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A leading UK merchant banking group

At Close Brothers, we are here to help the people and businesses of Britain thrive over the long term.

Close Brothers is a leading UK merchant banking group providing lending, deposit taking, wealth management services and securities trading.

A FTSE250 company, we employ over 3,700 people, principally in the UK, and are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

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Our values

We remain committed to our traditional values of service, expertise and relationships alongside teamwork, integrity and prudence, to help the people and business of Britain thrive over the long term.

Our Distinctive Approach

  • We focus on our core values which drive strong employee engagement and customer loyalty
  • Across our businesses we have a deep knowledge of the industry sectors and asset classes we serve which allows us to provide firmer lending decisions and faster access to funds when clients need them the most
  • We take a prudent approach to managing our financial resources. We maintain a prudent maturity profile, with diverse sources of funding, and a conservative capital position throughout the cycle
  • Each of our businesses is a specialist in its own niche market, driven by a strong customer led proposition and long-term client relationships
  • We apply our lending criteria consistently at all stages in the financial cycle which protects the quality and returns of our lending while providing continuity of service for our clients
  • Our lending is predominantly secured, with conservative loan to value ratios, small loan sizes and short maturities

Our model

Close Brothers has an established reputation as a responsible bank with a distinctive, prudent business model and a long-term approach. We focus on providing straightforward products and services in sectors we know and understand, and delivering quality and reliability for our clients.

Through all market conditions, we remain focused on:

  • Providing straightforward products and services
  • Maintaining a prudent approach and strong financial position
  • Building lasting relationships
Our business model

Our leadership

      Mike Biggs

      Chairman | Appointed to the Board on 14 March 2017, and as Chairman on 1 May 2017
      Mike

      Mike was the chairman of Direct Line Insurance Group plc from 2012 until August 2020. He was previously chairman of Resolution Limited, then a FTSE 100 UK life assurance business, and has acted as both chief executive officer and group finance director of Resolution plc. Mike was group finance director of Aviva plc and is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales ("ICAEW").

      Mark Pain

      Senior Independent Director | Appointed on 1 January 2021
      Sally Williams

      Current External Appointments: Mark serves as the chairman of AXA UK plc where he chairs the nomination committee and he serves on the risk, remuneration and investment committees, and serves as the non-executive chairman of Empiric Student Property plc.

      Mark has extensive finance, risk management and commercial experience, having held board positions at Barratt Developments plc and Abbey National Group. Mark has previously been a non-executive chairman of London Square Limited and a non-executive director of Yorkshire Building Society (where he served as senior independent director), Ladbrokes Coral Group plc, Punch Taverns plc, Spirit Pub Company plc, Johnston Press plc, and Aviva Insurance Limited, among others.

      Adrian Sainsbury

      Chief Executive | Appointed on 21 September 2020
      Adrian Sainsbury

      From 2016 until September 2020, Adrian was managing director of Close Brothers’ Banking division. Since August 2013 he has been a director of Close Brothers Limited, the group’s banking subsidiary. Adrian has previously held executive roles at Barclays, RBS and Bank of Ireland and was chief executive of ANZ Bank in Europe. Adrian has also served as chairman of the Asset Based Finance Association, the UK and Ireland industry body.

      Mike Morgan

      Group Finance Director | Appointed on 15 November 2018
      Mike Morgan

      From 2010 to 2018 Mike was chief financial officer of Close Brothers’ Banking division, and since 2010 he has been a director of Close Brothers Limited, the group’s banking subsidiary. Mike is a chartered accountant and from June 2013 to June 2019 was a member of the ICAEW Financial Services Faculty Board, and appointed the Board chair and an ICAEW Council member from June 2019 to June 2021. Prior to joining Close Brothers, Mike held a number of senior roles at Scottish Provident and RBS, most recently as finance director of the Wealth Management Division of RBS.

      Kari Hale

      Independent Non-executive Director | Appointed on 28 June 2023
      Kari Hale

      Current External Appointments: Non-executive director and audit committee chair at AXA UK plc and currently a senior advisor to the Financial Reporting Council.

