Vince Cable appoints Emerson to chair beefed up British Business Bank The Business Secretary declared that the Bank, which is designed to boost lending to small and medium-sized businesses, was in a "substantial expansion phase." He said it would unlock £10bn of financial support for expanding companies over the next five years. Christina McComb, director of Standard Life European Private Equity, as senior non-executive director of the Bank. However he insisted the Bank would not have a high street presence, despite demands from business lobby groups. "You are not going to see branches popping up with the Business Bank logo next to branches of Metro," he said. This is a catalyst for lending not a high street competitor. The Bank, which Chuka Umunna has described as "few desks in the Business Department," has a staff of 60 and is designed to bring together public and private funding programmes to help SMEs. The Chancellor has pledged £1bn of funding which will be added to the raft of existing schemes that help firms. Mr Cable said it will become "fully functioning" once it has clearance from European authorities next year. John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), welcomed the new appointments, but warned that without more funding, the bank could become an "irrelevance." He said: "Under the current plans the Bank will lack the scale necessary to play a full role in providing access to finance to viable businesses. We continue to call for the Bank to be better capitalised and have the ability to lend directly to businesses, so that they can access the same level of financial support that companies in other countries take for granted. Otherwise we run the risk of a Business Bank that is irrelevant before it starts. Mr Emerson said the Bank was "an idea of its time." He said: "The UK has long needed a more effective set of financing options for smaller businesses, and the British Business Bank will be a key catalyst in this process."