Jeremy Peat

For about twenty five years from the late '60s, I was an Economic Adviser to various Government Departments.

This latterly included the Treasury and - for eight years - the Scottish Office, but my initial focus was on overseas development. In that context I worked at the British Embassy in Bangkok, and for the Government of Botswana.

In early 1993 I became Group Chief Economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, giving economic advice to the Group Executive and to RBS businesses across the UK, USA and Europe. I retired from that job in March 2005. In addition to my BBC role, I have been appointed as a Panel Member of the Competition Commission and, as from 1st July, take over as Director of the David Hume Institute, an Edinburgh-based 'Think Tank'.

I have honorary Professorships and Doctorates from Edinburgh University School of Management, Heriot Watt University and Aberdeen University, and am a long-standing member of Council of the Scottish Economic Society. I am also Vice Chair of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, and a member of the Project Committee for the conservation of Rosslyn Chapel.