John Pollner is Lead Financial Officer (Financial & Risk Markets) in the Private and Financial Sector Department of the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank.  He specializes in policy analysis and projects in the new EU member states involving banking insolvency/bankruptcy, resolution and restructuring, capital market development and securitization, private sector pension reforms & annuities markets, and catastrophe insurance programs for hedging fiscal losses from natural peril risks, the latter area where he pioneered the design and use of risk transfer mechanisms.  Mr. Pollner is a national of both the US and Chile, and has an MBA / Finance degree from the University of California at Berkeley.