Bernard Ginns: Signs of life are stirring in the corporate banking world

Lloyds has been building up its corporate team under Mark Burton, the regional managing director.

He has brought in two big hitters from Barclays, Jim Sparling and Geoff Durkin, a pair of directors in the corporate team. And late last year he hired Steve Harris, a corporate director at The Royal Bank of Scotland.

I hear that Antonio Horta-Osório, the group chief executive, has given Mr Burton a mandate to build the corporate banking team.

“Corporate is where they want to invest – they feel they can make money there,” said one adviser. “They are pulling together a good team. It shows there is real appetite there.

“It’s not just paying lip service to being open for business. It means don’t give up hope.”

Lee Collinson, head of corporate at Barclays in Yorkshire, was philosophical about the departure of his employees. He said that his bank is an employer of choice and “it comes as no surprise that our competitors seek to employ Barclays staff”.

Observers are expecting some counter appointments in the near future from Barclays, which is also said to be gearing up for more corporate business.

The bank already has one of the best-regarded young financiers in the region in Ben Andrews.

The 35-year-old is key accounts director and looks after regional plcs with a turnover of more than £250m and large limited companies with a debt and equity capital of more than £50m.

His clients include R&R Ice Cream, Oval Insurance and Morrisons, for whom he helped arrange a £400m sterling bond.

According to one well-respected professional, he is Yorkshire’s most powerful banker, based on his contacts book and ability to engage with senior people. Barclays will want to keep hold of him.

“We will see a lot more activity from Lloyds and Barclays. These are two good banks still investing,” said the professional.

“HSBC is still very active and has had two phenomenal years making the most of having been prudent with its balance sheet.

“We do have a lot of quality banking ability in this region. It’s up to us to make the most of it.”

Barclays unveils its annual results next month. They are expected to show that the bank has had a very good year.

With the results will come the inevitable furore over executive pay and bonuses.

It was a year ago that Bob Diamond, the group chief executive, said: “There was a period of remorse and apology for banks – I think that period needs to be over.”

Unfortunately for him, he might need to return to that era, particularly if he takes his multi-million pound package in full.

Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, made clear his views on what is at stake in this increasingly political row in a speech last week.

“The tragedy of the financial crisis is that those who have suffered most have been those who bear no responsibility for it, and who, whether employees or businesses, accepted the disciplines of a market economy only to find that others were excused that discipline because they were ‘too important to fail’,” he told the audience at The Grand hotel in Brighton.

“But the legitimacy of a market economy will inevitably be challenged if rewards go disproportionately to a small elite, especially one which benefited from the support of taxpayers.

“Those taking decisions on remuneration, in the financial sector and elsewhere, need to understand that a market economy rests not just on incentives, but on the acceptance that the distribution of rewards is fair.

“That sense of fairness underpins the commitment to a market economy. An even bigger tragedy would be to deny the prosperity that flows from a market economy to those who need it most.”

Amen, Sir Mervyn, who is sounding more and more like a man of the cloth in his public pronouncements. There are plenty of talented and devoted bankers in Yorkshire who work very hard to try to support companies of all shapes and sizes in this region.

We need innovative financiers who really understand business to help our firms access the funding they need to grow and create jobs.

It is not their fault that their City of London masters and our political leaders are doing their best to besmirch an entire industry.

Most bankers will be on salaries that are a fraction of the absurd numbers received by the men at the top.

They are on the frontline, often on the receiving end of negative public opinion, while working for the greater good, largely without thanks.