Banking
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Developing Team Culture for Client Success

A Profile of Mark Grant, Managing Director, Head of Global Financial Institutions, Lloyds Banking Group

by Helen Sanders, Editor

Mark Grant is one of only a few executives today who has remained with the same bank, Lloyds Banking Group, throughout his career. Since joining the bank in 1978, he has developed a unique reputation both within and beyond the bank that has enabled him to drive change and find new ways to service customer needs. In 2009, Mark became Head of Global Financial Institutions at Lloyds, adding another major role to his already illustrious career. One of the factors that continues to make Mark so successful is his breadth of experience, that gives him remarkable empathy and insight into the viewpoints, challenges and objectives of different parts of the bank. This in turn means that he can communicate his vision in a way that both inspires and brings confidence to internal stakeholders so that the whole bank can act as one. Following a period of unprecedented change, including the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS, forming Lloyds Banking Group, the largest UK banking acquisition in history, Mark is uniquely positioned to develop the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) within Lloyds. This article looks at Mark’s vision for his new role, and some of his experiences and characteristics that will undoubtedly ensure his success.

Having engaged in a variety of roles in commercial lending, risk management, strategy and planning, Mark took on the role of Senior Relationship Director for Lloyds TSB Global Corporate Banking in 1993, managing the broad range of requirements of companies across the oil and gas, mining, chemicals, steel and commodity sectors. Working with the corporate sector gave Mark the opportunity to develop expertise across a wide range of products, and just as importantly, to refine the collaborative, customer-focused approach to relationship banking for which Lloyds is distinguished. From there, Mark moved to New York in 2000, taking responsibility for credit risk management across Lloyds’ US operations, comprising Global Corporate Banking, Financial Institutions, Project Finance, Structured Finance and International Private Banking. On returning to the UK in 2003, he built a multi-disciplinary divisional risk function for Lloyds’ Wholesale and International Banking division, extending his commercial and credit experience further to include legal and regulatory policy, portfolio management, and compliance.

In 2006, Mark took the helm of the Capital Markets function at Lloyds, at that time a fledgling operation, and built up the product spectrum of activities including deal origination, sales, loan syndication, sterling and euro bonds, US private placements, covered bonds and securitisation. During his period of leadership, Lloyds moved from a relatively minor participant in the capital markets space to a leading multi-product house. The Capital Markets business quickly built up significant expertise and a track record highlighted by Euromoney UK Loan Arranger of the Year 2008, IFR magazine’s Senior Financial Bond of the Year 2009 and attaining 4th position in Bloomberg’s sterling bond issuance and 3rd position in EuroWeek’s Best Arranger of Financial Institution Loans league tables.

Achieving objectives

There are a variety of reasons that Mark identifies as being important in achieving his objectives, one of which is the need to maintain and promote the unique culture of Lloyds. He explains, “In the Capital Markets division, it has been vital to attract talent from across the City with proven deal-making expertise, whilst ensuring that the whole team embraces the bank’s culture.” This was an important factor in encouraging support from the wider bank, so that the bank’s capital markets activity was aligned with the overall risk appetite and corporate relationship focus.