Yorkshire’s economy ‘stabilising’

YORKSHIRE is showing tentative signs of recovery with economic conditions in the region beginning to stabilise.

That’s the conclusion of senior bankers and business leaders in the latest of a series of meetings co-ordinated by Leeds Financial Services Initiative (LFSI).

Attending the meeting were representatives from Alliance & Leicester (Santander), Barclays, Bank of Scotland (Lloyds), HSBC and RBS.

Members from Yorkshire Forward, the CBI, the Federation of Small Businesses, Business Link and Leeds and Bradford Chambers of Commerce were also in attendance.

Delegates concluded that although it was too early to predict economic recovery there were signs that market conditions particularly in Leeds were more favourable than three months ago.

However, they expressed a not caution over the lack of credit insurance in the market, which is causing concern for businesses and banks alike.

Banking representatives highlighted that government intervention over the issue had been restrictive in regards to cost and timing to add any real value.

They also reported a slight drop in demand for lending and were sensitive to any business concerns about the costs of borrowing.

On the plus side, benefits were highlighted of the other government schemes such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme.

The group also rallied to the praise of the financial health check offered by Business Link referring to it “as the most effective form of government support ever seen for SME businesses.”

Representatives from Yorkshire Forward and the Regional Government Office pledge commitment to delivering messages from the meeting back to regional government.

The group aims that through such meetings, they can raise the issues affecting our region’s economy to the appropriate level and see actions resulting from this.

Kevin O’Connor, LFSI’s chairman, said: “The LFSI-led Banking Group has agreed that its open dialogue between the commercial banks in the region and the business representative bodies has real value in communicating messages for both sides and developing a plan of working together to serve the greater good of the regional economy.

“The valuable feed back and exchange of information will now be reported direct to regional government at the regional economic delivery group meeting next week.”