HSBC has made five new appointments within its Derbyshire and East Staffordshire commercial team.

The appointments include Mark Lupton as commercial manager, Nikita Chauhan as commercial officer, Ken Allen as senior commercial financial advisor, Kevin Jennings as premier manager and Matt Grundy as international commercial associate.

The appointments bring the total number of staff at the Pride Place-based Commercial Centre to 29.

Lupton moves to HSBC from Yorkshire Bank, where he spent 10 years, the final four of which were based in Derby managing a portfolio of SME clients. Meanwhile, Chauhan, Allen, Jennings and Grundy have all moved to the Derbyshire and East Staffordshire Commercial team from other roles within HSBC.

Derbyshire is a key area of HSBC’s Midlands regional team and the latest publicly available figures show across the region the bank approved £1 billion in gross new lending to Midlands SMEs during the first six months of last year.

Darren Joyce, HSBC Derbyshire and East Staffordshire Area commercial director, said: “These new appointments demonstrate a clear commitment from HSBC to Derbyshire and East Staffordshire SMEs. We want to help companies to grow and we have the expertise and experience to help businesses to do that.

“As well as domestic-focused businesses, we are particularly keen to hear from companies that are trading, or aspire to trade, overseas as we believe exporting offers fantastic growth potential for UK SMEs.”

Roy Harris, HSBC Midlands regional commercial director, added: “The Derbyshire and East Staffordshire areas are key to our region and are home to many thriving businesses, a number of which are taking their products and services worldwide.

“We want to keep investing in our team to ensure our current and future customers receive the best possible service.”