Close Brothers Commercial Finance, part of Close Brothers Group plc, has announced the appointment of Ciaran McAreavey as Managing Director.
Ciaran has held a variety of leadership positions in banking and financial services throughout the island.
He qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC, working in the corporate finance advisory team in Belfast, before spending 11 years at Ulster Bank in their Corporate Banking division. Here, Ciaran was a Director with responsibility for developing the business in the SME and Corporate sectors in Northern Ireland.
Following the onset of the banking crisis, Ciaran spent the last five years in Dublin at Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, most recently as Head of Recovery Management Ireland, where he was responsible for loan restructuring and recovery.
“I’m delighted to join a financial services organisation with such a strong reputation,” said Mr McAreavey.
“The Group is very well capitalised and well managed. It continued to lend to and support businesses in Ireland right the way through the banking crisis. My focus is to build on its development, on the Close Brothers brand and on the successes achieved by the entire team since the Irish operation was established here in 2007.”
Close Brothers Commercial Finance offers asset and invoice finance to firms in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with offices in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Galway.
Mr McAreavey continued, “We’re working hard to build partnerships with customers from a wide variety of industries, in addition to financial intermediaries, dealers and brokers. We understand the challenges businesses are faced with on a daily basis and our products are aimed at providing real solutions.
“Over the past eight years Close Brothers’ presence in Ireland has grown significantly and the support on the ground is backed up by an excellent back-office team. We’re in an exciting place and I look forward to continuing to develop the business and maintain our reputation in the marketplace.”
