HSBC is delighted to support the Large Business Of The Year category in The Press Business Awards, which recognises businesses with a turnover in excess of £3 million that can demonstrate strong organisation, exceptional financial returns, robust growth and innovation strategies, plus market prowess in their sector.

Competition for the honour will be tough as North Yorkshire boasts numerous businesses that can demonstrate these qualities.

It is these businesses that drive growth, seek out new markets and innovate, thereby creating jobs and prosperity to the benefit of the local community.

It is important to celebrate these companies and hold them up as an example of what can be achieved to inspire the smaller businesses within the region.

HSBC's North Yorkshire Commercial Centre supports businesses with a turnover of up to £30 million and is well placed to work with companies looking to expand and grow.

A complaint among many businesses which qualify for this category is that they struggle to access the finance required to grow their business. This is where HSBC is playing an important role in the market. Last year, we provided £12.3 billion of gross new lending to SMEs across the UK, which represents a 3 per cent increase in what was generally a contracting market.

Business confidence, although still fragile, has improved during the course of 2013 and we are talking to an increasing number of existing and new clients about expansion and how we can help move their business forward. Our net lending from the North Yorkshire Commercial Centre is up by 22 per cent for the year and we have seen strong demand for a range of financial products, including commercial mortgages, equipment finance, invoice finance and for those businesses that export or import, trade facilities.

At HSBC we provide a highly experienced relationship management team who are all locally based.

This is an important feature as our commercial banking managers combine this alongside expert knowledge of the local economic environment to help our clients grow their business.

It is reassuring to note that international trade features increasingly in the conversations we have with clients and many businesses view exporting as an ideal way to fuel their expansion. In a slower domestic market, the growth economies such as China, Brazil and India, present great opportunities for companies in North Yorkshire to take their products and services overseas.

Government figures tell us that exports from Yorkshire during the first quarter of 2013 were at their highest level for two years at £4.21 billion, so the message certainly seems to be recognised locally.

Being a global bank, HSBC is ideally placed to help businesses trading, or aspiring to trade, internationally. Within the North Yorkshire Commercial Centre, we have a team of international managers, dedicated to working with businesses trading overseas. Additionally, HSBC has launched a £5 billion International SME Fund specifically to help these businesses.

This fund is already being utilised up and down the country and I would urge businesses from this region to make sure they don't miss out.

Andrew Follington, Area Director of North Yorkshire Commercial and Yorkshire Agriculture Banking