Reinhard H. Schmidt

Reinhard H. Schmidt has held the Wilhelm Merton Chair of International Banking and Finance at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany since 1991. He was previously a professor of Finance at the Universities of Göttingen and Trier and at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

He was also a visiting professor at Stanford, Paris and Milan universities. Currently, his main field of research is financial systems. This includes comparative research on the development of the financial systems of advanced countries as well as development finance, especially microfinance.

He has published 22 books and 150 articles in academic books and journals. Over the years, Professor Schmidt has gained extensive experience as a consultant in development finance, working for German and international development organizations. He chaired the Supervisory Board of ProCredit Holding AG for its first five years. The latter is a major investor in small business and microenterprise banks located in many parts of the world.