Profile: Ian Coulson
Ian Coulson - a people person Relationships – both in business and in his personal life – are what drive Ian Coulson. Ian is HSBC’s area director for business banking taking in Coventry, Warwickshire and Greater Birmingham having risen up through the ranks of the business since he joined as a graduate in 2004. A career in banking in this region wasn’t an obvious path when he left his native North East to study History in Leicester. But his most important relationship – and several friendships – saw him settle in this area and his ability as a ‘people person’ took him in the direction of HSBC. “I went to university in Leicester in the late 1990s,” said Ian, “I never really made it back home! I met my future wife, who is from Hertfordshire, at university. “I finished with a history degree – so not directly related to banking – and we decided that we wanted to see the world so we travelled. We went to Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia and came back to the UK ready to start our careers.
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“We always knew we wanted to be in the Midlands. We had friends here from university, we knew the area and, having gone away to university and then travelling, it gives you that broader view of life. “I was looking at graduate schemes and HSBC had a very good one. We’d moved down to the area to house-share with a friend in the short term and the gradscheme was in Leamington Spa. “When I went to university, I wanted to study something that I was passionate about. I wasn’t sure about my vocation – some people know what they want to do at 18, but that wasn’t me. “So I picked something I enjoyed and something I was quite good at. I always knew I wanted to work with people and I think the graduate scheme was a twoway process. “The one I applied for wasn’t quite right for me but HSBC helped me through my banking qualifications and said that they liked me. So we looked at the corporate banking scheme and that
fitted my skillsets around people and relationship building.
biggest banks which has made a major commitment to the region.
“I’ve never looked back and there has always been another opportunity to challenge myself and do something different.”
He said: “I’m area director for Coventry and Warwickshire – and Greater Birmingham – for HSBC looking after our business banking clients with a turnover between £2 million and up to £10 million.
Having three children bring new relationships and, again, have helped to define Ian’s plans for the next few years. “Once you have children, it very much becomes home,” he said. “While I still miss the North East and I’ve got close family there, we are very settled here. “It’s a lovely place to live. It’s great from a connectivity point of view, it’s close to the second city, it’s an hour to London so there is just so much opportunity here.
“So it’s very much about SME businesses. We’ve got 15 relationship managers that I co-head and I’m one of two area directors. “My role is to lead that team, promote HSBC in the local community, work with business, make sure we do everything in the right way and look after our customers really, really well and hopefully that will lead to us getting new customers.
“I think it’s a great place to bring up your children to give them the best opportunities too.”
“It’s an interesting time for HSBC. As of July 1, we will have gone live with our UK Bank with a head office on Broad Street in Birmingham in a brand new building.
And just as relationships are the key driver in his personal life, it’s developing personal contacts that has helped to make him a success with one of the world’s
“It’s a really exciting time. We are seen as a global bank – which we absolutely are – but the commitment to the UK and to the Midlands is huge now.
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