CLYDESDALE Bank yesterday confirmed that it is to receive a much-needed (pounds) 15m cash injection towards the cost of refurbishing its Glasgow head office complex, plus a new flagship Financial Solutions Centre in the city.
As revealed in The Herald yesterday, the investment will go some way towards giving the bank's tired and outdated Buchanan Street head office a makeover.
The rest will be used to launch a city centre based Financial Solutions Centre, which will service the Clydesdale's business and private banking customers.
A spokesman for the Clydesdale last night said the bank was still negotiating on a site for the centre, which is scheduled to open in early to mid-2005.
Clydesdale has eight similar centres in the south of England and has plans to open another four in the coming months, with more slated for next year.
Jim Wallace, the enterprise minister, hailed the bank's commitment to ''deliver high-quality services based in Scotland''.
''Financial services are one of the key strengths of Scotland's economy - we all want to see the sector prosper.''
However, Clydesdale's longer-term prospects remain uncertain. National Australia Bank, which owns the Clydesdale, recently appointed investment bank Lazard to assess options for its four UK and Irish banks amid speculation that it could decide to sell its European assets and retrench to its troubled Australian base.
The Australian bank has struggled to recover from a series of financial disasters that have infuriated investors, including this year's controversial (pounds) 100m rogue trader scandal, which eventually claimed the scalps of former chief executive, Frank Ciccuto, and chairman, Charles Allen.
This came not long after a $2.2bn writedown at its US mortgage servicing arm, HomeSide, due to poor risk management.
If NAB decides to sell up in Europe to concentrate on getting things right in its home market, Barclays is seen as one obvious buyer of Clydesdale to extend its reach in Scotland, where it has a low profile on the high street.
Clydesdale plans to modernise its head office will include installing new computer systems and telecoms. Work is planned to start in May next year and should be completed by the end of 2005.
David Thorburn, chief operating officer of Clydesdale, said: ''These initiatives are part of Clydesdale Bank's growth programme, which in the past year has seen us expand our operations into the south of England, revamp much of our product range, introduce new training programmes and launch a new approach to branding and advertising.''
DAVID THORBURN: Clydesdale's initiative in Glasgow is part of a UK-wide programme by the bank.
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