Philippe Bénédic

Mr. Philippe Bénédic is the new Resident Director General of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) European Representative Office (ERO). He assumed office in November 2004.

As ADB’s only office in Europe, ERO was established in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in December 1996 to liaise with 16 European member countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom.  .

ERO is in charge of enhancing public awareness of ADB’s role and activities; disseminating information to European partners including the business community and civil society; gathering views of European member countries on Official Development Assistance (ODA) priorities in developing Asia and the Pacific; promoting co-financing and resource mobilization; and strengthening relations between ADB and multilateral and bilateral development institutions headquartered in Europe.

Mr. Bénédic is a French economist with 30 years of professional experience, including in Asia.  He joined ADB in 2000 and has assumed key positions as Senior Advisor to the Director General, Mekong Department for operations, budget and cofinancing, and to the then Director, Agriculture and Social Sectors Department-Asia West. He is familiar with European multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions. 

Prior to ADB, Mr. Bénédic worked for an engineering company and a development bank, Agence Francaise de Developpement Group (AFD), where he served both at headquarters and as country director in various resident missions, including in Asia. He has also been executive director for commercial banks and a member of Central Bank Credit Committees abroad.

A finance graduate from Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) in Paris, France, Mr. Bénédic also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of California, Berkeley, USA.