Clyde Blowers boss tells Holyrood committee of plans for new Scottish investment bank

Jim McColl, chief executive of investment vehicle Clyde Blowers Capital and one of Scotland’s richest men, has revealed that he plans to launch a new Scottish bank to support small businesses with loans of up to £5 million.

Mr McColl yesterday told the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee that a new Scottish bank was required in order to fund growing businesses, and that he plans to apply for a banking licence in March after pulling together a consortium.

He said the Royal Bank of Scotland’s £45 billion government bailout and Bank of Scotland’s acquisition by Lloyds in the wake of the financial crash had left Scottish businesses bereft of significant local banking support.

Mr McColl explained to the Holyrood committee that while those such as former boss of HBOS commercial banking boss Peter Cummings had created “big challenges” within the banking sector through the massive expansion of the major Scottish lenders, he lamented the loss of “a lot of support for small Scottish companies – more support than you would think a bank like that would give”.

Mr McColl went on: “But they were based in Scotland and so had a bias towards Scottish companies. We don’t have a Scottish bank any more.”

Lamenting the fact that he can no longer speak directly in person to senior banking personnel without travelling to London, Mr McColl said his planned Scottish National Investment Bank could return the required level of support, if implemented the right way.

A public consultation was launched on the planned Scottish National Investment Bank in October and it still remains unclear how much Mr Mccoll is looking to raise.

But speaking yesterday he told the committee that the £340 million which has been proposed as initial capital for the Scottish National Investment Bank was “not enough by a long shot”.

Mr McColl also suggested that responsibility for export finance, which helps target overseas markets, should be devolved.

“That should be part of the SNIB, because it’s not working right now,” he added.