Barclays predicts bright future for Highland economy

Ally Scott Managing Director Barclays Corporate Scotland.

BARCLAYS’ company banking arm is looking to double its workforce in Inverness and predicts the regional economy will outperform the Scottish average.

The bullish outlook came from Ally Scott, Scottish managing director of Barclays Corporate, as he oversaw the opening of its new offices on the Cradlehall Business Park.

The move from temporary accommodation signals a major push which Mr Scott hopes will see the present four staff double to eight over the next two or three years and a further 50 to 100 clients signed up.

“We opened in Inverness in January 2009 and if it wasn’t?working we would not have moved into new, permanent offices,” he said. “I am very excited by the potential here. Inverness is being slightly stronger in terms of its recovery from the recession than the rest of Scotland and it has a fairly diverse economy.

“There are many successful but understated operators in the market and a lot of the wealth created in Inverness and the Highlands has been retained here. It is a very different dynamic to the central belt.”

Barclays Corporate deals mainly with large companies with a turnover in excess of £5 million and borrowing requirements of £3 million plus, although it also handles smaller firms with high growth potential and finances individual projects such as the on-going construction of a new 60-bed Fairfield care home in West Heather Road, Inverness.

Mr Scott is targeting local growth in the food and drink, manufacturing, property, health care and oil and gas sectors and denies claims that Barclays, along with other banks, has been slow to lend money to businesses at an affordable rate.

“The facts do not back up the accusations,” he said. “Our approval rates have remained broadly flat throughout the economic crisis at about 80 per cent.”

Renewables are another sector where he sees potential in the Inverness area. Barclays already has an interest in several onshore wind farms around Scotland and he admits that offshore wind “is an area that interest us”.

Discussions have been held with Roy MacGregor, whose Global Energy group is the preferred bidder for the former Nigg Fabrication yard which it wants to reinvent it as a centre for renewables and oil and gas manufacturing.

But Barclays appears less likely to back firms in the wave and tidal energy field, at least for the time being.

“We don’t feel they are there yet,” Mr Scott said. “The rate of growth is very difficult to determine - it all depends on the bankability of projects.”

The reception for Barclays Corporate’s Inverness operation, headed by relationship director David Robertson, has delighted Mr Scott and he believes its presence sends an important signal.

“It is perceived as refreshing that a bank such as Barclays Corporate is willing to make such a visible statement of investment in the economy,” he said. “We hope it has provided a confidence boost and that we can play our part in the region’s recovery.”