NatWest Finalises Its Leadership Team With Latest Senior Hire Ahead of Venture Banking Launch

WHY THIS MATTERS: This strategic move by NatWest signals a fundamental shift in the competitive landscape for the UK’s innovation economy. Following a period of market instability where specialized technology lenders faced significant challenges, established incumbent banks are now making large, concerted plays to capture the high-growth scale-up segment. The appointment of an expert like Ruari Phillips, with a proven history in bespoke non-dilutive capital solutions, underscores NatWest’s intent to offer sophisticated venture debt products. This is far more than a simple expansion; it is a critical effort to integrate high-potential tech companies into a more robust, full-service banking ecosystem. For founders and investors, the launch of NatWest Venture Banking provides a major, systemically stable source of capital, potentially de-risking growth financing and intensifying the battle for banking relationships among the nation’s most ambitious businesses.

NatWest has appointed Ruari Phillips as Head of Venture & Growth Finance, a key leadership position in its rapidly expanding venture banking team.

The appointment marks the latest addition to the team led by Jenny Edwards, ahead of the launch of NatWest Venture Banking this April — a new initiative designed to transform how the bank supports the UK’s most ambitious and innovative venture-backed scale-ups. With this new offering, NatWest is spearheading efforts to be the partner of choice for founders and investors, with a regional coverage model that offers tailored support to help founders access capital, scale and navigate the challenges that come with rapid growth.

Ruari joins NatWest from HSBC Innovation Banking, where he led a number of lending teams specialising in venture debt for clients at all stages of growth, most recently as the Head of Strategic Capital. With over 13 years of experience gained at HSBC UK, Silicon Valley Bank and Barclays, Ruari brings a proven track record of supporting founders from seed stage through to exit — including structuring complex debt transactions, managing diverse portfolios and enabling high‑potential businesses to scale with confidence. 

Under Jenny’s leadership, NatWest has already hired more than 20 venture banking specialists, bringing together deep sector expertise, strong investor relationships and a personalised approach to founder support. In his new role as part of Jenny’s leadership team, Ruari will work closely with Greg Brown, who was announced as NatWest’s Head of Venture Capital in October, and Kim Martin, who has recently been appointed Head of Venture Banking Coverage. Together, this team will strengthen NatWest’s relationships with leading venture capital and growth investors, helping funds and their portfolios access the full breadth of the bank’s support. 

Jenny Edwards, Head of NatWest Venture Banking, said: “We know that to build the economy of the future we need to back the innovators who will power it. As we prepare to launch NatWest Venture Banking in April, I have brought together a best-in-class team to build a venture banking offering designed around what founders and investors need most – specialist support, flexibility, and a partner that understands the realities of scaling. Ruari’s expertise will strengthen how we back scale-ups as we launch NatWest Venture Banking, bringing the full breadth of bank’s capabilities together to back today’s trailblazers shaping the UK’s future economy.”

Ruari Phillips, Head of Venture & Growth Finance, NatWest, said: “I am delighted to be joining NatWest Venture Banking at such an exciting time, as it builds a market-leading offering to support founders, start-ups and high growth businesses. It is clear to me there is a cast-iron commitment within the bank to use its convening power, broad customer base and specialist expertise to help create the conditions for innovation and UK-wide growth. I’m looking forward to working with founders and investors as we deliver a truly holistic venture banking offering to support the UK’s innovation economy.”

Earlier this month NatWest set out its commitment to support UK-wide growth, bringing together investment, expertise and partnerships across the real economy under a connected five-point plan: Growing Together. NatWest Venture Banking will focus on companies that have raised institutional investment in target sectors in the innovation economy that are driving the UK’s future growth.

FF NEWS TAKE: The scale of NatWest’s hiring and the caliber of this key leadership appointment decisively move the needle for the UK’s funding ecosystem. It solidifies the trend of mainstream banks aggressively challenging the established niche providers. The success of this initiative will hinge not only on the availability of capital but also on the team’s ability to execute their regional coverage model effectively. The market should watch for the immediate uptake and pricing structure of their venture debt offerings post-April launch, as this will determine their market penetration against rival institutions.