YORKSHIRE Building Society has appointed Nitesh Patel as its new strategic economist.

An economist for almost 30 years, Mr Patel has experience across the financial services, utilities, chemical and academic sectors.

He has previously worked for Lloyds Banking Group, where he specialised in the housing sector, including the production of the Halifax House Price Index, as well as market outlooks and confidence trackers. He has also worked for BAK Oxford Economics in Basel, Switzerland, forecasting financial services industry profitability of G7 countries.

An expert in mortgage, savings and housing market data evaluation and trends, Mr Patel will provide Yorkshire Building Society Group with economic opinion and analysis of the key activities affecting the market and its customers.

He said: “It’s a really interesting time for financial services, with digitalisation and Open Banking changing the strategic landscape and presenting a wealth of opportunity for building societies and challenger banks. I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to shape the Group’s strategic direction and develop its thought leadership programme.”

Greg Willmott, Yorkshire Building Society’s Chief Officer for Strategy and Digital, said: “It’s an exciting time to welcome Nitesh to the Society. As a mutual provider, Yorkshire’s sole purpose is to provide members and customers with the help they need to address today’s financial challenges.

“I’m very confident that Nitesh’s extensive experience and expertise in strategy, markets and economics will be invaluable in enabling us to achieve our key goals of helping our existing and future members to overcome the barriers they face in buying a home and saving for the future.”