Mr Graham Bishop, 2010-2011
Graham Bishop was born in 1949 and moved to India when he was five, then Northern Ireland until he was 11 and then attended Strode’s Grammar School in Surrey. He graduated from Sheffield University in 1972 with a degree in Jurisprudence. He married in 1974 and had two sons. After divorce, he married Sally in 1992 and acquired a step-daughter and son.
He worked for UK stockbrokers, Phillips & Drew, as an international economist with particular reference to equity markets. In 1979, he joined S G Warburg to manage pension fund portfolios. His emphasis moved from European equity markets to bonds and currencies, culminating in a move to Salomon Brothers/Citigroup in 1983.
Graham’s publications, articles and speeches on the deregulation of Europe’s financial markets provide an informed commentary from the practical perspective of a market participant, but with a sound understanding of politics. Initially, his economic commentaries covered the bond and currency markets of Europe. This was followed by Citigroup research on the issues surrounding monetary union after it became a serious possibility in 1988. In 2000, he founded GrahamBishop.com to bring insights directly to his clients based on this standing as a leading technical analyst of economic and structural developments in the financial markets of Europe.
The deregulation of Europe’s financial markets due to the Single Market programme and EMU created business and investment opportunities and he has worked extensively with both European and UK political authorities to deliver sound insights to his clients.
Graham was a member of the Commission’s Consultative Group on the Impact of the Euro on Capital Markets (the Giovaninni Group). He was also a Member of the Commission’s Strategy Group on Financial Services (1998 – creating the Financial Services Action Plan) and the Committee of Independent Experts on the preparation of the changeover to the single currency (1994/5).
He was nominated by the European Parliament to be one of its two members of the first Inter-Institutional Monitoring Group, as foreseen by the Lamfalussy Report, and was Rapporteur for the spring 2003 and November 2004 Reports. He was elected to the Board of Kangaroo Group in November, 2005 and re-elected in 2007
At the House of Commons, Graham was a Special Advisor to the Treasury Select Committee in its examination in 2003 of the implications for United Kingdom membership of the Single Currency. He advised the Treasury Committee on the corresponding reports in 1998 and 1996.
In the House of Lords, he was a Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union in its 2003 inquiry into The Barriers to Competition in the Internal Market for Financial Services.
In his other activities, he is Council Member of the Federal Trust and a member of the European League for Economic Co-operation (ELEC). He frequently participates in studies and meetings of research institutes such as Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI).
In the political world, he moved from the Conservative Party to the Liberal Democrats in 2005 to support greater involvement in the EU, and became Chairman of the Bexhill and Battle local party in 2009. He has participated in party working groups on both the EU and globalisation.