Annual Maxwell Fry Global Finance Lecture
Maxwell J. Fry (1944-2000) was a prominent figure around the world in International Finance and his work was widely acclaimed in central banking circles. His contribution was in the fields of international and development (‘global’) finance and this annual lecture is given by an internationally leading academic or policymaker on a topic that reflects Fry’s interests.
Fry received his PhD in Economics at the London School of Economics in 1970 and taught at The City University of London for four years. In 1974 he joined the Department of Economics at the University of Hawaii before leaving to teach at University of California-Irvine in 1980. Shortly after this he accepted an endowed chair as a Professor of International Finance at Birmingham Business School. He passed away prematurely in 2000 and we remember him each year in late October.
2025 Lecture: Huw Pill
"Uncertainty, Structural Change, and Monetary Policy"
8th October 2025 - 16.00 to 17.00
Location:
Birmingham Business School, University House, 116 Edgbaston Park Road Birmingham B15 2TY
Huw Pill is Chief Economist and Executive Director for Monetary Analysis and Research at The Bank of England. He is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. Huw is responsible for the analysis to make monetary policy decisions. He also leads the research that supports all other functions.
Previously, Huw was Chief European Economist at Goldman Sachs (2011-18). Before that, he worked at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. He served as its Deputy Director of Research (2009-11) and Head of its Monetary Policy Stance Division (2004-09). And he worked in its Strategic Policy Issues Unit (1998-2001). Huw was also a member of the faculty at Harvard Business School (1995-98, 2001-04, 2019-21). At the start of his career, he worked as an economist in the Bank of England’s then Economics Division (1990-92).
Huw has a BA (Hons) from the University of Oxford and an MA and PhD from Stanford University.
Past Maxwell Fry Lectures
| Year | Speaker | Title | Link |
| 2024 | Hélène Rey | Global Cycles | |
| 2023 | Charlie Bean | To QE or not to QE: What have we learned about the usefulness of central bank asset purchases? | |
| 2022 | Dame Colette Bowe | Building Trust in Macroprudential Policy | About Speech |
| 2021 | Alec Crystal | The Yuan and the Dollar Crisis | Paper Slides Recording |
| 2020 | Richard G. Anderson | Central banking in interesting times and the demand for base money | Recording |
| 2019 | Marcus Miller | A silent run on shadow banks: due to sunspots or chicanery? | |
| 2018 | Jean-Bernhard Chatelain | Leaning Against the Wind | |
| 2017 | Panicos O. Demetriades | Financial Stability and Financial Development: Lessons from a Euro Area Banking Crisis | |
| 2016 | David Miles | The Housing Market and Macro-prudential Policy | |
| 2015 | David Llewellyn | Post Crisis Regulation: what has been achieved and what remains to be done? | |
| 2014 | Andrew Haldane | Managing Global Finance as a System | Link |
| 2013 | Charles Calomiris | The Political Economy of Inflation-Tax Banking: Brazil and Mexico in the 19th and 20th Centuries | |
| 2012 | Thorsten Beck | Finance, Growth and Fragility: The Role of Government | Link |
| 2011 | Michael Foot | Can Macro-Prudential Regulation Reduce Financial Instability? | |
| 2010 | John Williamson | The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Development Thinking | |
| 2009 | Stijn Claessens | Developing Countries and Financial Crises: What Lessons? | |
| 2008 | William A. Allen | The Credit Crunch, the Financial Industry and the World Economy | |
| 2007 | Ross Levine | Finance and the Poor | Link |
| 2006 | Marek Belka | Transition to Euroland | |
| 2005 | Gerard Caprio Jr | Till Angels Govern: Rethinking Bank Regulation | |
| 2004 | Charles Goodhart | Some Reflections on Financial Stability | |
| 2003 | Andrew Crockett | Thoughts on the New Financial Architecture | |
| 2002 | Ronald McKinnon | The World Dollar and Emerging Markets | |
| 2001 | Mervyn King | No Money, No Inflation – The Role of Money in the Economy | |
| 1999 | DeAnne Julius | Back to the Future of Low Global Inflation. |
