British Business Bank appoints UK Network Director for the South and East of England
Press release
The British Business Bank has appointed Warren Ralls as UK Network Director, South and East of England.
The British Business Bank – the government-owned economic development bank dedicated to making finance markets work better for smaller businesses – has established a UK Network, with team members based within each of the English regions and the three Devolved Nations.
The UK Network works with small business finance intermediaries to enhance business finance ecosystems across the UK, so smaller businesses, wherever they are, can grow and prosper. It also helps the Bank develop a deeper understanding of small business finance markets in all parts of the UK, so that, ultimately, the Bank can improve its support to smaller businesses and enhance collaboration and coordination amongst business finance intermediaries.
Warren and his team will represent the UK Network across the South and East of England and will engage closely with business finance intermediaries in these areas.
Prior to joining the Bank, Warren was Director for the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Network, the representative body for the 38 LEPs operating across England, leading a network of LEP Chairs and CEOs throughout the country. Warren has also held a number of economic development roles across the south of England, including positions with South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), Business Link for Surrey, Urban Futures London Ltd. and TS²k.
Warren brings with him a wide network of senior stakeholder contacts across not just the South and East of the country but the whole of England. I am confident he will be a great addition to the team as we work to help identify and reduce imbalances in access to finance for smaller businesses across those regions. Judith Hartley Managing Director, UK Network
I am delighted to be joining the British Business Bank at such an important time for the UK business community. Working with colleagues in the UK Network, I am thrilled to be helping smaller businesses across the UK to be better informed about how to access sources of investment at all stages of their development, as highlighted in the government’s Industrial Strategy. This role will require the close support of stakeholders across the South and East of England, and I look forward to continuing existing relationships and building new ones. Geoff Whiteland UK Network Director, North of England and the Midlands
The UK Network is part of the British Business Bank’s new Demand Development Unit, which has been specifically created to raise the Bank’s profile and relationship with smaller businesses across the UK. The Demand Development Unit also incorporates the Bank’s recently launched Finance Hub, a digital information hub aimed at raising awareness of the finance options available to UK SMEs. It is the source of independent information for growing businesses and offers guidance for scale-up, high growth and potential high growth businesses using interactive content.
Further Information
Notes to editors
About the British Business Bank
The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.
The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £6.4bn of finance to over 85,000 smaller businesses (as at end of December 2018).
As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:
The new British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.
As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM Government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, one of which is authorised and regulated by the FCA.
British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.
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