RBS veteran Hamilton to head HSBC team

HSBC is targeting the agricultural market as part of its £9 million expansion programme in Scotland.

Former RBS regional agricultural manager in North-east Scotland, John Hamilton, who retired last month after 41 years with the Royal, has been appointed to head up the HSBC agricultural team which will be based in Aberdeen.

It will be the first specialist division to be created by the bank - one of the UK's "big four" - in Scotland and will seek to replicate the bank's success in the agricultural sector in England, Wales and Northern Ireland where it has had a team of 50 farming specialists on the ground for 20 years.

"John is very well respected in the farming community and will be a great asset as we look to establish the bank in the agricultural sector in Scotland," said John Rendall, chief executive of HSBC Scotland.