£10bn lending pledge from NAB

YORKSHIRE Bank’s parent company, National Australia Bank, has pledged £10bn in new lending over the next two years to help support business and mortgage customers.

Around £1bn will be ring-fenced for the North West which has been fertile territory for Yorkshire Bank’s Manchester-based corporate structured lending team over the past year.

Lynne Peacock, chief executive, said: “We’ve kept our business safe, secure and in the best possible shape by maintaining a strong capital position and supporting our customers in these challenging times. We’re now moving up a gear.

“Today we are pledging £10bn of new lending to support business and mortgage customers over the next two years. Our pledge of additional funding is a considerable commitment for a business of our size. It will help to ensure customers continue to have real choice in a consolidating market and are supported when they need it most.”

Ms Peacock said that the bank’s prudent approach during the boom years had given it stability. Neither of the banks offered sub-prime or self-certified borrowing.

NAB reported pre-tax profits of £108m in the year to September 30 compared with £343m last time. Underlying profit before tax was £529m – up 2%.

Meanwhile, Manchester-based Paul Shephard has been appointed head of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank’s corporate and structured finance division.

Mr Shephard, who is currently regional director for the North West and Midlands, will replace Richard Kennerley.

He joined Yorkshire Bank in 1992 as a graduate trainee. He spent four years in Newcastle where he helped to open the business unit before moving to the North West as a business manager. In 2005 he was made managing partner of the bank’s Manchester office and was appointed to his current role a year later.

Since then he has overseen investment of more than £800m in the North West and the Midlands.