Coutts Expands In UK Regions With New Offices

Tom Burroughes

30 October 2008

Coutts, the UK private bank is opening a number of offices in the west and south of the UK over the coming weeks.

The bank, part of Royal Bank of Scotland, has opened a Cheltenham office and said it intends to open an office in Exeter in early December. It also is to expand its south east presence with a team to cover the area of Brighton and Hove.

This is the third wave of Coutts' regional expansion programme, which has increased the number of private bankers working from its offices outside of London by almost 80 per cent over the last four years - in some cases doubling local teams.

Coutts now has 130 client facing private bankers, including 18 specialists, in its network of regional offices outside London, in addition to managers, private banking assistants or team assistants.

“While the economy has been hit by a series of unprecedented and unexpected events, Coutts remains in a strong position and focused on growth,” Nick Pollard, managing director of Coutts, said in a statement.

"This growth is a great reflection of the regional expansion programme in which we have heavily invested over the last few years. We want to be accessible and geographically close to our clients, and we are now reaping the rewards of our long-term commitment to the regions, which represent the fastest-growing part of our business. Year on year, we have grown our number of private bankers and are delighted to see this programme continue into new areas," Mr Pollard said.

Over the last year, Coutts has opened offices in Chelmsford and Reading, and expanded private banking teams into Norwich, Sheffield, Leicester, Cheshire and Brighton & Hove.