Whilst there has been much talk, I believe Abbey is the second company to offer a supply chain finance solution in the UK after GMAC Commercial Finance, which uses Deskom. Between the two propositions, I believe Abbey has the best chance of making an impact. I have not heard or seen much publicity of Deskom and GMAC’s joined proposition recently and wonder its degree of actual success beyond the marketing hype.
Let’s review the team responsible for delivering the expected results for the Santander Group.
Marcus Hughes, Financial Supply Chain Solutions, Abbey UK Corporate Banking
Marcus is a specialist in financial supply chain solutions, covering financing, cash management and e-invoicing. Marcus spent 20 years in banking and trade finance, working in UK, Spain and France, as well as other international roles. This experience has recently been complemented by five years at a payments and e-invoicing solutions provider, giving him a valuable understanding of how technology can deliver business objectives. Having recently joined the Santander Group and Abbey UK Corporate Banking in London, Marcus is now helping to globalise Santander’s extensive product capability in supply chain finance, which in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, is generally known as Confirming. Marcus graduated with an MA from Cambridge University and is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian.
Obviously, Abbey does not want to declare where Marcus gained his experience from, but it is very well documented. Yes, he was with Bottomline Technologies. Being fluent in Spanish will no doubt have helped communications with UK based team and Santander. I plan to meet Marcus sometime in September 07.
Whilst Marcus run around promoting Abbey + OB10 proposition, who is setting the overall strategy for the UK corporate banking?
David Goucher, Abbey UK Corporate Banking
So what do we know about David:
David joined Abbey in 2006 with responsibility for business development within the new UK Corporate Banking business. He also leads the international development and expansion of Santander’s financial supply chain solution business. David has previously worked at RBS, Standard Chartered and Chase. Prior to joining Abbey, he was head of strategy and business development for RBS in New York.
So what is next? What about the announcement of signing up the first client? When will RBS bring a similar solution to the market? Is Rhys John’s loosing his touch? Hope not, I am counting on him for the success of edocr.
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