IT IS not just in the area of coming up with financial solutions that David Barnes knows where he is going.

For David, 48, who has just been appointed a credit partner at Yorkshire Bank's York financial solutions centre at Aviator Court, Clifton Moor, holds a Cambridge master's degree in geography.

In his new role, his responsibilities also cover clients of the similar centre in Hull, plus the bank's agribusiness offices in York, Preston and Stafford.

For the last three years he has been an agribusiness manager in York, managing the bank's relationships with about 90 farming and North Sea fishing businesses.

The York financial solutions centre acts as a one-stop shop for business and private banking customers seeking funding packages tailored to their individual needs and delivered through a single point-of-contact. Its team of 27 people includes specialists in traditional lending, asset and invoice finance, plus credit, wealth and risk management, selected for their specialist knowledge and awareness of the local business scene.

David's new role will mean funding packages for businesses and their managers being approved locally and speedily.

He said: "I'm excited about my new role, as it will enable me to help business partners - our relationship managers - assist customers by reacting quickly to meet funding needs.

"It will include the challenge of structuring more demanding lending applications into mutually acceptable propositions and involve first-hand meetings with clients."

David lives in Towton, near Tadcaster, with wife Alison, a finance officer at the British Library in Boston Spa, and children Liz, 19, Emma, 18, and Christopher, 11.

Updated: 12:13 Wednesday, August 10, 2005