Swedish bank opens new branch in region

Sep 5 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

SWEDISH bank Svenska Handelsbanken has opened a new branch on Teesside after months of putting together a team of bankers.

Former professional footballer Chris Teasdale heads the company’s second North-East operation, after a Newcastle office opened five years ago, and 32nd in the UK.

He has hand-picked senior bankers from across the Tees Valley for the new branch in Winder House on Kingfisher Way, Stockton.

Tom Ramshaw and Sean Carey, both senior corporate managers, accompanied by John Martinson, private banking manager, have joined Handelsbanken from another local high street bank. Paul Airey joins as office manager and a further, graduate level appointment is to be finalised next month.

The bank first announced its intentions to locate a branch in Tees Valley in April this year. Since then, Mr Teasdale has been hard at work selecting the right team to establish the bank as a serious player in the local commercial and financial sector.

He said: “I have interviewed 25 corporate banking managers from around the region in the last few months and I am delighted with the high calibre team that I have been able to put together, who are well-known faces in the local banking world.

“It would seem that there is currently a lot of restructuring going on within the high street banks which puts us in a very strong position and should enable us to quickly make our mark given the potential of the Tees Valley economy.

“Handelsbanken specialises in providing highly personalised and competitive banking services to both companies and individuals. Unlike most other banks, each branch has a large degree of autonomy. I have neither targets nor budgets. Instead, our culture is one of customer focus and providing a world class service with a view to adopting a longer term strategy.

“I believe we offer a unique combination of my ‘real world’ experience of running a publicly quoted company before joining Handelsbanken, backed by the heavyweight experience of my team and this will allow us to fill a niche in the market by providing an understanding and flexible banking service.”

Mr Teasdale, 37, achieved sporting success in the FA National School of Excellence from 1984-86 and as an apprentice for the Magpies after that.

He moved from sport into banking with a job at the Co-operative Bank and worked his way up over 15 years to become corporate banking manager. He then became operations director of South Shields-based shopping at work company Premier Direct before quitting last August.

Svenska Handelsbanken, which employs more than 10,000 staff throughout the world, is a household brand in its native Sweden, where it operates 457 branches, plus a further 42 in Norway, 36 in Finland and 37 in Denmark.