Virgin Bank to create 100 Scottish jobs

SIR Richard Branson has unveiled plans to locate part of his new Virgin Bank in Edinburgh, in what will be seen as a huge boost to the city's battered financial services sector.

Virgin Money, which failed in its bid to take control of the now nationalised Northern Rock, is to create more than 100 jobs in a mortgage operation. The company recently opened an office in the city and is currently filling top-level jobs for the new banking business.

The investment will help counter the fall-out from the woes of Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, which are cutting thousands of staff. Virgin Money expects to take on experienced bankers, including many who are out of work.

It follows recent developments at Tesco Personal Finance, which is building a bank in Edinburgh under chief executive Benny Higgins and has poached high-level personnel from rivals.

Virgin Money's chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia, who lives in Edinburgh, spent five years with RBS. She joined from Virgin in 2001 and went on to become managing director of RBS consumer finance before returning to the firm she helped Branson establish.

Virgin Money also has offices in Norwich and London, but Edinburgh is key to its plans to become a bank.

A spokesman said: "There is a great pool of talent in the job market in Edinburgh. We expect a good response because of our brand and the current climate in the banking sector. We recently moved into a new office in Calton Road, where we already have 30 employees. There's room to expand and take on a new floor."

Virgin Money would not confirm how many staff it will have in Edinburgh in total. But sources said it would need at least 100 to run a standalone mortgage operation if it decides to go down that route rather than join up with a third party.

The firm has not offered its own mortgage product since it sold its stake in the One Account to RBS in 2001. It currently refers customers to RBS, but one of its priorities is to gain a "sizeable" share of the mortgage market. A spokesman said: "We want to grow quickly and profitably, but in a sensible fashion. Governance, risk and control are some of the biggest issues facing financial institutions today."

He said Edinburgh was the "obvious place" to source talent to fill its risk department.

Virgin Money already offers investments, savings, loans, credit cards, insurance and pensions. It plans to become an online bank offering additional products, including current accounts and mortgages, within a year. It has not ruled out launching a branch network.

The idea of a Virgin Bank was first floated when the firm approached Northern Rock in 2007, but only now is it unveiling plans to press ahead with it.

A spokesman said: "We want to restore trust in what has become a tarnished sector."