The UK asset finance arm of Lombard has announced that Ian Cowie has been appointed managing director of Lombard Asset Finance and RBS Invoice Finance.
Lombard and RBS Invoice Finance will continue to operate dedicated teams, each focusing on their own area of expertise, said a statement released to the press.
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The two businesses will work closely together to deliver tailored programmes that provide appropriate funding solutions to meet the needs of UK businesses.
Ian Cowie’s direct reports will lead the teams on a day-to-day basis, said the statement.
The teams consist of Steve Bentley, head of invoice finance, sales and client relations; Ian Isaac, head of Lombard sales with responsibility for SMEs and corporate customers, and Jim Higginbotham, head of corporate specialist sales which includes Lombard Technology Services (LTS).
Other staff announcements include the appointment of Duane Snelling as interim managing director, of Lombard technology services, and Andrew Gadsby as director of finance, customer service and risk, Lombard Transaction Services.
Trevor Crome will take up the position of head of capital and transaction management Lombard, while Nigel Clibbens, formerly chief operating officer at Lombard leaves the business after 24 years service to take up another role within the industry, which Leasing Life broke as an exclusive last month.
Cowie said: "RBS is committed to delivering funding solutions to UK businesses. However in order to do this we need to reflect the increasingly sophisticated financial requirements of our customers where there is often a need for a portfolio of products that mix traditional finance and alternative options.
"Asset finance and invoice finance are both well-established products that provide flexible, cost effective opportunities for UK businesses to realise working capital and enable borrowing for investment. They are popular funding solutions that can be complementary in nature so we believe that it makes sense to bring them closer together to support our customers’ growth ambitions."
Lombard has been suffering major staff cuts since its parent RBS announced waves of redundancies in its 2014 results, with a fifth of its workforce of 120,000 to be reduced by a fifth over the next five years.
In the last year, RBS has seen 8,000 staff leave the company. Leasing Life understands cuts at Lombard have been relatively similar in proportion, with a fifth of Lombard’s workforce due to leave the company.
