Glenville Walker Consulting Launches Banking Review Services

Glenville Walker and Partners is pleased to announce that it has added a Banking Review specialism to its Consultancy offering, under their Glenville Walker Consulting brand. With over 50 years of practical banking experience, at all levels of business, the primary focus of the team is to provide a “Health Check” capability for ongoing banking relationships, expert guidance for businesses where the relationship has broken down and there is a fundamental problem, or compensation is being sought for historicmiss-selling activity.

The Banking Review team is lead by :-

• Alistair Howard – who has been self employed since 2010 and has over 30 years Corporate, Commercial and Business Banking experience (North West), and

• Simon Robb – who has worked as a consultant since 2011, but has over 25 years Corporate and Commercial Banking experience (London and Liverpool).

Why is Glenville Walker Consulting Doing This?

Many businesses spend thousands of pounds every year on bank fees (security fees, arrangement fees, draw-down fees, renewal fees and so on) but are almost entirely reliant upon their bank for Best Advice. Glenville Walker Consulting believes that a periodic independent banking health check will, in many cases, offer significant savings for the business and also offer an alternate view upon how best to structure facilities. This might mean lower interest costs, release of personal guarantees, or a significant reduction in fees.

How is Glenville Walker Consulting Doing This?

The initial Review will be provided at No Cost. This will allow all parties to complete a high level review of the existing or historic position, and openly discuss what (if anything) is needed. In some cases, there will be nothing that needs to be done or can be done – and there will be no charge for advising the same. If there is work to be done, then a formal engagement letter will be agreed (detailing our charge out rates) prior to any further activity.

Who is Glenville Walker Consulting Doing It For?

Any business, from sole trader through to multinational must has to have a banking relationship. This means that any business may benefit from a review. The service is provided solely for business customers, but it can be both forward and, in some cases, backward looking. Primarily we will focus upon UK businesses and banking relationships.

So What Are We Looking For?

Banks are a key component of the UK economy, and, unfortunately (as we all know) there have been some aspects of their operation which has shaken confidence in them, and has caused significant difficulty for individual customers. However, despite the reputational damage sustained, clearly not all banking relationships are bad. There are a large number of quality bankers in the system and there is a great value in knowing who to approach in any set of circumstances. Each Bank has a different view of the level of risk it should undertake and the types of clients it prefers to deal with. By engaging a Banking Review Consultant it can help clients to efficiently get where they want to be with banking relationships without too much distraction from their business.

In all cases it is generally worth having a Health Check of your business banking arrangements from an independent and experienced Banking Review Consultant.

These types of Consultants are sought after in the market place and as Banks become more and more aware of their own regulatory constraints, they will become more important to facilitate business relationships with Banks.

Because Alistair and Simon have over 50 years' experience of working within the Banking Industry, in direct customer facing/managing roles, they are well aware of where problems tend to arise or where savings might be made. Some key questions might be:

• Are you paying a fair price for the risk the Bank is taking?• Is your PG too high? Is it needed at all?• Is the broader security package taken by the Bank still fit for purpose? e.g. First Charges over Property, Debenture, Cross Guarantees and so on.• Are your facilities structured effectively for your needs – Loans/Overdraft/Invoice Discounting/Factoring/Deposit Offset?• If there has been an “IBR” in the past (or being threatened), was/is it needed?• If the business has been in “Intensive Care”, was it treated fairly and reasonably?

For further information please contact our Commercial Relationship Manager, Hazel Walker on 0151 305 9654 or hazel.walker@glenvillewalker.com

Twitter: @GWConsultingltd        Linkedin: Glenville Walker Consulting