Barclays aiming to expand in Scotland

BARCLAYS Bank has set an ambitious target to double the size of its Scottish business by 2012.

The bank's two divisions in Scotland – Barclays Wealth and Barclays Corporate – plan to expand by hiring ten to 15 new staff in the next 12 months.

Barclays already employs 1,700 in Scotland, mainly in back office functions, with about 200 in banking.

Barclays Wealth yesterday reported a 30 per cent growth in Scottish assets under management over the past 12 months, although the bank would not name a figure.

But Barclays Corporate said it had committed 250 million in fresh lending in Scotland since the start of 2010 across a range of PFI infrastructure projects and some property deals.

The division estimates it will grow its business by 50 per cent this year although Ally Scott, managing director of the corporate bank, admitted its current share of the market – focusing on firms with sales of 5m or more – still has "single digit" market share north of the Border.

With the firm's move to the Aurora building on Glasgow's Bothwell Street completed today, the organisation of the Scottish business has been streamlined to work more closely together.

Both operations are now managed by the parent bank's Barclays Capital arm. Previously, Barclays Corporate in Scotland was part of the retail bank.

Mark Little, managing director of Barclays Wealth in Scotland, said: "It is unique for the wealth management and corporate banking business to sit together in the same structure as the investment banking arm at Barclays; however it was a logical extension to the growth of both our businesses.

"We are at the Rubicon in terms of the development of our business here. We have been given a huge commitment from the top to grow in Scotland."

He said the wealth division had been "inundated" with applications for jobs but that the "talent pool for wealth in Scotland is reasonably shallow".

He added: "There are very few world class private bankers operating in Scotland so finding people is difficult."