Mark Berrisford-Smith is a highly experienced and educated economist, with degrees in the subject from the University of Sussex, and Birkbeck College, University of London. It was during this time that he joined HSBC, first as a Senior Economist for Industries, then a Senior Economist for their Business Economics Unit, and finally as the Head of Economics for their commercial banking UK division. It was in this last role where he was involved with advising the senior management and clients on developments in the global and UK economics. To this end, it was an important part of his role to speak at events from a range of settings, from breakfasts for local businesses to keynote addresses at industry conferences.

MARK BERRISFORD-SMITH | FINANCE EXPERT

His extensive work has covered the global financial crisis of 2009 and subsequent debt crisis in the Euro Area, the economic consequences for businesses of Brexit, the long-term damage done to the UK and other major economies by the COVID pandemic, and most recently, the challenges posed by the resurgence of inflation.

Mark delivers keynote speeches, full presentations, and contributions for the media.

MARK BERRISFORD-SMITH | KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Mark has some typical themes for presentations, but he can amend them to fit with the clients’ brief.

The Standard Offering (mostly UK with some global): Running for 30-45 minutes, this presentation offers a quick run-through of global development, trends in commodity prices, major economies, tackling inflation, and the interest rate cycle. Mark then looks in depth at the UK, discussing why our recovery has been so poor, how consumers are fighting back against the cost of living crisis, and why the labour market remains tight.

A Global Variation: This talk works best for events put on by global organisations, such as the international networks run by accountants and lawyers, where the majority of the audience represents their global offices, but where there is a sizeable UK-based minority.

Farming and Food: A brief presentation on global events, followed by the relevance to farming and food sectors in the UK, concentrating on the borrowing costs and sterling exchange rate. Mark also provides content on the global commodity markets for agricultural products, the demand and supply balances, trends in UK farm profitability, and food exports/imports.

Corporate Distress – “The Zombie Apocalypse”: Focussed on corporate turnaround and recovery, Mark presents a short presentation on the corporate landscape, profitability, failure rates, and debt levels.

Gazing Into the Crystal Ball: Mark looks further into the future. A UK-focussed version might be titled “dealing with our debts”, and would discuss the state of the public finances, how long it will take to sort it out, and tough choices that need to be made. Another example might be “how to get Britain growing again”, looking at the vexed issues of near-zero growth of productivity, and the fraught choices about population growth. He can also talk internationally, using the example of “debt and demography – why the next 30 years won’t be like the last 30 years”, and would look at ageing populations, high-debt levels, and decreased geopolitical relations.

Mark can also talk about the UK’s trade performance and trends, foreign direct investment flows, and the “green transition”. He looks at the “glide path” to Net Zero, how we’re doing (okay so far), and the hard choices that still need to be made. He can focus on the UK, and more on the business and technology aspects, rather than the fund management and financial aspects, which can get quite complicated.

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