Al Denholm has been appointed the new chief executive of the Scottish National Investment Bank.
With more than 36 years of asset management experience in the UK, Europe, Asia, and America, he was most recently chief investment officer of the £100bn Aviva Investment Solutions Business.
Previously Denholm was chief investment officer and chief executive officer of Prudential Portfolio Management Group, and has held senior investment leadership roles with Blackrock, ING, Insight and Scottish Widows.
Denholm, originally from Edinburgh, said: “I’m incredibly excited to pick up and build upon what has been achieved so far.
“The bank is ambitious, and I want to help further establish it as one of the best impact investors in the industry.
“I believe we can generate great social and environmental impact and great returns for the people of Scotland.”
To date, the bank has enabled over £1bn of investment into Scottish businesses, by directly committing over £415m of its own capital and enabling more than £680m of capital from other lenders and investors.
Earlier this week, its 27th investment was announced, providing £6.6m of support to Aberdeen-based clean energy business Verlume.
The bank's missions seek to address key challenges facing Scotland – the climate emergency, place-based inequality and investment in innovation. Its primary function is to provide financial backing to mission-aligned businesses and to encourage private sector investment.
Denholm added: “I’m impressed to see how much work has been put in by the team and how far the Bank has come in such a short space of time.
“It is inspirational to be delivering impact for our communities through investments and I want us to look back in the decades to come with pride – our discipline around impact investing provides us with expertise that institutional investors will be interested in.”
Chair Willie Watt said: “Al brings a wealth of experience to the role, and I am confident he can continue to develop and grow the bank on behalf of the people of Scotland.
“We have made excellent progress in a short period of time, and I’d like to thank interim chief executive Sarah Roughead and her executive team for their commitment.”
Roughead has been in place since the bank's maiden chief executive Eilidh Mactaggart resigned in February 2022.
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