Yorkshire Bank has appointed businessman Richard Graves as non-executive chairman of its flagship Financial Solution Centre in Birmingham.
Mr Graves, aged 49, is chief executive of Entente Consulting, the trading arm of Francis Graves and Naismith, the project management and quantity surveying group which was taken over by quoted company Erinaceous last September in a £7m deal.
He is the first chairman to be recruited by Yorkshire Bank in the city.
Mr Graves is a former chairman of the QS division of the Royal Institution of Char-tered Surveyors and has sat on the regional council of the CBI.
He will advise the team at Yorkshire Bank and facilitate introductions with the commercial, advisory and deal-making communities.
He said: "For a long time I had wanted to get in amongst the banking community to help formulate strategy at a local level. I am also eager to offer my insight as a businessman as to how banks can work more closely with businesses to develop mutually beneficial relationships.
"I have been pleased with what I have seen to date as Yorkshire Bank's financial solutions centre approach is very different, offering a oneto-one personal service coupled with the provision of business facilities for its members."
Debbie Golec, FSC managing partner in Birmingham, said: "Richard has a pedigree of managing businesses and developing long-term and sustainable commercial relationships. He is highly regarded and brings enviable connections with the business and finance communities in Birmingham and beyond."
Yorkshire Bank is part of the National Australia Bank.
