HSBC Innovation Banking has appointed Amy Burnett as regional coverage director for Scotland and Northern Ireland, bringing more than eight years of KPMG private enterprise experience to the bank's specialist start-up and scale-up coverage, a hire that matters broadly because it strengthens the bank's regional presence supporting founders and investors, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because it shows specialist banks actively recruiting the scale-up advisory expertise Big Four firms have spent years building.

HSBC Innovation Banking is HSBC's specialised global banking division for start-ups, scale-ups and venture capital investors, built from the former Silicon Valley Bank UK business HSBC acquired in 2023, now employing more than 650 people across the UK and Nordics.

KPMG is one of the Big Four accountancy firms, where Burnett spent more than eight years as head of private enterprise access and emerging giants lead for Scotland, delivering its annual Tech Innovator competition and supporting Scale Up Scotland.

Burnett's appointment gives HSBC Innovation Banking direct continuity with Scotland's start-up ecosystem rather than a standing start. Her KPMG remit centred on identifying and supporting the region's fastest-growing private companies, precisely the founder and investor relationships her new coverage role is built to serve.

That continuity reflects where specialist talent is increasingly moving. UK fintech vacancies rose 44 per cent year on year in the most recent finance jobs data, ahead of the 29 per cent rise recorded across accountancy itself, making venture and innovation banking an increasingly attractive next step for specialists with deep scale-up sector experience.

For HSBC Innovation Banking, hiring someone who has judged competitions and provided media commentary on Scotland's start-up scene brings an established public profile alongside technical private enterprise expertise, shortening the time needed to build credibility with local founders and investors.

For the sector, the appointment is a useful marker of how transferable Big Four private enterprise expertise has become: skills built advising scale-up clients inside an accountancy firm now translate directly into coverage roles at specialist banks competing for the same relationships.

Source: Scottish Financial News / Financial IT