      Kari held a range of senior roles at Deloitte including serving on its UK Financial Services Industry Board as head of strategy for the financial services practice. Previously Kari was an executive director at the Financial Services Authority.

      Tracey Graham

      Independent Non-executive Director | Appointed on 22 March 2022
      Tracey Graham

      Current External Appointments: Non-executive director of DiscoverIE Group plc, LINK Scheme Limited and Nationwide Building Society.

      Tracey has broad executive experience from companies operating in the financial and business services sectors, both in the UK and internationally. She has extensive experience as a remuneration committee chair and also serving as a senior independent director. Tracey began her career at HSBC and subsequently held the role of director of customer services at AXA Insurance plc. She was chief executive officer of Talaris Limited, an international cash management business. Before that, she held a number of senior roles in De La Rue plc, including as managing director – Identity Systems, president – Sequoia Voting Systems and managing director – Cash Systems. Tracey served as a non-executive director of Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited for nine years until March 2022, as well as Ibstock plc for seven years until April 2023.

      Patricia Halliday

      Independent Non-executive Director | Appointed on 1 August 2021
      Patricia Halliday

      Patricia has over 30 years’ experience in risk management across the investment, corporate and retail banking sectors. Patricia was chief risk officer (“CRO”) of Santander UK with responsibility for risk management and oversight across retail and commercial banking. Prior to Santander, Patricia was CRO of GE Capital International Holdings Limited. She began her career at NatWest, followed
      by senior credit risk roles at Barclays Capital and then Deutsche Bank, including as Head of Leveraged and Structured Finance and Commercial Real Estate, and chair of the Underwriting Committee, covering the UK, European and US markets.

      Tesula Mohindra

      Independent Non-executive Director | Appointed on 15 July 2021
      Tesula Mohindra

      Current External Appointments: Non-executive director and chair of risk and audit committee of RAC Group, non-executive director and chair of consumer committee at NHBC (National House-Building Council) and trustee of Variety, the Children’s Charity.

      Tesula qualified as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and held managing director roles at JP Morgan and at UBS, specialising in corporate finance for financial institutions and pension fund risk management. She was also a founding member of the management team of Paternoster, the specialist bulk annuity insurer, where she was a member of the executive committee. Tesula has also worked as an independent corporate finance consultant on business plans and capital raising.

      Sally Williams

      Independent Non-executive Director | Appointed on 1 January 2020
      Sally Williams

      Current External Appointments: Non-executive director of Lancashire Holdings Limited and of Family Assurance Friendly Society Limited (OneFamily) and chair of the audit committee at both companies. Sally was appointed as a trustee and chair of the audit and risk committees of Ovarian Cancer Action on 1 January 2023.

      Sally is a member of the ICAEW. She has extensive risk, compliance and governance experience, having held senior executive positions at Marsh, National Australia Bank and Aviva. Prior to that, Sally held roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in both their risk management and audit teams over a period of 15 years.

        Adrian Sainsbury

        Chief Executive
        Adrian Sainsbury

        Adrian joined the board of Close Brothers Group plc as chief executive on 21 September 2020.

        From 2016 to September 2020, Adrian was managing director of Close Brothers' Banking division. Since August 2013 he has been a director of Close Brothers Limited, the group’s banking subsidiary. Adrian has previously held executive roles at Barclays, RBS and Bank of Ireland and was chief executive of ANZ Bank in Europe. Adrian has also served as chairman of the Asset Based Finance Association, the UK and Ireland industry body.

        Mike Morgan

        Group Finance Director
        Mike Morgan

        Mike was appointed to the board as group finance director in November 2018.

        From 2010 to 2018 Mike was chief financial officer of Close Brothers’ Banking division, and since 2010 he has been a director of Close Brothers Limited, the group’s banking subsidiary. Mike is a chartered accountant and from June 2013 to June 2019 was a member of the ICAEW Financial Services Faculty Board, and appointed the Board chair and an ICAEW Council member from June 2019 to June 2021. Prior to joining Close Brothers, Mike held a number of senior roles at Scottish Provident and RBS, most recently as finance director of the Wealth Management Division of RBS.

