News

British Business Bank appoints Neeta Atkar as Senior Independent Director

The British Business Bank today announces the appointment of Neeta Atkar as Senior Independent Director to its Board, effective from 16 November 2019.

Ms Atkar steps up into the role having served as a Non-executive Director since July 2016 and will continue to Chair the British Business Bank’s Risk Committee.

The previous incumbent, Christina McComb, steps down from the Board, having served two terms as Senior Independent Director since 2013.

Lord Smith, Chair of the British Business Bank, said: “I am pleased to welcome Neeta to her new role as Senior Independent Director and look forward to working with her closely as we continue to make finance markets work better for smaller UK businesses.

“I would also like to thank Christina McComb for her contribution in providing valuable expertise and guidance over the last six years, including acting as interim Chair from October 2016 until July 2017.”

Until the end of 2016, Ms Atkar was Chief Risk Officer at TSB Bank. In a 25-year career in risk management, she has held senior positions at a number of financial services firms, the Bank of England and financial regulatory bodies. She currently serves on the Board of Yorkshire Building Society Group and is Chair of its Risk Committee.

ENDS

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £7.0bn of finance to over 91,000 smaller businesses (as at end of June 2019).

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

  • The Business Finance Guide (published in partnership with the ICAEW and a further 21 business and finance organisations) impartially sets out the range of finance options available to businesses at all stages – from start-ups to SMEs and growing mid-sized companies. Businesses can take the interactive journey at thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk.
  • The new British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM Government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, one of which is authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.