Bilal Hafeez
CEO and Head of Research
Facebook: Bilal Hafeez at Macro Hive | Facebook
Instagram: Bilal Hafeez (@bilal_hafeez_blog) • Instagram photos and videos
Twitter: Bilal Hafeez (@bilalhafeez123) / Twitter
LinkedIn: Bilal Hafeez | LinkedIn
By the time Bilal Hafeez founded Macro Hive in June 2019, he was already a veteran of the finance industry. After graduating from St Johns College, Cambridge, with a master’s degree in economics, Bilal entered the corporate world working as an FX Strategist at J.P. Morgan.
In 2002, Bilal moved to Deutsche Bank where he went from FX Strategist to the Global Head of FX Research. During that time, he created one of the first ever sets of benchmarks and factor models for currency markets. After the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, he moved to Singapore where ran Asia Research for Deutsche Bank. In 2012, he returned to London, where he created and headed a new Multi-Asset Research team. He also had an Advisory to the CEO.
While at Deutsche, Bilal was ranked #1 by Euromoney for 10 years. He was also awarded first place in the All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team for both 2013 and 2014 by Institutional Investor. Bilal and his team were praised for forecasting the weakness of the yen and the fall of the euro, along with investing in numerous assets that performed exceptionally well during both years.
Bilal’s journey at Deutsche ended in December 2015 when he moved to Nomura, where he held multiple ‘Global Head’ roles for over three years. Bilal first worked as the Global Head of G10 FX Strategy, then the Head of EMEA Fixed Income Research, then as the Global Head of FX and Rates Strategy.
Finally, with a wealth of experience under his belt, Bilal founded Macro Hive in June 2019, and the company quickly became a leading independent provider of global macro and financial market research.
Currently, Bilal is both the CEO and the Head of Research at Macro Hive. He is the primary force behind the company’s ambition to deliver unbiased and cutting-edge market insights, and his weekly insights reveal key macro themes for investors and actionable trade ideas.
Aside from research, Bilal is dedicated to passing on his knowledge and helping the worldwide financial community. This is evident from the three years he spent as an Honorary Visiting Professor of Finance at the Cass Business School. Bilal’s passion for teaching is still going strong, and he occasionally lectures at Harvard, MIT, Oxford University, and Imperial College,
Bilal has also run his own blog since May 2015, where he shares everything from general life advice to his recommendations for TV Shows. As a self-professed movie fanatic who also reads two books a week, Bilal’s blog is a refreshing break from the trading screens – its latest iteration is available on Macro Hive.
Those who want to delve deeper into the Bilal-verse can also listen to his podcast, Macro Hive Conversations (formerly the Deep See With Bilal). He also regularly appears as a guest on podcasts such as ReSolve Riffs and Blockworks to discuss the macro outlook.
For decades, major financial publications and newspapers have relied on Bilal’s expertise in FX. Bilal’s insights and opinions have been published in Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, and he is a frequent guest on Bloomberg.
Bilal currently lives with his partner in London, where any time that he has left is spent with his children and many pets (seven cats, four chickens, a beehive, and a dog).
