ROYAL Bank of Scotland says its support for fledgling businesses through its new Entrepreneurial Hub network is central its bid to regain consumer trust following a series of damaging episodes in the wake of the financial crisis.

The bank officially opened its Entrepreneurial Hub at its St Vincent Street building in Glasgow yesterday, where its facilities and experts will nurture up to 70 entrepreneurs at a time.

It follows the move by the institution to take control of the Entrepreneurial Spark business accelerator network in February. Thirty staff moved across to Royal Bank with that deal, with the bank subsequently doubling that headcount across the 12 hubs across the UK.

The launch came on the day the bank came in for fresh criticism after announcing plans to close a further 162 banches in England and Wales, leading to nearly 800 redundancies.

Asked what the bank will gain from investing in the hub network, head of entrepreneurship Gordon Merrylees said a key element is to “regain that trust and advocacy that we have been trying to do over the last few years. We seem to have turned a corner this year with our first full-year’s profits in a decade.”

Noting that the bank, still majority-owned by UK taxpayers following its £45 billion bailout during the financial crisis, feels a duty to support the Scottish economy and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, he added that “we also get to work with some of the best talent across the UK.”

Mr Merrylees said: “We get access to innovation – [which] for a large corporate is really important. Some of that innovation, applied in a certain way, can help us serve our customers better, and create a better experience or help the bank become more efficient.”

The launch of the hub follows its switch from its home at Lord Willie Haughey’s City Facilities Management headquarters, where the inaugural E-Spark hatchery was launched in Glasgow. Lord Haughey said he was sad to see the hub move but felt it was the right time for RBS to take it in house. “What RBS has done in the last three or four years has made it a UK phenomenon,” he said. “E-Spark was the foundation, RBS with the new accelerator hub just takes it to a whole new level.”

Asked whether the initiative would have helped him in the early part of his career, Lord Haughey said: “Tremendously. It would certainly have made the first two or three years much easier. You don’t have to take as much risk now, you don’t have to put your house on the line to get £30,000 to seed your idea. The whole ecosystem now for entrepreneurs is day and night from what it used to be 25, 30 years ago.”

Lord Haughey said he was encouraged by the current level of entrepreneurialism seen in Scotland, including the number of females coming through. The split between male and female entrepreneurs at the Glasgow branch was 50:50 when at the City building. Mr Merrylees said the gender split among the entrepreneurs across the UK programme is not far from 50:50, with the number of male entrepreneurs marginally higher. He noted that supporting women in business is a major priority for the bank.

Mr Merrylees said that 62 business ideas emerged from the network last year, six of which were piloted and four ultimately implemented. He described the pipeline of entrepreneurs coming through in Scotland as strong, but he noted the “fear of failure” continues to be the biggest barrier to people launching their own business ideas, based on the bank’s research.

“They don’t really know where to go for their support,” he said. “There is so much support out there they don’t really know where to go for it.”

He added: “Access to accelerator programmes like this… we know is crucial. Entrepreneurs find a way though, even the most challenging of times they are excited by the challenges.”

The support provided to entrepreneurs who join the programme includes free space at the St Vincent Street building for 18 months, with access to facilities such as superfast broadband and presentation areas. Individuals receive one to one coaching by bank experts in areas like finance and can tap into the bank’s extensive supply chain and customer network.

“We have a tremendous reach in terms of supply chain, access to customer base, all the things a start-up or an early-stage business needs to scale,” Mr Merrylees said. “They [entrepreneurs] bring that innovative, nimble, agile approach that a big corporate sometimes struggles with.”

On the bank side, he said the hub system can be used to develop the capability of its own staff. Last year it launched its own voluntary entrepreneur development academy, which around 7,400 staff have joined. It is now accredited by professional body the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Some 1,300 staff have so far been accredited, with more come through at a rate of 200 per month. Mr Merrylees said this gives staff credits towards an MBA or post-graduate qualification, with some using their experience to develop their own business ideas.