The Mais Lecture has been hosted since 1978, on a mostly annual basis, by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), part of City, University of London.
The lecture is named in honour of Lord Mais, the 645th Lord Mayor of the City of London (1972âÂÂ73), and Pro-Chancellor of City University (1979âÂÂ84). He played a key role in establishing City University's Centre of Excellence for Banking and Finance, now the Centre for Banking Research, part of the wider Bayes Faculty of Finance.
The lecture is regarded as a leading event for the banking and finance community of the City of London, having hosted a number of prestigious speakers including successive Prime Ministers, Chancellors of the Exchequer, and Governors of the Bank of England, and notably the forum in which successive Chancellors and Shadow Chancellors have set out their economic philosophy and policies.
In January 2021 Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, became the first woman to deliver the Mais Lecture.
In March 2026 Rachel Reeves, delivered an unprecedented second Mais Lecture â almost precisely two years to the day after her first â this time as Chancellor, having been Shadow Chancellor at the time of her first. In a further family connection, her husband, Nicholas Joicey, was speechwriter for Gordon Brown when the Chancellor delivered his Mais Lecture in 1999.
Eight of the 15 Chancellors since its inception have delivered a Mais Lecture, including all three Labour Chancellors.
While three Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom have delivered the Mais Lecture, Tony Blair is the only one who was neither Chancellor nor Shadow Chancellor when he did so.
Mark Carney delivered his Mais Lecture in 2014, while he was Governor of the Bank of England, he subsequently became Prime Minister of Canada in 2025.