Close Bros Asset Finance sets the pace for the industry as staff nurturing plans expand

CBAF’s chief executive is Mike Randall (pictured above) who was appointed in January 2012. He came with a sound career background in asset finance, initially with NWS (formerly North West Securities and later Capital Bank), part of the Bank of Scotland Group.

Joining CBAF in 1995 he was initially tasked with establishing the commercial business unit at one of Close’s three UK branch offices. Following a series of internal promotions, in 2008 he was appointed managing director at Close’s Transport division. He then successfully steered the acquisition of Commercial Vehicle Solutions, a vehicle and trailer leasing company.

Looking back to his current appointment Randall recalls his biggest challenge as being implementing the new industry compliance rules into a company which had long been recognised as something of an industry paragon for prudence and good practice.

“The required culture was already in place,” he stressed, “but the changes required by the Regulator needed embedding via some changes in methodology.

The company currently originates new business with a direct sales force of 160 together with an extensive panel of brokers. Randall has recently been influential in bringing together a number of lenders with the aim of presenting a united viewpoint for the Financial Conduct Authority’s Scope of Permissions – the variations of activities for regulated business.

“The resultant agreement,” he explained, “has been aligned with the NACFB (National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers) and FLA’s (Finance & Leasing Association) codes of lending. It is due shortly to be released via the NACFB.”

The next generation

Elsewhere, Randall’s initiatives have been no less innovative. In 2013 he established CBAF’s Training Academy “with the aim of recruiting and training our next generation of sales people to service the UK Transport, Print, and Construction and Manufacturing industries”.

In the recession period staff recruitment and training had been sorely neglected through the industry and, as Randall succinctly puts it: “The pond was dry”. Sanction and funding was obtained from the parent bank (“they saw the vision”) and “We started looking for dynamic, self-motivated candidates that had a passion for sales. No prior experience in sales or asset finance was necessary, just a commercial awareness and a desire to work in the finance industry.

“The programme, which partners each candidate with a dedicated CBAF mentor, will fast track their knowledge of our customers, products and markets to ensure that they can hit the ground running as a trainee area sales manager when training is complete.”

CBAF’s Academy attracted some 2,000 applicants initially – a figure that dramatically reflects pent-up demand for good-quality asset finance industry training – but was, of necessity, reduced to 34. The inaugural Academy course commenced operations on September 2015.

Randall stressed: “Our customer relationships are what sets us apart from the competition, and we’re very proud of the role we’re playing in supporting small and medium sized businesses across the UK to achieve their goals.

“Joining the Training Academy will not only give participants the opportunity to learn from the best in the industry, it will also allow them to make a real difference to people’s lives by allowing them to invest in their business.”

New apprentice plan

And with regard to investing in business, CBAF has to date received a total of £70 million from the UK government-backed Regional Growth Fund (RGF) which was created in 2011 to enable qualifying businesses to receive a grant towards a deposit on new business assets.

To date CBAF’s RGF has distributed some £45.5 million, created 3,663 SME jobs, safeguarded around 2,000 jobs in the SME sector and supported 1,332 SME businesses across the UK.

Randall said: “The £45.5 million we’ve distributed so far has in turn created over £289.8 million in investment and we’ve found the structure and obligations of the RGF are easy for businesses to understand and execute and with its help we have been able to reach the type of business where the money is most needed – and has the greatest impact.”

CBAF’s specialisms have long extended across the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors and yet another of Randall’s industry-supporting initiatives has been a tie-up with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) to create the Close Brothers Apprentice Scheme.

Randall explained: “Under this scheme Close Brothers helps pay for 20 apprentices to learn their skills at the AMRC Training Centre. Close Brothers funds half of the new recruits’ wages during the first year – and a quarter in the second. This means that participating SMEs won’t have to bear the full cost of employing the apprentices until they are making a positive contribution to their business. The first intake was in September last year (2015).”

The aim is to recruit a further 20 apprentices in year two and 20 more in year three. This means that Close Brothers will be supporting up to 60 apprentices in the scheme at full capacity in what is certainly an industry first.

He added: “We know from our work with SMEs that many would like to take on apprentices but they are worried about the cost, time, and resource involved. Britain’s manufacturing companies urgently need to recruit and train a new generation of skilled engineering workers if they are to grow in an increasingly competitive global market.

“We hope our initiative will help more SMEs to do just that. We believe this pioneering scheme will provide genuine financial support to the SME sector.”

Looking ahead, Randall plans CBAF’s expansion into Germany within the next 18 months.

Looking further ahead, Randall smiles as he said: “We don’t necessarily want to be the biggest, but our plan is to be the leading finance company in the UK, Germany and Ireland – with the commitment to provide SMEs with an excellent service throughout all business cycles.”

This industry observer would agree that with his current rate of momentum and innovation he is likely to achieve that.