Never before has the International Monetary Fund (IMF) been required to work so hard, and so quickly. As watchdog of the global financial system, lender of ultimate last resort, and promoter of global growth and economic stability, it has had a busy two years. Whatever the economic climate, however, the fund's analysis and insight on global economic boom, gloom, and latterly doom, are driven by a vast range of risk models fuelled by swathes of complex data.
Spare a thought for the IT team that makes this research and statistical analysis possible. At the IMF, the task of ensuring the fund's technology is up to the job falls to its information technology officer Jean Salvati, whose team provides support for a range of financial and macroeconomic modelling. During the past four years, says Mr Salvati, these models - which rely heavily on resource-intensive Monte Carlo simulations - have become ever more sophisticated. "Because of the financial crisis, there is an increased emphasis on financial surveillance and this entails implementing increasingly sophisticated models for risk analysis and risk management," explains Mr Salvati.
