Jeff Oughton

Jeff Oughton's Biography

Jeff Oughton demystifies the often complex world of financial and economic information to make it meaningful and thought provoking. His entertaining and insightful presentations provide practical and progressive advice whilst improving your financial decision making batting average. With over three decades of experience behind him Jeff is well qualified to advise on the nooks and crannies of financial management. Equally at home with borrowers and entrepreneurs, corporations and the Commonwealth, Jeff moves between boardrooms and community halls with ease.

Jeff Oughton is an independent and insightful economic and financial educator and expert. He provides practical and forward-looking advice in an optimistic and entertaining manner tailored to a wide range of audiences. With a rare mix of qualifications and practical experience and own entertaining personal style, Jeff has successfully presented on economic and financial issues in a wide range of forum and across diverse stakeholders for the past 30 years.

The all too often complexity and dryness of economics and finance is unbundled and simplified in just enough detail - in a thought provoking, informative and entertaining manner. The right balance of quantitative analysis and modelling, anecdotes and humour is paramount in his presentations. He also very much likes to be accessible and interact with audiences - leaving time for an active Q&A as part of his presentation and for an informal chat with people before or after a presentation.

Critically, his messages are tailored and personalised to the audience - from investors to borrowers, from entrepreneurs to corporations from local government to Commonwealth inquiries, from brokers to homebuyers – equally comfortable and digestible in the boardroom, at business conferences and in the community hall. He is frequently quoted in the media and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs. Jeff has provided a wide range of practical and forward-looking advice to the financial sector, business, government, households and the community over the past 30 years.

In mid 2009, Jeff set up Economics & Beyond – his consultancy that specialises in quantitative and qualitative stress tests and advice to assist banks and non-financial businesses to effectively manage unanticipated opportunities and risks in the economic, financial and political landscape. He is also a Principal of the Financial Institutions & Markets Advisory – a small, extremely experienced and specialist financial advisory firm.

For almost seventeen years, Jeff led Nab’s Australian Economics & Industry Intelligence team that monitors and forecasts economic and financial conditions; and assesses macroeconomic and industry opportunities and risks for Nab and its customers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. He also specialised in competition policy and the supervision of the financial system – including representations to Parliamentary inquiries in Australia and the UK. He was also involved in a range of strategic activities at Nab as well as operational issues including product and customer management, margin lending and credit and other risk management. He presented on economic and financial issues across a wide range of forums – including boards, management committees, small, medium and emerging businesses, financial and non-financial corporates, industry associations and retail/household groups across all parts of the economy and financial system.

Before joining Nab in 1992, Jeff spent over ten years with the Reserve Bank of Australia, working in both economic analysis and financial markets. This included over two years as the Reserve Bank Deputy Chief Representative in New York, involved in day-to-day management of Australia's US dollar reserves and oversight of Reserve Bank foreign exchange activities in that time zone.

Jeff was also CEO of the Australian Bankers' Association seconded from the Nab during 2000/2001 to conduct a strategic review of its activities, following the “cash for comments affair”. In this role, he laid the groundwork for an Industry Disability Action Plan with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission to address the concerns with access to financial services of older people and people with disabilities. As a key representative of the banking and financial system, he engaged in dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders including government, supervisors, customers and the general community and across all medias.

Jeff received a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from Newcastle University and obtained a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management in 1986. He is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Banking and Finance and a member of the forecasting committee for Tourism Australia. He has taught economics and finance for the Securities Institute of Australia, the University of NSW and the Bankers’ Administrative Staff College.

Speaking Topics Include

Economic and Financial Outlook – Key Drivers & Critical Insights
Apart from making sense of the ups and downs in economic activity and the financial outlook, Jeff ensures audiences gain a meaningful understanding of the key drivers and the likely implications to motivate and assist clients to actively manage the macroeconomic, financial and political challenges faced in the real world.

Opportunities & Risks – Winners & Losers
Who are the winners and losers from the global credit crunch and the great recession and the slow recovery, global pandemics, trade imbalances, climate change, oil shocks, exploding fiscal deficits or a bursting housing bubble? Nobody can accurately foretell the future - a great deal of uncertainty exists about human behaviour, technological advances, politics and the environment. However, Jeff will shed a great deal of insight into various key events and highlight the opportunities and risks to the audience. Awareness and stress testing ahead of unexpected events is a critical strategic advantage.