Georges Ugeux

Georges Ugeux
Born	1945 Belgium
Citizenship	Belgium, United States
Occupation(s)	Banker, CEO, author
Years active	1970–present
Known for	Group Executive Vice President at the New York Stock Exchange (1996–2003); CEO of Galileo Global Advisors
Notable work	The betrayal of finance: twelve reforms to restore confidence

Georges Ugeux holds citizenship in both Belgium and the United States, and was the Group Executive Vice President at the New York Stock Exchange from 1996 until 2003. His banking profession commenced in Europe during the 1970s. Presently, he leads Galileo Global Advisors as CEO, an investment banking firm based in New York that specializes in emerging market opportunities. Ugeux is widely recognized in global finance circles and frequently appears as a speaker and contributor to the Huffington Post.

Early life

Born in Belgium in 1945, Ugeux was raised bilingual within the Walloon and Flemish communities. He completed degrees in Economics and Law at Université catholique de Louvain during the late 1960s and embraced European integration ideals amid Belgium’s linguistic divisions.

Career

Ugeux launched his financial career in 1970 at Société Générale de Banque in Brussels, eventually becoming head of investment banking and trust services. By 1985, he had advanced to Managing Director overseeing mergers and acquisitions for Morgan Stanley in London.

In 1988, he took on the role of Group Finance Director at Société Générale de Belgique. Four years later, in 1992, he was appointed President and Managing Director of Kidder, Peabody & Co. for Europe, where he advised governments on privatization initiatives. From June 1994, he served as President of the European Investment Fund<ref>. In 1995, he led a Belgian governmental agency responsible for managing asset privatizations that had been launched in 1992.

Ugeux joined the New York Stock Exchange in September 1996 as Group Executive Vice President for International & Research, earning recognition as "the face of the NYSE outside the United States". He resigned in 2003 amid the NYSE compensation controversy, indicating his departure was prearranged to pursue entrepreneurial ventures; during his leadership, the NYSE listed approximately 300 non-U.S. firms with a combined valuation of $2.7 trillion.

That same year, he established Galileo Global Advisors and assumed its CEO position. The company primarily caters to Asian clients, including municipal entities such as Guangzhou.

After the 2009 legal complications involving Fortis, a Belgian financial services company, Ugeux briefly sought its board chairmanship but withdrew due to negotiation impasses.

By 2011, Galileo Global Advisors became a member of the Institute of International Finance. Ugeux contributed to discussions on Greece’s debt restructuring during the Eurozone crisis, demonstrating his continued involvement with intricate global financial matters.

Writing

Georges Ugeux is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and maintains a blog on Le Monde, titled Démystifier la Finance, Ethiques et Marchés. In late 2011, his blog attracted significant attention through its focus on Greece’s debt restructuring, an area where he had direct involvement (see Career), along with its effects on the eurozone. His commentary occasionally includes pointed critiques; for instance, he questioned whether the French president primarily represented banking interests, as highlighted by Eurointelligence in October 2011.

Financial crisis

After advocating for the NYSE's self-regulatory organization on an international level during his tenure as a senior exchange executive, Georges Ugeux later criticized the 2009 failure of financial industry self-regulation as a "magistral failure." He further elaborated on this viewpoint in his 2010 publication, The betrayal of finance: twelve reforms to restore confidence, which is available in Dutch, English (2011), and French editions.

Eurozone debt crisis

Ugeux takes a firm stance against economists such as Paul Krugman, whom he accuses of issuing bold forecasts primarily for personal recognition, especially concerning Greece’s possible departure from the Eurozone in 2012. He maintains that while reintroducing the Greek drachma might seem advantageous, it would actually raise the real cost of Greece’s existing Euro-denominated debts—both governmental and private—thus negating any perceived benefits.

Other

• Serving as adjunct faculty at Columbia Law School since 2012
• Became a member of the International Advisory Council at APCO Worldwide in 2011, aiding the company's global finance growth
• CEO of Galileo Global Advisors, which became part of the Institute of International Finance in 2011
• Board director at Amoeba Capital
• Board member of British American Business, Inc. since at least 2010
• Part of the International Advisory Board at Oxford Analytica since at least 2009
• Honorary Ambassador for Foreign Investment Promotion in South Korea
• Honorary Chairman of the Belgian American Chamber of Commerce
• Appointed advisor to the board of the SEC Historical Society (anticipated for 2014)
• Chairman of the Catholic University of Louvain Foundation
• Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) since 2004

External links

• Galileo Global Advisors LLC (founder and CEO)
• Author page at Huffington Post
• Author page at Le Monde
• Executive profile by Business Week