EY Scotland hires premier deal maker to lead corporate finance practice

One of Scotland’s most recognised deal makers is to join EY as Partner to lead and expand its corporate finance team.

Ally Scott will become the head of EY Scotland’s Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) practice in September after an 11-year stint successfully growing the Barclays Corporate Banking brand in Scotland, latterly as its regional head and managing director.

An Edinburgh native, Mr Scott has more than 30 years’ extensive banking experience working closely with organisations from start-up through to multi-national corporate.

During his time with Barclays he has presided over a greater than tenfold increase in the scale of its corporate banking operations in Scotland and latterly in Northern Ireland, while for the past two years operating as Country Head responsible for around 2700 of its local staff.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Scott said: “Scotland has a strong nucleus of growing and progressive organisations and as we navigate current economic uncertainties the right advice and strategic planning will be even more important for business than ever. I look forward to helping transform EY’s participation in the corporate finance market developing a leading, full-service team, with ambitions to grow significantly during the next three years, including an increase in the number of partners and directors.

“Transaction origination activity allied to deep and loyal client and external relationships, have been pivotal to the Barclays growth story in Scotland in recent years. I look forward to continuing that mantra at EY as we help and support businesses throughout Scotland with idea generation and advice in the pursuit of their strategic objectives.”

EY is the largest accountancy firm in Scotland by headcount, employing just under 1000 people, across offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. The firm is on track to realise ambitious growth plans as a market leader in four key areas -Oil & Gas, Financial Services, Government and Public Services and the Corporate market.

Mark Harvey, EY Senior Partner, Scotland, said: “Scotland has a history of high profile deal makers with international reputations and Ally exemplifies that. He is an imaginative and innovative corporate financier who has excellent market insight which will be invaluable to EY as we expand our corporate finance practice in Scotland. I am delighted to welcome Ally to EY as he continues in that market leading role.”

A Barclays spokesperson said: “Ally has been a great asset to Barclays and has helped to grow and develop our market leading client service for Scottish businesses large and small. He leaves Barclays with our best wishes.”

Mr Scott will be succeeded at Barclays by Jamie Grant, a qualified Chartered Accountant with more than 15 years’ experience in corporate banking and a member of Mr Scott’s senior management team.

Appointed to head of Corporate Banking for Barclays in 2012, the firm said he has been appointed head of region for Scotland and Northern Ireland with immediate effect.

Mr Grant, who was and has been involved in several high profile deals in the UK and won the emerging dealmaker of the Year in 2006 and also nominated for Banker of the year in 2008, said: “We have developed an extremely strong proposition in the Scottish marketplace and my focus will be on ensuring we continue to meet the needs of the many businesses we work with.

“We recently launched a £500m loan fund to address funding gaps for Scottish SMEs and this is a clear indication of our long term commitment to helping ambitious companies, from start-ups and scale-ups through to multinationals. Barclays is well positioned to capitalise on growth in the Scottish market and I fully intend to drive the business forward and take advantage of every opportunity this offer us.”

Mr Grant led the recent Barclays commitment of a new £500m fund which has been introduced to address gaps in the current supply of finance for businesses in Scotland.