Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking has strengthened its support for SMEs across London with the launch of two specialist professional services and recruitment relationship teams.

Designed to provide a higher quality of industry-specific support for firms across the capital, the move comes as part of a significant restructure within the bank’s SME division, which has also seen the addition of several other new sector teams including media, technology and advertising; transport and construction; and hospitality and leisure.

Led by Steve Hutton and Anna Bowles, the professional and recruitment services teams are also supported by 17 relationship managers, who collectively have more than 300 years of banking experience. The team will focus solely on acquiring and working with professional services and recruitment customers with a turnover of up to £25 million, providing them with relevant and tailored guidance that is geared specifically to their industry.

After recognising a growing customer demand for sector-specific knowledge and support, Lloyds Banking Group is one of the first UK banks to adopt the approach and will be bolstering its relationship managers’ knowledge and experience through CPD courses.

Paul Evans, area director in Central London, SME Banking, Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “This is a really exciting time for our SME teams across London, and hundreds of local businesses are set to benefit from an enhanced level of support as a result of the London restructure. We have a huge amount of experience and expertise that customers will be able to take advantage of and all our team members will undergo regular training in order to develop this even further.

“Recognising and responding to the needs of our local business community is incredibly important to us. We’re committed to helping British firms prosper and we understand that in order to do this, we need to provide them with access to relationship managers who have a deep understanding of their industry.”