Santander expands on the Preston front

SANTANDER Corporate Banking has expanded its regional footprint by opening a corporate business centre in Preston, covering Lancashire.

The bank, which in the year to the end of September grew lending to North West SMEs by 11% to £295m, has based a team of five corporate and commercial relationship bankers at the base on Fishergate in the city centre.

The team comprises three relationship directors: Simon Carrier, Shaun Blake and Phil Entwistle along with relationship managers Andrew Polkey and Tahirah Patel.

North West regional director Mike Rose said: “This new centre demonstrates Santander’s commitment to the North West. The region has a high proportion of successful SMEs and we are delighted to be able to provide extra dedicated support in Lancashire.

“We are focused on growing our business lending and supporting the companies which make up the backbone of the local economy. We already have some great business customers in the area, and are thrilled that we will now be able to increase the time we spend with both existing and new customers.”

Sue Douthwaite, divisional managing director for the North, added: ““We want to increase the number of people we have on the ground so we can better support the strong business communities in smaller towns and cities as well as in the key industrial hubs.”