Gerard Lyons

Gerard is one of the UK's most celebrated and often quoted economists and has spoken in 82 countries. He has testified to committees of the US Senate and Congress, as well as to committees of both Houses of the UK Parliament, spoken on panels at the IMF, IFF, and in Davos, and has spoken in the Great Hall of People in Beijing. In 2019, he was a candidate to be Governor of the Bank of England.

Widely known as an excellent speaker, with the ability to convey the most complex issues in an accessible way, Gerard can speak with ease about the UK and world economy, the green agenda, emerging markets such as India and China, geopolitical and financial risks, central banking and financial markets. At the height of the financial crisis he was asked by the Institute of International Finance to represent the financial sector in ‘The World Debate’ at the 2010 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, which was televised live globally by the BBC.

Gerard has spent over 30 years in senior roles in the City and public policy. From 1999-2012 he was Head of Global Research and Chief Economist at Standard Chartered Bank, where he was credited as one of the few economists to predict the 2008 global financial crisis. In 2010 and 2011, Bloomberg ranked his team as the most accurate forecasters globally. 

During this period, he was also the Lead Advisor to PM Gordon Brown’s 2008 Business Council, an inaugural member of the EU Commission’s Network on China Experts and sat on several Councils of the World Economic Forum. Before this he held other senior positions at large international banks, such as being Chief Economist at DKB International – then the world’s largest bank – and Chief Economist at Swiss Bank Corporation, beginning his career with Chase.

He left Standard Chartered to become Boris Johnson’s Chief Economic Adviser, when he was Mayor of London, where he championed the City globally. During this time, he also wrote his first book ‘The Consolations of Economics‘ published by Faber & Faber. It was one of The Telegraph’s ‘Books of the Year’.

Currently, Gerard is Chief Economic Strategist at Netwealth Investments, the discretionary wealth manager that he helped establish in 2016. He sits on the Boards of both Bank of China (UK) and BGC Partners, the global brokerage firm. 

He is also part of a project team at the Bretton Woods Committee looking at the green agenda and since its inception has sat on the Advisory Board of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. He is also on the Advisory Board of Warwick Business School and is a Senior Fellow at the think-tank Policy Exchange. 

Gerard and his daughter, the comedian Elf Lyons, have also just started the second series of their economics podcast – Elfonomics.