the University of California, Berkeley.