Graham’s interests have spanned financial markets, economic/budgetary policy and democracy for several decades. These interests involved him with the European Commission: membership of the Maas Committee in 1994/5 (preparing the changeover to the single currency); 1998/9 Financial Services Strategy Group (creating the Financial Services Action Plan) and the Giovannini Group.  The European Parliament nominated him as one of its two members of the first Inter-Institutional Monitoring Group and he is a Board member of the Kangaroo Group.  He has been a Special Advisor to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and to the House of Lords European Committee.

This mixture of themes has dominated his work on monetary union since his time at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup once the “1992” Single Market programme began to achieve political and commercial momentum in the late 1980’s.

The technical nature of the financial system has changed dramatically and the political impact of modern financial markets is now undoubted. The impact of financial institutions and the structure of financial markets all played their role in the original drive towards the Single Currency. Will they now maintain the euro – or fracture it? Graham Bishop believes that market discipline has a vital role in maintaining fiscal sovereignty – again re-inforcing the interaction of monetary union and political sovereignty. These long-standing interests are at the heart of his consultancy work.

European Institutions

European Commission: Mr Bishop was a member of the Commission's Consultative Group on the Impact of the Euro on Capital Markets (the Giovannini Group). He was 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).

European Parliament: 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.

Kangaroo Group: Elected to the Board in 2005 and re-elected in 2007, 2009 and 2011.

United Kingdom

House of Commons: Mr Bishop 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.

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.

Liberal Democrats: He is a member of the party's Europe Working Group and served on the previous Europe Group and the Globalisation Group.

City of London: Mr Bishop is a Freeman of the City and was Master of the Worshipful Company of World Traders for 2010/11.

Other Activities

He is a Council Member, Federal Trust; a member of the European League for Economic Co-operation (ELEC) - British Section; During the debates on UK membership of EMU, he was a Council Member of both Britain in Europe and City in Europe; Chairman, London Investment Banking Association (LIBA) Committee on converting London's capital markets to the single currency; and Deputy Chairman of the Kingsdown Enquiry of the Action Centre for Europe (ACE) on the implications of EMU for Britain (1995 and 1997 update). He participates in studies and meetings of research institutes such as Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI); SUERF and ELEC.