RECORDED WEBINAR: Economic Outlook: Normalising the Correction - John Loos

John Loos,
Economist: Commercial Property Finance at FNB

I started my economist career in the National Treasury, in the team that implemented the country’s 1st Medium Term Expenditure Framework in the early days of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s tenure My time at IHS Globalinsight (now IHS-Markit), a major US-based consultancy, was my introduction to macroeconomic analysis. This was invaluable in developing my understanding of how the “bigger economic picture” impacts “down” on the sectors that I would later analyse. At Absa Group (2000-2005), as macroeconomist co-ordinating the Group’s economic forecasting process, I was named Reuters Economist of the Year in 2004. A passion for property cycle analysis, developed during the pre-2008 housing bubble, took me to First National Bank (FNB) in 2006 as a Property Economist. In my time at FNB Home Loans, we developed what was arguably the market leading South African residential market analysis at the time. I moved to FNB Commercial Property Finance late in 2018. I love the “behavioural” side of economics, with human irrationality and cognitive bias being a huge influence on both corporate and household decision making. Another interest is in the drivers of human well-being, a complicated matter often ignored by economic policy makers and households alike, to our detriment. Public speaking and Media/Public relations are enjoyable “hobbies” of mine in my main focus areas of economics, and occasionally in subjects such as “bias in decision making and goal setting”, “well-being economics” and motivational speaking. After growing up on a diet of “ball sports”, including tennis, hockey, squash and golf, I’ve more recently become a “social endurance sport junkie”. This includes the Comrades Ultra-Marathon, the Ironman Ultra-Triathlon, Kilimanjaro, the 2,300km Freedom Challenge Mountain Bike Race Across South Africa and the 2,800km Beit Bridge- Cape Town TransAfrika race. My sporting allegiances lie with Manchester United, and that great SA rugby team, the Blue Bulls.