Virgin Money will enter the UK SME commercial lending market with George Ashworth at its head, the UK lender confirmed today.
Sales director Richard de Keijzer, an ABN AMRO veteran since 1999, will be stepping up into the role of ABN AMRO UK managing director.
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ABN AMRO managing director George Ashworth is leaving the business in November in order to take up a "once in a lifetime opportunity" at Virgin Money to build up the British banks SME commercial banking side.
Sales director Richard de Keijzer, who has been with ABN AMRO since 1999 and in the UK lease business since March 2015, will be stepping up into the role of managing director until further notice, said ABN AMRO.
Ashworth told Leasing Life: "I am very proud of what has been achieved to date and I know that the team is capable of even greater success in 2016 and beyond.
"The plan is to continue to develop our coverage as the business scales," said Ashworth.
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By GlobalDataABN AMRO Lease NV (UK Branch) opened its doors for business in the UK in June 2014. Supported by the ABN AMRO Lease cross border team’s activities, the Dutch bank told Leasing Life that the UK operation has been successfully set up, and that both the rate and quality of the growth in UK business operations have been good.
Frank Stienstra, ABN AMRO Lease NV group chief executive officer believes that the hard-lifting in the UK has now been done and that there is a golden opportunity for the UK business to realize their goals.
Stienstra said: "No organisation wishes to lose somebody of George’s quality. However, we understand the reasons behind his decision and we all wish him well for the future as well as express our gratitude for his energy and determination. I am equally delighted that we have somebody of Richard’s stature and calibre already in situ to ensure that the business does not lose momentum".
In Virgin Money’s Q3 trading report released today, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Virgin Money chief executive officer said: "As we commence our plans to evaluate SME banking, we are delighted to welcome George Ashworth to Virgin Money. George has a 25 year track record in SME banking and was previously head of asset finance at Aldermore Bank and chairman of the asset finance division of the Finance & Leasing Association. He joins us from ABN AMRO Lease NV where he was managing director of the UK branch. We look forward to him joining Virgin Money."
Plans for ABN AMRO UK’s future
ABN AMRO’s business is focused on the UK mid-market, and this counter party focus has been accompanied with a clear asset focus, as the business looks to finance assets that are ‘mission critical to the client’s business.’
De Keijzer said ABN AMRO would continue to focus on long term commitment and offering committed facilities to customers, stressing focus on relationships rather than one off deals. Ashworth added that "the blend of relatively high quality end-user counter parties coupled with underlying assets with good loss given default characteristics", meaning that the UK lease business is capital efficient.
ABN AMRO said the UK team consists of 20 in the UK and is in effect a front-end extended deal team which does everything up to the point of deal pay out. From that point in the process, under a shared services model, the UK business looks to colleagues in Utrecht for all in-life and end of life services, said Ashworth, adding that the operating model makes for an attractive "cost to income equation".
The UK team consists of some well-known industry players; principle amongst these is Samantha Yardley, a former partner at Watson, Farley & Williams LLP as the head of legal services and UK head of risk Jeff Sharpe, formerly of Key Equipment Finance.
Ashworth explained the setup he had been brought in to devise included a coverage model for a number of relationship managers (RM’s) working from home. The RM’s are responsible for developing the potential within postal code denominated geographical territories, and within each territory, the RM is responsible for building and maintaining all client relationships. The bank then goes to market both on a direct basis as well as via a select number of broker introducers that it deals with.
The regional team is supported by a wholesale & structured finance team. Under the experienced leadership of Paul Meijer, this team has not been without its successes in 2015. Both arms of the sales force are supported by a team of internal commercial sales support assistants led by Janet Judd.
De Keijzer concluded: "We are thankful of what George set up and I am confident that we will continue on the successful journey in the UK" .
