Integrated Finance

Bank of Scotland Compliance with Sir David Walker's Guidelines For Disclosure and Transparency in Private Equity

A Brief History

At the beginning of 2007 Sir David Walker was asked by the BVCA and a group of major private equity firms to undertake an independent review of the adequacy of disclosure and transparency in private equity. He completed this with a view to recommending a set of guidelines for conformity by the industry on a voluntary basis.

In July of 2007 Sir David issued a consultation document which sought views from the industry and related bodies. Bank of Scotland adopted a pro-active role in the consultation process, which has been acknowledged by Sir David Walker. In our submission we clearly stated that whilst Bank of Scotland is not a private equity firm we were of the view that given our significant position within the wider industry we should be at the heart of the debate and continue to play a leading and influential role.

In November 2007 Sir David's team issued their final guidance. We agree with the final document and are now signatories to those guidelines and believe that they represent good corporate and social governance.

Compliance

The details of that which we have signed up to are enclosed within the Walker Guidelines.

Organisation Structure

Integrated Finance sits within the ISAF division of Bank of Scotland Corporate which in turn is part of the HBOS plc group of companies. Integrated Finance does not utilise third party funds in order to make its investments with all funding for transactions provided by the bank as part of its overall funding strategy through Bank of Scotland Treasury plc.

Peter Cummings is Chief Executive of Bank of Scotland Corporate and Graeme Shankland leads the ISAF division under which Integrated Finance sits. Mark Hammond leads the Integrated Finance business which is subdivided into four operating teams. These teams and their investment strategies are described on the Integrated Finance home page.

Integrated Finance has arrangements in place to ensure that any conflicts of interest that may arise in relation to our investment activities are fairly managed.

Details of the Integrated Finance portfolio can be found by accessing the weblink on the side of this page.