Barclays has appointed Steve Rickards as head of offshore funds. He will lead the creation and implementation of the bank’s offshore funds strategy and report directly to Paul Savery, managing director of personal and corporate banking in the Channel Islands.
“Steve has 30 years’ experience with Barclays in corporate banking and international finance centres,” says Savery.
For the last four years Rickards has been heading up the Guernsey Funds team providing debt solutions for private equity and working with locally based fund administrators.
Savery says: “Barclays’ funds segment has seen some terrific cross functional success over the past year or so. Specifically, the offshore business has worked hand in hand with the funds team in London to bring the very best of Barclays to our clients, and Steve has been a real catalyst to driving this relationship from a Guernsey perspective.”
Rickards says: “Barclays is committed to growing its funds offering in Guernsey and Jersey. We have a track record in supporting the use of technology to speed up straight through processing and straight through reconciliation for fund administrators and in addition to a full range of local banking solutions the team provides access to the capabilities of the wider Barclays group.
“The fund sector is an important and growing industry sector for the island economies that Barclays is committed to supporting.”
Barclays’ clients have also welcomed the appointment. Barry McClay, chief operating officer at IPES, says: “Steve’s appointment is a confident step from Barclays and shows their support for the sector. An increased team, a strong strategy and improved focus on the sector will be beneficial to IPES and indeed the whole funds industry. It also shows the Bank’s long term commitment to the islands.”
