Vantis Private Banking hires Brendan Horgan

Vantis is pleased to announce the appointment of Brendan Horgan as a Director of Vantis Private Banking, a new division of the Group. Vantis Private Banking will be supported by Vantis Financial Management and will, in particular, service high net worth individuals and corporates looking towards portfolio investment. The new division will also work closely with other parts of the Group, especially Vantis Tax and Vantis Corporate Finance. Mr Horgan will also join the Vantis Group Executive Board, which reports to the PLC Board, to apply his extensive experience throughout the Group. His appointment is with effect from 3 April 2007.

Mr Horgan is joining Vantis from his role as Commercial Director, UK Business Banking at Barclays Bank. His responsibility has included leading, managing and maximising sales, service and overall business performance of 2,600 staff in the Medium Business & Agriculture (‘MB&A’) division. In his previous role, he served as a Risk Director on the MB&A Executive, accountable for all aspects of risk management within MB&A including credit risk, legal, operational risk, compliance, fraud and portfolio management.

Mr Horgan joined Barclays in 1979 and some of his more recent roles have included Regional Head of Small Business (East Anglia), and Head of Small Business Change. A recent high profile role was Audit Director for Barclays Group Central Functions bringing audit to the most senior group levels and establishing group wide audit. This role included some ground breaking work for Barclays across Africa

Brendan Horgan is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Banking (FCIB).

Commenting on the appointment, Paul Jackson, Chief Executive of Vantis said:

“We are extremely fortunate to be recruiting someone of Brendan’s calibre to the Group. His banking and leadership experience is extensive and his performance record is at the very top level. He has recently been highlighted in the Barclays ‘Take the Lead’ programme as one of the most innovative leaders within the bank. His strengths are underlined by his excellent communication skills and by his ability to build relationships, teams and to quickly innovate.

Our Private Banking initiative which will be lead by Brendan, is a significant extension to our current service offerings and will have particular emphasis in the high net worth sector, where his experience will be fundamental. We much look forward to his arrival.”