Banking & Financial Research
Richard Christopher Whalen
Richard Christopher Whalen is an investment banker and author who lives in New York. He is Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors LLC and focuses on the banking, mortgage finance and fintech sectors. Christopher is a contributing editor at National Mortgage News. He’s a general securities principal and member of FINRA.
From 2014 through 2017, Christopher was Senior Managing Director and Head of Research at Kroll Bond Rating Agency, where he was responsible for ratings by the Financial Institutions and Corporate Ratings Groups. He was a principal of Institutional Risk Analytics from 2003 through 2013.
Over the past three decades, Chris worked as an author, financial professional and journalist in Washington, New York and London. After college, he worked for the House Republican Conference Committee under Rep. Jack Kemp (R-NY). In 1993, Chris was the first journalist to report on the then-secret FOMC minutes concealed by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. Chris worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Bear, Stearns & Co., Prudential Securities, Tangent Capital, and Carrington Mortgage Holdings.
Christopher holds a B.A. in History from Villanova University. He is the author of three books, including “Ford Men: From Inspiration to Enterprise” (2017), a study of Ford Motor Co and the Ford family published by Laissez Faire Books; co-author of “Financial Stability: Fraud, Confidence & the Wealth of Nations,” published by John Wiley & Sons, and "Inflated: Money, Debt and the American Dream" (2025) also published by John Wiley & Sons.
Christopher served on the Economic Advisory Committee of FINRA from 2011 through 2023. He was an advisor on Season 5 of the SHOWTIME series “Billions.” He served as a fellow at Indiana State University (2008-2014), a member of the Finance Department Advisory Council at Villanova School of Business (2013-2016) and board member of the Global Interdependence Center (2017-2019).
Christopher edits The Institutional Risk Analyst and contributes to other publications and forums. He has testified before Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Chris appears regularly in the financial media and is active on social media such as X and LinkedIn under “rcwhalen”. Chris is a member of The Mortgage Bankers Association and The Lotos Club of New York.