Jes Staley, CEO at Barclays Group, visited a 40-year-old, family-run bus refurbishment company in Northumberland where he made the announcement.
The refurbishment company – which was founded in Ashington by brothers George and Keith Thornton – received a £25,000 loan from Barclays back in 1979 and is still a customer of the bank.
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Jes said that Barclays had been helping businesses across the North to succeed since the Industrial Revolution – the first ‘Northern Powerhouse’ – when it financed the world’s first steam locomotive passenger railway between Stockton and Darlington.
“…We face new economic challenges and opportunities posed by the digital revolution, the growth in competition from emerging markets and, of course, Brexit.”
Lord Jim O’Neill, former HM Treasury minister and vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, of which Barclays is a founder member, welcomed the announcement: “This major fund from Barclays will significantly increase the potential of our SMEs across the Northern Powerhouse to embrace the next Industrial Revolution, incorporating innovation such as robotics and AI into everything they do.”
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