        Robert Sack

        Group Chief Risk Officer
        Robert Sack

        Robert joined Close Brothers in April 2015 as Group Chief Risk Officer coming from Barclays where he had previously been Group Head of Wholesale Risk and Chief Risk Officer for Africa.

        With a background in credit risk, Robert has also held roles as Chief Credit Officer for Barclays International Division as well as working for Barclays Capital in the Americas and globally for Standard Bank across emerging markets.

        Simon Jacobs

        Group Chief Operating Officer
        Simon Jacobs

        Simon was appointed as Group Chief Operating Officer in August 2023.

        Prior to joining Close Brothers, Simon was most recently Chief Operating Officer of Sainsbury's Bank & Argos Financial Services. Before that, he held a number of Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Operating Officer roles across the Commercial & Private Banking, Corporate Banking and Global Banking & Markets businesses in RBS/NatWest. Simon started his career with Barclays in both UK and international roles and also worked at Deloitte where he led transformation initiatives for Financial Services clients.

        Simon has also previously chaired the Board of Trustees for a charity providing funding and support for Social Enterprises and Responsible Finance Providers.

        Angela Yotov

        Group General Counsel
        Angela Yotov

        Angela was appointed as Group General Counsel in August 2019.

        Prior to joining Close Brothers, she was General Counsel at the fintech and peer-to-peer lending platform, RateSetter. She was previously at Barclays Bank PLC from 2006-2015 in the investment bank and wealth management divisions and prior to that she was at Latham & Watkins, having started her career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Angela is also a non-executive director and trustee of Fareshare, the UK’s largest food redistribution charity.

        Rebekah Etherington

        Group Head of Human Resources
        Rebekah Etherington

        Rebekah joined Close Brothers in October 2009 as Group Head of Human Resources having previously been at Royal Bank of Scotland Group as Head of Human Resources for the banking and fixed income capital markets business in the Americas, with global responsibility for the RBS Sempra Commodities Trading companies.

        Prior to that she worked at West LB, having started her professional career at Ernst and Young. Rebekah is also a trustee of the Cardinal Hume Centre.

        Ian Cowie

        Chief Executive Officer Retail
        Ian Cowie

        Ian was appointed CEO of Retail for Close Brothers in October 2023.

        Prior to joining Close Brothers, he was most recently Chief Executive Officer at Shawbrook Bank. Before that, Ian held a number of Managing Director roles within Banking at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, where he had leadership responsibility for SME Banking, Lombard Asset Finance and RBS Invoice Finance.

        Bradley Dyer

        Winterflood Chief Executive
        Bradley Dyer

        Bradley joined Winterflood in 2004 as a senior dealer and was appointed Associate Director in 2014. He was appointed to the Winterflood Board as a Director in 2017 and became Head of Trading in 2018, with overall responsibility for trading across all sectors. He was promoted to Managing Director in April 2022 and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Winterflood, with effect from 20 September 2022.

        Prior to joining Winterflood, he worked at James Capel and HSBC and later joined WestLB Panmure and WestLB Equity Capital Markets in 1997. He was mainly based at WestLB Panmure in London, but also spent time in both the New York and Dusseldorf office locations, trading European & US Equities as an Executive Director.

        Phil Hooper

        Chief Executive Officer Property
        Phil Hooper

        Phil joined the Property Finance division of Close Brothers as CEO in December 2023.

        Phil joined the Bank from Pluto Finance where he was Head of Lending. He previously spent 36 years at Nat West Bank, latterly as Head of Real Estate where he managed the UK loan book of £30 billion.

        Eddy Reynolds

        Asset Management Chief Executive
        Martin Andrew

        Eddy Reynolds was appointed as Chief Executive of Close Brothers Asset Management (CBAM) in March 2022. He has over 30 years' experience in the fund and wealth management industries.

