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Yorkshire Bank’s chief economist to speak on economic uncertainty at Leeds Met

Yorkshire Bank’s Chief Economist, Tom Vosa, is to speak at Leeds Metropolitan University about how current global economic development and uncertainty will likely affect the UK.

The annual session is part of Leeds Business School’s public guest lecture series, and will be held from 9-10am on Tuesday 14 January at the University’s Rose Bowl.

Mr Vosa commented: “2013 saw the UK economy avoid the dreaded triple dip recession and start to display some real momentum in growth. Whilst the outlook for 2014 is a little stronger than expected this time last year, there are very real questions over the quality of the recovery.

“Is it too focused on housing and southern England or overly reliant on the UK consumer? With real wages still squeezed, how will consumption be maintained over the next two years as we wait for the economy to rebalance?

“I intend to look at the global economy, then drill down to the UK outlook before finally commenting on what this means for the Yorkshire region as a whole. The interesting news is that despite press reports concentrating on the housing market. Business surveys suggest that the regional outlook is much more balanced.”

As well as Chief Economist, Mr Vosa is Head of Market Economics for Yorkshire Bank which is part of the National Australia Banking Group.

He joined National Australia Bank in 2001 from the Bank of England and his role involves keeping the bank abreast of relevant economic and financial market developments and to have extensive interaction with clients.

Paul Houghton, a Principal Lecturer in Leeds Metropolitan’s Faculty of Business and Law, commented: “In partnership with Yorkshire Bank this is an annual fixture in the business calendar at Leeds Met and we are delighted to welcome Tom Vosa back to deliver this lecture.”

The lecture is the first in a series of eight high profile lectures hosted by Leeds Business School from January to May this year.

The others are: Michael Woodford, the former chief executive who blew the whistle on a £1bn corporate fraud at Japanese electronics giant Olympus; Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council; Rob Forkan, Co-Founder of Gandys Flip Flops.

Also speaking at the university are: Judge Mervyn King, one of the world’s foremost authorities on corporate governance and sustainability; Hugh Pym, Chief Economics correspondent for the BBC; Chris Clements, a partner in Grant Thornton, heading their Forensic & Investigation Services team in Yorkshire and Tom Griffin, Head of Corporate Communications, University of South Wales.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .