Virgin Money Promotes For Continued Growth Across Scotland – Scottish Business News

James Heaton, Virgin Money’s highly respected Agricultural Business Manager currently responsible for agricultural and landed estate clients in East Lothian & the Scottish Borders, has been promoted to Senior Director Scotland to further strengthen the bank’s market-leading support for the farming industry.

With Virgin Money’s growing commitment of over £1.5bn in funding to the agricultural sector, James Heaton will continue to take responsibility for the bank’s developing client base with a significant emphasis on the large estates and major agri-businesses that account for the biggest proportion of the Scottish agricultural industry.

Virgin Money Head of Agriculture for Scotland, Stephen Buchan, says that this appointment reflects the bank’s deep and abiding commitment to the future of farming and agri-business: “Virgin Money has a long track record of providing banking facilities and investment funding for agriculture  in Scotland, and  James’s well deserved promotion reinforces our commitment to providing support where the industry needs it most.

“Our farmers and landowners in Scotland and the Borders are facing an unprecedented range of challenges right now, and large estates and agri-businesses are leading the way in making the changes required to meet those challenges. James has all the skills and experience to help those clients with the banking services, the financial planning advice and the investment funding they need to take our industry forward into a sustainable, productive and economically viable future.”

A graduate of Newcastle University and a Chartered Banker since 2016, Berwickshire based James Heaton started his banking career in 1998 and has worked in roles across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Scotland. He joined Yorkshire Bank in 2010 as Agricultural Relationship Manager for the East of England, and then took on the same role back in Scotland for Clydesdale Bank in 2015.

James has developed strong working relationships with more than 90 farm, estate and rural business clients for Virgin Money over the past nine years, helping to grow the bank’s agriculture business significantly. He has also brought his commitment to education and communication to mentoring and supporting the professional development of Virgin Money’s growing team of specialist agricultural relationship managers in Scotland.

“Our clients are facing a combination of challenges from all sides, including changes in government support, cost inflation and carbon reduction, and after the Budget a major new uncertainty over their tax planning for succession. My role at Virgin Money is to build long term relationships with each client, understand every client’s unique business, and find the right financial solutions to enable that business to plot a route through the challenges.

“I am really delighted that Virgin Money has given me the responsibility and the opportunity to help our large estate and agri-business clients move forward, with the authority of a Senior Director. It underlines the bank’s commitment to the future of our clients, and it very definitely reinforces mine.”