Member Article

NatWest's Yorkshire business director wants to get the region lending

Richard Tallis is the man behind NatWest’s business team across Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. The regional director knows all too well the trials and tribulations of the the region’s SMEs over the last few years.

He’s proud of the bank’s 24% market share of lending to SMEs but is hungry to do more business across his patch.

“Across Yorkshire in general, lending in 2013 is almost double that of 2012. The lending we’re agreeing in the third quarter of this year is also double that of the first quarter. I really get a sense that we’re seeing that positive momentum, but of course, we want to do more,” he says.

As the headlines frequently pontificate, confidence has a major part to play in lending, and like many banks will tell you - Richard is keen to open the high deposit book and get lending. So what’s stopping him?

He adds: “We’ve got £20bn of deposits across the group that we want to put to better use. Overdraft use is down to about 43% or less, and while that’s a significant improvement on 2012, we still need a much bigger rise.

“I know from my colleagues in other NatWest offices that confidence is gradually creeping back across the North of England, but we need a bigger push in the market.”

To slake public thirst for transparency and ethics in banking, following the crisis, the RBS Group recently commissioned a review into its lending practices, which businesses and members of the public can feed into.

Richard says: “If there’s things we’re not doing right then we need to know. I spend a lot of time in businesses and speaking to business owners about their ideas and concerns, and we want to open that process up as much as possible.”

In Yorkshire Richard sees a landscape largely reflective of the wider national picture.

“In this region we people working very hard at their businesses to become successful, and while that isn’t necessarily peculiar to Yorkshire, there is an honesty in these businesses that we work with as they try to drive in the right direction.

“In the region we’ve seen evidence the agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing sectors are all performing well. I was with an agricultural business recently that has a very healthy order book because they’ve built a niche. NatWest are developing expertise in these niches and that means expanding our team, with relevant knowledge,” explains Richard.

Upskilling the Natwest relationship managers is important for the bank to stay ahead in emerging and constantly developing sectors. Managers need an in depth knowledge of the minutiae of particular sectors.

To achieve this RBS employ a series of industry accreditations to put relationship managers at the fore of this knowledge.

The ‘relationship’ with Yorkshire business is one that has had to endure a series of scandals that not only rocked RBS, and by association NatWest’s, world, but also the wider banking industry.

Richard explains: “Clearly we’ve had a very difficult five years. It has affected our customers and the trust they have for us. To a certain degree it has also affected some of our staff. However, it’s about rebuilding that trust.

“This will come through things like the upskilling of our managers, but also through the bank’s CSR. Our focus is clear - and that’s to constantly improve our understanding of the demands on business owners and provide better advice and support.

“That comes through working with the chambers of commerce, funding bodies and trade associations across the region to make sure we’re a part of the community.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .