Barclays Commercial Bank has launched a new initiative to help UK businesses through the recession, named ‘Turning the Corner’.

Barclays Commercial Bank has launched a new initiative to help UK businesses through the recession, named ‘Turning the Corner’.

The programme is intended to assist the bank’s 81,000 business clients in battling the recession, and combines practical guidance, workshops, industry discussions and networking events.

It will offer business owners and managers the specific skills and knowledge that will assist them in meeting the unique challenges, and identifying potential opportunities, the current recession presents.

According to the bank, Turning the Corner is a natural step towards improving the way it supports businesses, particularly when combined with increased business lending and support of Government initiatives such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG).

David Marks, Barclays Commercial Bank Managing Director, England and Wales, said: “We are acutely aware of our responsibilities in the current environment and we remain committed to creating and maintaining a platform for our clients to succeed.

“…It also means adding value by providing practical guidance and information, and connecting businesses with likeminded peers so they can share learning on how to adapt their businesses to the specific challenges of operating in a recession. By offering our clients specific financial solutions and highlighting options for building more efficient operations, we believe their businesses will be better positioned when the economy recovers,” Marks said.

The first in a series of Turning the Corner events will be hosted in Sheffield today (4 March), with a roll-out across the rest of the UK.

The programme also includes a website with recession-specific content to help aid decision-making in areas such as human resources, supply chain management, foreign exchange and other finance and management disciplines. The website will include third party guidance from a range of industry experts as well as a Barclays perspective on market conditions and developments.

Barclays Commercial Bank’s financial results, announced last month, revealed strong lending growth, increasing 14% in 2008 to GBP61.7 billion. Barclays also aims to be the first UK bank to utilise its entire EFG lending quota.

For more information, visit the Turning the Corner website here ^[1].