Bibby Financial Services has strengthened its Inverness, Stirlingshire and Perthshire team with the appointment of Alex Russon as business development manager.

Russon (pictured) has 14 years’ experience in invoice finance having joined the specialist funder from Lloyds Commercial Finance, and also having previously worked for Barclays.

He said: “After working with traditional banks for so many years, I was attracted by Bibby Financial Services’ commercial approach and appetite to do business. They have a genuine desire to champion independent businesses.

“Having also run my own retail business I know the challenges that exist for small companies – and cash flow is one of the biggest. I’m looking forward to helping small and medium-sized businesses to access the funding and support they need to help them grow.”

Alan Anderson, head of sales for Bibby Financial Services in Scotland, added: “Having recently opened a new Glasgow office, we can see that Scotland is really leading the way when it comes to small business growth.

“After a strong 2014 and with solid relationships in place with accountants, brokers and the business community, we hope to grow our support for SMEs in Scotland this year. We are now looking at recruiting more staff to help us achieve that.”