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British Business Bank appoints CEO on an interim basis of commercial subsidiaries British Business Investments and British Patient Capital, along with new Chairs

Press release 18 August 2020

  • Judith Hartley appointed CEO on an interim basis of British Business Investments and British Patient Capital

  • Francis Small appointed Chair of British Business Investments

  • Russ Cummings appointed Chair of British Patient Capital

For immediate release 18 August 2020: The British Business Bank has appointed Judith Hartley as CEO on an interim basis of the Bank’s two commercial subsidiaries, British Business Investments and British Patient Capital from 1 September. The Bank has also appointed Francis Small as Chair, British Business Investments and Russ Cummings as Chair, British Patient Capital from 1 September.

Judith currently holds the position of Managing Director of the Bank’s UK Network, a team that is physically located within each of the English regions and the three Devolved Nations. She joins the Bank’s Executive Committee and takes over the role from Catherine Lewis La Torre who has recently been appointed Chief Executive of the British Business Bank from 1 September.

Judith Hartley built a career in corporate banking with Barclays and Bank of Scotland before becoming involved in the delivery of publicly funded access to finance products. Prior to her current role, Judith was previously the British Business Bank’s Managing Director, Lending Solutions, where she was responsible for the delivery of a number of the Bank’s debt-based products, including the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, Help to Grow and Start Up Loans. Judith joined the Bank from Capital for Enterprise where she was Managing Director, Debt Markets.

Catherine Lewis La Torre welcomed Judith Hartley’s appointment as CEO on an interim basis of British Business Investments and British Patient Capital:

Judith is a highly respected leader, with more than 30 years’ corporate banking experience and a strong track record of commercial success. She has successfully established and led the Bank’s UK Network team and recently led the Bank’s lender accreditation team during the Covid-19 response and has made a considerable contribution to the Bank since she joined in 2014. I am delighted that she has agreed to take on the role of CEO on an interim basis and look forward to working with her as we support the UK’s economic recovery.

Francis Small, who is appointed Chair, British Business Investments, became a Non-executive Director in June 2016. Prior to this, he spent 36 years at Ernst & Young where he ran the UK Corporate Finance practice before becoming Global Head of Corporate Finance and a member of Ernst & Young’s Global Board.

Russ Cummings who is appointed Chair, British Patient Capital, became a Non-executive Director in June 2018. He is former CEO, Touchstone Innovations plc, one of the UK’s leading technology investment companies. He brings more than 25 years’ experience as a venture capital and private equity investor having worked for Scottish Equity Partners LLP and 3i Group plc.

Since its inception in 2014, the Bank has grown significantly and at the end of 2019 it supported more than 94,000 businesses with over £7.7bn of loans or investments through its various programmes. Since 23 March, the British Business Bank has launched four Coronavirus business loan schemes, so far delivering more than £52bn of additional finance to over 1.2m UK businesses.

Further Information

Notes to editors

Covid-19 Loan Schemes

Future Fund

The Future Fund will support the UK’s innovative businesses currently affected by Covid-19. These businesses have been unable to access other government business support programmes, such as CBILS, because they are either pre-revenue or pre-profit and typically rely on equity investment. Initially, £250 million was made available by the government for investment through the scheme, to be matched by private investors, with the Treasury making clear the amount could be increased if needed. Due to the popularity of the Fund, more funding is being made available. Developed by government and delivered by the British Business Bank, the Future Fund launched for applications in May and will initially be open until the end of September.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)

BBLS is a demand-led scheme offering lending that targets small and micro businesses, providing loans from £2k up to 25% of the business’ turnover with a maximum loan of £50k. Providing lenders with a 100% government-backed guarantee and standardising the application form has led to a faster process with many loans becoming available within days. The Bounce Back Loan Scheme enables businesses to obtain a six-year term loan at a government set interest rate of 2.5% a year. The government will cover interest payable in the first year.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

CBILS is a demand-led scheme offering lending to smaller businesses with turnover of up to £45m. Invoice finance and asset finance facilities are available from £1k to £5m, while term loans and revolving credit facilities are available from £50k to £5m. The government makes a payment to cover interest and lender-levied fees under CBILS for the first 12 months.

Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)

CLBILS is a demand led scheme targeted at larger businesses with a turnover of more than £45m. CLBILS can be used to support term loans, revolving credit facilities, invoice finance facilities and asset finance facilities. The maximum amount available through CLBILS to a borrower and its group is £200m. Term loans and revolving credit facilities over £50m are offered by CLBILS lenders which have secured additional accreditation. The maximum size for invoice finance facilities and asset finance facilities is £50m. Companies borrowing more than £50m through CLBILS are subject to further restrictions on dividend payments, senior pay and share buy-backs during the period of the loan.

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 were supporting more than £7.7bn of finance to over 94,900 smaller businesses at end of December 2019. Since March 2020, the British Business Bank has launched four new Coronavirus business loan schemes, delivering tens of billions of pounds of finance to over a million businesses.

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 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 site also features case studies and lessons 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 through a number of subsidiaries, none of which are authorised or regulated by the FCA or the PRA.

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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