Bank of England – Economic Update

This event will review the Bank of England's latest economic forecasts from their recently published Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) report.

The role of the Bank’s regional agencies is to act as information gatherers for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and to communicate the Bank’s views on the economy to local regions. The twelve regional agencies, which are staffed by bank employees, liaise with local businesses on a daily basis, helping the MPC to have an up-to-date assessment of the UK and to assess the current state of the economic environment. This information plays an important role in the monthly interest rate decisions of the MPC.

Jamie Barber, Deputy Agent for South West, Bank of England

Jamie joined the South West Agency in September 2020. Prior to joining the Agency Jamie was a manager in the Bank's Prudential Policy Directorate where he spent a number of years developing various financial sector policy reforms following the 08/09 financial crisis. This included a stint at HM Treasury on secondment in 2013. Jamie has represented the UK authorities internationally on Financial Stability Board and European Banking Authority policy groups. Earlier in his career, he was a banking supervisor at the Financial Services Authority.

He recently completed an Executive Masters in Public Administration (‘MPA’) at the London School of Economics. His undergraduate degree was in History with Economics from the University of York. His outside interests include running and sailing.