Dr Akram Beniamin

Akram Beniamin is a postdoctoral researcher at the ERC-funded project 'Global Correspondent Banking, 1870-2000' where he focuses on how correspondent bank relationships were affected by cross-border banking crises and vice versa. The key crises to be examined include the transatlantic financial crisis of 1907, the European financial crisis of 1931-32, the ‘silent crisis’ of 1974, and the sovereign debt crisis of 1982. This part of the project will establish whether the networks conveyed crisis through withdrawal of liquidity or counterparty failure and also whether international trade during periods of financial crises were sustained.

Akram is an international business historian of developing countries, with a focus on the Middle East. In addition, he has research interests in financial and banking history. He holds a B.A. in Banking from Sadat Academy for Management Sciences (Egypt), a postgraduate diploma in Investment Management from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (Egypt), an MSc in Development Finance from the University of Reading, and a PhD in International Business & Strategy (Business History) from Henley Business School, University of Reading.

Akram’s PhD dissertation, supervised by Mark Casson and Lucy Newton, investigated cotton commodity networks, foreign banking and business networks of interlocking directorates in Egypt in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The doctoral thesis was awarded the Association of Business Historians Coleman Prize. During his PhD, Akram presented papers in conferences such as Business History Conference, Reading-UNCTAD International Business Conference, Association of Business Historians Conference, Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, World Congress of Business History and European Business History Association Conference. Akram’s PhD was fully funded by Henley Business School scholarship, while his MSc was fully funded by Joint Japan World Bank Scholarship Program for young professionals from developing countries.

Akram has supervised undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in international business at Birmingham Business School and Amsterdam Business School. Outside academia, Akram is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) holder. He worked for more than twelve years in the banking industry in Egypt, spanning corporate banking, credit risk and, more recently, enterprise risk management.