Barclays swoops

BARCLAYS Corporate is expected to step up its activity in the Scottish commercial property market after poaching Gareth Beaton from Santander's real estate finance team in Glasgow.

Beaton had moved to Santander from Royal Bank of Scotland, where he underwrote deals in the commercial property market in the years before the banking crisis.

Last year Barclays set itself an ambitious target to double the size of its Scottish business by 2012, as it moves to fill a gap in lending left by the financial crisis of 2008. Barclays said it would not comment on Beaton's appointment until he took up his post in April.