Emeritus Professor Philip Molyneux (1959-2023)

We will remember Phil as a most exceptional person and a world class scholar. On his passing, the Business School received a truly extraordinary flow of correspondence which highlighted Phil’s international academic standing and renowned contributions while giving equal importance to his warm and generous personality and recalling his brilliant sense of humour.

Phil was awarded a BA in 1980, MA in 1985 and PhD in 1993, all at Bangor. His academic career began as a Research Officer (1980-82) at Bangor’s Institute of European Finance (IEF), engaged in a project on competition in UK banking for the Office of Fair Trading. He commenced as a Lecturer in Banking in 1987 and was quickly promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1991 then to Professor in 1997. There were distinguished visiting professor positions at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Bocconi University. His academic leadership also progressed, becoming Deputy Head of School in 2004 and Head of School in 2007. He subsequently became Dean of the College of Business, Law, Education and Social Sciences (2010-17).

During his formative academic years, Phil was influenced by two leading economists. First, by Jack Revell, founder of the IEF. Jack joined Bangor from Cambridge where he had been the financial sector specialist on a famous study on the determinants of UK economic growth. Phil worked closely with Jack on a wide range of funded projects that focused on institutional market changes in banking and finance and related policy development. These studies spanned structure, conduct and performance issues, and developed Phil’s thorough understanding of institutions and markets, and impressive writing and collation skills.

The second strong influence was Alan Winters. Alan also joined Bangor from Cambridge, to become Head of the Department of Economics at the time. He encouraged Phil to combine his knowledge of institutions and markets with complementary analytical and empirical skills. This combination of academic influences helped to mould Phil into a formidable scholar who not only produced highly relevant and practical policy reports and applied advanced empirical testing grounded in mainstream economics, but who also wrote, co-authored and edited many leading textbooks in banking and finance.

Phil’s involvement in three large-scale projects with Cambridge University during the 1990s was especially notable: (i) for the European Commission (on the impact of the Single Market Programme); (ii) for the World Bank; and (ii) for HM Treasury (for the Cruickshank Inquiry that focused on the competitiveness of UK bank corporate lending services). Projects such as these provided some of the underpinning for Bangor’s submission to the 2008 RAE (UK Government Research Assessment Exercise) where the university was ranked top in the UK for research in Accounting & Finance. This was the first time that a university in Wales had ever achieved a first place within an RAE subject panel. Phil was a major contributor and a catalyst for this result. Alongside Phil’s international reputation, the recognition achieved in the RAE 2008 provided a springboard to attract many outstanding scholars and students to Bangor. It also facilitated the delivery of Bangor’s Master’s programmes at a prime City of London location for several years, an initiative in which Phil was a driving force. Phil also played a key role in the establishment and delivery of the Chartered Banker MBA, which continues as a unique programme for executives in banking and finance and has over 1000 graduates.

Phil’s research productivity was astounding, with many colleagues recalling the phrase ‘let’s blast this’ when a deadline was looming. He produced well over 100 articles and papers, many of which will remain heavily cited for years to come due to their influence and foresight. Phil has almost 30,000 citations on Google Scholar.

Phil published numerous textbooks and some key examples are mentioned here. The first appeared in 1990 titled Banking: An Introductory Text. This filled a void for a specialist text of this nature. This was followed by Changes in Western European Banking (1990, 1993, with E.P.M. Gardener). Phil developed innovative courses in 'Comparative Banking' and the 'Industrial Structure of Banking', with his text ‘Efficiency in European Banking’ (1996, with Y. Altunbas and E.P.M. Gardener) as the basis for these unique modules in Bangor's programmes. In 2005, Phil completed texts on Islamic Banking (with M.I. Asaria) and Arab Banking and Financial Systems (with M.I. Asaria). These were highly innovative and remain the underpinning for specialised Master’s programmes offered at Bangor. 2006 saw the first edition of the acclaimed Introduction to Banking (with B. Casu and C. Girardone), with a 2nd edition published in 2015 and a 3rd in 2021. This text is very widely used for teaching undergraduate banking students in many universities around the world. An eighth edition of An Introduction to Global Financial Markets (with S. Valdez) was published in 2015. Phil edited the Oxford Handbook of Banking in 2010 (2nd edition in 2015 and 3rd edition in 2019, with A.N. Berger and J.O.S Wilson) which has become the standard global Masters-level text in banking. Phil edited over 140 texts in the Palgrave McMillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions series.

As a pioneer and leading light in banking research, Phil served academia in senior editorial roles, including editor-in-chief of special issues in major international academic journals. From 1995 to 2017, Phil was the executive editor of World Banking Abstracts. Due to Phil’s outstanding contributions to global accounting and finance education, research and leadership, particularly in banking, the British Accounting & Finance Association awarded him the prestigious BAFA ‘Distinguished Academic’ award in 2012. Phil was also hugely respected in other academic societies, including the 'Wolpertinger Club', an international association of university academics with a common interest in the economics of financial systems and institutions and university education in these areas.

Phil was always one of the top teachers in the Business School and his students loved and respected him, as did his academic colleagues. Phil supervised over 30 successful PhDs and his graduates have proceeded to illustrious careers in academia, policy organisations and the financial industry. The occasion of the 50th anniversary workshop of the IEF in autumn 2023 instigated a remarkable gathering of Phil’s esteemed former students and colleagues. This was a fantastic representation of Phil’s academic legacy.

Phil was full of fun, good humour and kindness. We will recount one incident here (of very many) to typify these endearing traits. One evening, Ted Gardener’s son was doing his school homework in Ted’s office while Ted attended a meeting. There was a knock on the office door and Phil burst in and exclaimed: “You look young again, Ted, and you have got your hair back. I have come to see you about negotiating a pay rise”.

Yet Phil certainly had a serious side when required. As Dean or Head of School, colleagues always respected Phil’s ‘moral compass’ and his strategic priorities. If there was a challenging decision that involved balancing conflicting aims or resources, especially if it involved ‘people issues’, Phil always found the right answer. He never compromised on what was right for any of our students, staff or their relatives.

After 40 years at Bangor as a student and academic, Phil embarked on a new chapter in his career and spent four years as Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Sharjah from 2017-21. His colleagues there referred to his qualities as a true leader, a source of unwavering positivity and support; his smile a constant beacon of hope during the most challenging of times.

Phil was so proud of his ever-supportive wife, Delyth and family. Their love and support was the foundation for the remarkable career he enjoyed and for which we are all so grateful. Phil’s loyal support for Burnley FC will also be remembered and was commemorated by the claret and blue at his funeral.

For all who knew Phil, he was “simply the best”.