Tracey Ashworth-Davies

Fiona Hyslop, the cabinet secretary for economy, fair work and culture, today announced the appointment of Tracey Ashworth-Davies, Carolyn Jameson, Peter Knott, Jason McGibbon, Nicholas Moon, Candida Morley, Dr Jacqueline Redmond and Sir Jonathan Taylor to the board.

The bank is being established to make strategic and patient, mission-led investments to help address key economic and societal challenges.

Ms Hyslop said: “I am delighted to appoint eight Non-Executive Directors to the Scottish National Investment Bank Board to help build an organisation with the culture, values and experience that will guide its mission-based approach and help create a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

“The board’s composition brings together extensive experience of impact investment and the knowledge required to identify opportunities to support economic growth across Scotland and help our businesses and communities to flourish. Our appointees not only have experience of the areas affected by the Bank’s missions but also of development banking, the third sector, and of financial services, helping underpin strong governance of this new financial institution for Scotland.”

Carolyn Jameson

She added: “The Scottish Government has committed to investing £2 billion to capitalise the bank over 10 years, enabling it to become a cornerstone institution in the Scottish economy. The bank’s mission-oriented approach will help create and shape future markets, spark innovation and tackle socio-economic challenges. This year’s Programme for Government confirmed that the transition to net zero will be the bank’s primary mission.

“I look forward to working together as we build an ethical, sustainable and inclusive bank to support economic growth across Scotland and help businesses and communities to flourish.”

Willie Watt, chair-designate for the bank, commented: “The depth of experience brought together by these appointments reflects both the scale and ambition of what we hope to achieve. By combining their talent, we now have the variety of skills necessary to help deliver our vision of a globally competitive, sustainable and fairer economy for Scotland.

“We will be able to draw on a broad range of expertise, knowledge of both the Scottish and international business community, public and private sector, as well as mentoring small businesses and supporting scale-ups.

“The impact investment strategy guided by this board will support innovation, drive the green recovery and promote inclusive economic growth.”

Willie Watt was appointed in November 2019 and the chief executive officer-designate, Eilidh Mactaggart, was appointed in April this year.