£20.1 million donation creates Imperial’s Brevan Howard Centre

Brevan Howard - the third largest hedgefund in the world, has made a historic £20.1 million donation towards the set up of ‘The Brevan Howard Centre’ at Imperial College London. The centre is set to be “one of the most important centres for financial research in the world” according to Mervyn King (former governor of the Bank of England) and will be based in Imperial’s renowned business school. Professor Franklin Allen and Professor Douglas Gale, two of the world’s leading experts on financial crisis and market contagion (The spread of economic crisis/boom via small financial institutions) are set to lead the centre, leaving their previous posts in the US where they were based at top universities. The professors have been hailed as “two of the giants of modern banking and corporate finance.” by Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and Alan Howard, (founder of Brevan Howard) an Imperial alumnus, as well as the man behind the donation, is hoping that “under Franklin and Douglas’ leadership, the Brevan Howard Centre will be perhaps the world’s most important locus for studying these [financial] issues.” Professor Allen himself, has said that Brevan Howard’s donation has “created the opportunity to set up a finance centre that will be second to none in the world.” And together with Professor Gale, he plans “for the research produced at the Brevan Howard Centre to have a direct and positive influence on financial policymakers and practitioners.” Professor Gale also added that “Although the Business School is relatively young, it has made rapid progress and I am confident that it can attain the global stature that Imperial College has in the natural sciences, engineering and medicine. Thanks to the generosity of Alan Howard in funding the Centre, we have already taken a big step toward that goal.” As you may have deduced by now, this centre will effectively play a part in determining the future of both the US and UK economies, and therefore it is no surprise that this initiative has been met with praise from officials from both sides of the Atlantic. Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has made assurances that it will “make our financial system work better and make financial policy much wiser”. London Mayor Boris Johnson hardly seemed to be able to contain his excitement, commenting that: “Great scholars and thinkers are intrinsically linked to the success of our city, and having convinced these two world leading minds to move here will help Imperial College further cement London’s position as the world’s intellectual capital.” - Sounds good to us Boris! Therefore, not only has Imperial once again asserted its dominance on the world stage of leading institutions, the college has also adopted a hands on approach to addressing the key issues that are confronting society today. The success of this approach has been exemplified by the high graduate employment rates that Imperial produces time and time again, and the launch of the Brevan Howard Centre is just another step in cementing Imperial’s global reputation.