Barclays announces new head of Scottish SME business as it targets growth

Barclays has strengthened its Scottish senior management team with the appointment of Stuart Brown as head of SME Banking for Scotland & Northern Ireland.

Mr Brown has led Barclays’ SME banking in Aberdeen for the last year and will now take responsibility for driving growth across Scotland and Northern Ireland, the bank said.

His role will focus on delivering funding and support for small and medium sized companies, from scale-up and start-up through to established businesses.

Barclays said that while it currently looks after a high proportion of Scotland’s top 250 companies, it has ambitious expansion plans to grow its presence across the board including SMEs.

Stuart Brown said: “Scotland’s economy is built on the success of its SMEs and we have extensive knowledge of the challenges business owners can face. We work closely in partnership with our SME clients to fully understand their company and their ambitions, helping them capitalise on opportunities for growth.

“Personal relationships are key and we have local bankers on the ground throughout Scotland to provide a very hands-on service. Combined with our market leading technology, including digital banking, video calling and our SmartBusiness analytics service, we offer SMEs a local focus with access to the resources of a global bank.”

The appointment follows the announcement of Jamie Grant as the Head of Scotland & Northern Ireland at the bank’s Corporate Banking division. Stuart reports into Jamie and will join him on the senior management team for Scotland along with Alan Maudsley (Head of Corporate Development) and Andy Hall (Head of Corporate Banking).

In June, Barclays launched a new £500m SME fund to address gaps in the current supply of finance for businesses in Scotland. It forms part of a wider commitment to support fast-growing companies with its High Growth & Entrepreneurs programme. Through the programme, locally delivered financial advice and business skills services are underpinned by two direct funds for innovative companies: Innovation Finance and a venture debt fund, recently extended to £200m.

Jamie Grant said: “Stuart brings to the role more than 20 years of experience working with businesses. At a time when SMEs need support and guidance to navigate economic change more than ever, Barclays is committed to helping them to launch, grow and realise their potential.”