Biography

Ian Fraser is an award-winning journalist, commentator, and broadcaster specialising in business and finance. He has contributed to numerous publications including The Economist, Financial Times, The Times, BBC News, and Thomson Reuters.

Fraser is the author of Shredded: Inside RBS, The Bank That Broke Britain (2014, new edition 2024), a book examining the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, a banking group now known as NatWest, and successive governments’ attempts to restore its fortunes. The book was long-listed for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Awards, and named as book of the year by Bloomberg, The Week and Huffington Post.

Ian Fraser was financial editor of the Sunday Herald (1999-2006), legal and accountancy correspondent of the Herald (2006-8), and business editor of The Sunday Times Scotland (2008-9). He held senior editorial roles with Director, EuroBusiness, and Unilever magazines in London. In the 1990s, he also worked as freelance journalist and travel writer for a range of publications, often filing reports from behind the former “Iron Curtain”.

After the global financial crisis of October 2008, Ian Fraser worked on several documentaries chronicling its causes and consequences, including Trust Me I’m A Banker (BBC – 2010), RBS: Inside The Bank that Ran Out of Money (BBC – 2011) (shortlisted for a Bafta), Meet the Psychopaths (Channel 5 – 2015), Banksters (Paradiso Films – 2021) and several programmes for BBC Radio 4’s File on 4

As consulting editor on Bloomsbury Publishing’s Qfinance (2008-14), Ian Fraser commissioned “think pieces” from leading global experts on economics and finance, while regularly evaluating economic and financial developments for Qfinance’s blog. He was visiting lecturer on Stirling University’s MSc in financial journalism (2009-11) and since 2017, he has been a regular freelance contributor to Raconteur, Literary Review and WhiskyInvestDirect.

Ian Fraser was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland’s Future of Assurance group (2010-11), a judge on the Scottish Legal Awards (2008-13) and served as head of communications at think tank Future Economy Scotland (2024-25).

Fluent in French, Fraser holds an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of St Andrews.

Ian Fraser’s awards for journalism

• 2014 – long-listed for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year
• November 2007 – State Street 6th Annual Press Awards, Investment Journalist of the Year (National Newspapers) (shortlisted)
• April 2006 – Scottish Press Awards, Business/Financial Writer of the Year (shortlisted)
• Nov 2005 – BVCA Private Equity & Venture Capital Journalist of Year (shortlisted)
• June 2004 – Aon Business Pensions & Investment Journalist of the Year (Runner-Up)
• April 2002 – Scottish Press Awards, Business/Financial Writer of the Year (shortlisted)
• May 1997 – PPA Communicators in Business Awards (Unilever Magazine – Winner)
• May 1996 – PPA Communicators in Business Awards (Uniview – Award of Excellence)
• March 1995 – UK Press Gazette Business Press Awards, Feature Writer of the Year (Highly Commended)