James Benford is a Head of Division at the Bank of England. He led the Bank’s work on GDP-linked bonds from 2015 to 2017 when the topic became established as part of the G20 agenda under the Chinese and German Presidencies. During this period he was also responsible at the Bank for G20 and IMF policy more broadly; for forecasting and modelling developments in the global economy and their effect on the United Kingdom; and for research on international macroeconomics and finance. He represented the UK on the G20 Framework for Growth and the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Groups.
James has worked at the Bank of England from 2005 and, in addition to international work, has held a wide variety of roles on the domestic side including on monetary and financial policy He studied economics at the University of Cambridge and at the London School of Economics.