More reasons to believe things are looking up for Scottish corporate bankers

In further sign that the corporate banking recruitment market is heating up in Scotland, as smaller players look to capitalise on the fall out from RBS and HBOS, Barclays has revealed plans to expand north of the border.

Barclays Corporate says it has committed 250m in new lending north of the border since the beginning of this year, largely focusing on PFI infrastructure projects and some property deals. It aims to increase its corporate business by 50% in Scotland this year and needs to staff up.

Barclays Wealth and Barclays Corporate intend to hire a combined 10-15 frontline staff over the next 12 months. The corporate division still has a "single digit" market share in Scotland, according to Ally Scott, its managing director.

In the corporate division, part of Barclays' recruitment drive will be replacement, after it lost Alison McGregor, Euan Tait and Derek Smith to Clydesdale Bank late last year. However, we also understand that Barclays has already recruited Malcolm Crawford from Anglo Irish Bank (Scotland).

Clydesdale itself has been enjoying a greater share of the corporate market, according to comments from regional director Scott McKerracher earlier this year, and has been adding headcount to reflect this. Sources tell us that Derek Brennan has recently joined to cover the healthcare sector.

HSBC is also making a play to gain a greater share of the Scottish market, and unveiled plans to add 10 relationship management staff in its commercial banking team north of the border.

One senior corporate banker in Scotland tells us that after a period of retrenchment over the last 18 months, a number of banks are looking to expand again.

"There's more of a focus on mid-corporate deals in Scotland, and there's a sense of cautious optimism that - despite the obvious risks - the situation is improving. Firms are expanding to reflect this," they said.