        Prior to joining CBAM he held a number of executive positions at Standard Life Aberdeen, most recently as Managing Director of Standard Life Savings. Earlier in his career he was Head of Investment at Lloyds Private Bank and previously held several senior roles at Aegon Asset Management and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP).

        Eddy has BSc in Maths from the University of Manchester and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. He is currently a non-executive director of Edinburgh fintech Aveni.

        Matt Roper

        Chief Executive Officer Commercial
        Matt Roper

        Matt was appointed CEO Commercial for Close Brothers in August 2023.

        Matt joined Close Brothers as Group Chief Credit Officer in 2018. In April 2021 Matt was appointed CEO of Invoice & Speciality Finance, a position he held until August 2023. Matt, a Chartered Accountant who trained with KPMG, previously held senior roles at Barclays, both in the UK and his native South Africa.

        Nazrul Kazi

        Group Head of Internal Audit
        Nazrul Kazi

        Nazrul was appointed as Group Head of Internal Audit in September 2022.

        Nazrul has over 20 years’ experience in internal audit, beginning his audit career at KPMG, specialising in the financial services sector of the audit practice. He then joined the Coventry Building Society within internal audit before moving to GE Capital in the role of Head of Internal Audit. Most recently, Nazrul was Group Audit Director for Aldermore Group where he set up the group internal audit function. In this role he supported Aldermore through strategic development of governance, risk management and the internal control environment pre-IPO, as a FTSE 250 organisation and latterly as part of the FirstRand group.

        Our history

        1878

        Founded by William Brooks Close at the age of 25 with his brothers Fred and James as a London-based partnership.

        1884

        The business moved to Chicago.

        1897

        Close secured the rights to build a railway from Skagway into the Yukon.

        1923

        William Brooks Close dies and in his will stipulates that Close Brothers should be wound up and a new company formed to carry on the business under the same name.

        1934

        Arthur Martens was appointed a director, and subsequently became chairman in 1940.

        1946

        The Issuing Houses Association is established with Close Brothers as a founder member.

        1964

        Arthur Martens dies and leaves the bank in the control of his son, Fraser, and Peter Anninos, a former director of Purle Brothers.

        1973

        London and Western Trust completes its acquisition of the bank but the parent company is then acquired by Consolidated Gold Fields.

        1977

        Close Brothers Premium Finance launches as the first premium finance business in the UK.

        1978

        A management buy-out saw the business exit from the Consolidated Gold Fields group.

        1984

        Close Brothers listed on the London Stock Exchange.Close Brothers Invoice Finance founded through the acquisition of Century Factors.

        1987

        Close Brothers Asset Finance set up by four former employees of British Credit Trust.

        1991

        Close Motor Finance established through the acquisition of Nene Credit.

        1993

        Winterflood Securities is acquired.

        1995

        Close Brothers announced its twentieth year of unbroken profit increases.Close Fund Management started.

        1996

        Close Brothers acquires the Surrey Asset Finance print business.

        1999

        The acquisition of Rea Brothers Group plc takes assets under management to £2.5 billion and supports the launch of our high net worth client business.

        2003

        The purchase of Nelson Money Managers was completed.

        2007

        Close Brothers launches brewery rentals business.

        2008

        Commercial Acceptances was acquired.Amber Credit Premium Finance and Kaupthing, Singer and Freidlander Premium Finance acquired.

        2010

        Close Brothers acquires Chartwell Group to support its wealth management proposition.

        2011

        Allenbridge Group’s retail division and Cavanagh are acquired, the latter helping to build out Close Brothers Asset Management’s adviser force to today’s 116.

        2016

        Loan book grows to over £6 billion, and Close Brothers maintains its unbroken 30 year record of never cutting its dividend.

        2017

        Close Brothers acquires Novitas Loans.

        2018

        Close Brothers celebrates its 140th Anniversary.

        2023

        Close Brothers opens the London Stock Exchange market on 24 July, the first time in its 145-year history.