From 2005 to 2008, Robert served as Chief Representative for Asia and the Pacific of the BIS (after joining the Asian Office in 1998). Before joining the BIS, he worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for 13 years, serving at times as Chief Economist for the interagency committee of bank supervisors that rates country risk. While there, he wrote on international comparisons of the cost of capital, foreign bank lending to US corporations and the unprofitability of foreign direct investment in the US. In 1988, he worked for the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress. In 1992, he taught international finance and the multinational firm at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. He is a Member of the Banque de France Fondation Scientific Council.