Close Brothers

At Close Brothers, we believe in putting our customers and clients first, placing exceptional service at the heart of everything we do. Twenty20 Capital, investors in staffing and workplace solutions, has seen rapid expansion in recent years following the completion of a number of deals supported by Close Brothers. “Close Brothers has been very professional. The level of service, communication and support has been outstanding. We are genuinely delighted in the unique partnership we have formed together.” Tristan Ramus, Founder, Investment Principal, Twenty20 Capital Find out how our focus on service and personal approach supported Twenty20 Capital’s ambitions for growth and innovation. https://lnkd.in/eFhmP4b6 Close Brothers Invoice Finance #CloseBrothers #SupportingSMEs #ConsistentService #CaseStudy

We are delighted to share that Close Brothers has been shortlisted for this year’s Menopause Friendly Employer Awards in two categories: “Most Open Culture” and “Best Peer-To-Peer Support”. The award for “Most Open Culture” celebrates the organisation that fosters open dialogues about menopause, demonstrates visible support from senior leadership and actively encourages everyone to participate in sharing their personal stories. The award for “Best Peer-To-Peer Support” celebrates the organisation that has created the best approach to enable peer to peer support, ensuring a safe space and inclusive environment for conversations around menopause in the workplace. The awards ceremony takes place on 11 September 2024. Further details on finalists can be found here: https://lnkd.in/ebBeB2yw Being shortlisted for these awards is recognition of our commitment to make our workplace accommodating and welcoming to people experiencing menopause and we thank our MenoForum for their fantastic work to date. The Menopause Friendly Accreditation #CloseBrothers #MenoForum #MenopauseInTheWorkplace #DiversityAndInclusion

Last Thursday, we hosted a closing event for our upReach and The 10,000 Interns Foundation’ summer interns. Over the past six weeks, our interns participated in various activities, including soft skills workshops, a networking lunch with our Executive Committee and a volunteering day at the Norwood and Brixton foodbank. At the closing event, our interns were joined by Tesula Mohindra, a non-executive director of Close Brothers who spoke to the group and recapped her own inspiring career journey. ‘We are very grateful to our summer interns, who’s hard work and diversity of thought have impacted our organisation greatly in the short time they were with us. It has been a pleasure to foster emerging talent and we want to say thank you to everyone at Close Brothers who supported the interns along the way.’ Alice Troiano, Associate HR Business Partner – inclusion and projects We wish all our summer interns every success with their ongoing careers. #CloseBrothers #SocialMobility #Internship

Our Working Parents and Carers Network recently hosted another bring your child to work event at our Crown Place London office. The event was aimed at adolescents and young adults from year 10 to those finishing their university degrees to give them an opportunity to gain insight of the working world. Throughout the day the children were joined by internal and external speakers covering topics such as an introduction to CVs, LinkedIn, resilience in the workplace and speaking and presenting with impact. Our graduates and ASPIRE trainees also joined to share their career stories and answer questions from the group. “This event further builds on the Network’s previous successful events and demonstrates Close Brothers continued support and consideration for dependants of our working parents and carers. It also gives another opportunity for our colleague’s families to come together.” Natalie Shilleto, Committee Member of the Working Parents and Carers Network #CloseBrothers #WorkingParentsAndCarers

Last Friday, our upReach and The 10,000 Interns Foundation summer interns attended a volunteering day for the Norwood and Brixton Foodbank, which helps the local community in Lambeth and Croydon. The day provided an insight to how the process works from food donation to recipient, and a chance for them to see first-hand everything that goes into running a food bank day-to-day. Our interns then got stuck in to help sort and distribute the food within the warehouse. The day also demonstrated our responsibility in the community, recognising that volunteers are often the driving force behind many community and charity activities, and our commitment to creating long-term, lasting value in the communities where we operate. “The day was a fantastic opportunity to give back to the community. To do so alongside my fellow interns only made the day more memorable, as it was refreshing to bond outside the office environment.” Sameer Chowdhry, Close Brothers summer intern 2024 #CloseBrothers #SocialMobility #Internship 

Last week our Accessibility Network hosted a hybrid panel event to reflect on Disability Pride Month. We also welcomed Ruth Rabét from Hidden Disabilities Sunflower 💜 as we celebrated the launch of our new partnership to raise awareness about conditions or disabilities that are not immediately obvious to others; making the invisible, visible. “We are pleased to support the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower initiative within Close Brothers. Increasing understanding and offering a helping hand to a colleague wearing a Sunflower lanyard are small but meaningful steps which will help us continue to normalise conversations around disabilities, reduce stigma and increase empathy towards each other.” Plamena Solakova, HR Business Partner - Inclusion and Functions #CloseBrothers #DisabilityPrideMonth #Accessibility

On Thursday 4 July, alongside representation from our Veterans Network, we welcomed Brigadier Kirsten Dagless OBE Chartered FCIPD FCMI FCILT to our Crown Place, London office for official recognition and signature of the Armed Forces Covenant. The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy, and society they serve with their lives. “Signing the Armed Forces Covenant is really important to Close Brothers as it formally signals to our colleagues, customers, suppliers, and investors that we take our commitment of supporting serving personnel, veterans, and military families very seriously. To have achieved Bronze Certification within a short period of time is a fantastic way to recognise the efforts of those within the Close Brothers’ Veterans Network and their supporters and gives us encouragement to do more in the future.” Simon Jacobs, Veterans Network Executive Sponsor Read more about the Armed Forces Covenant here: https://lnkd.in/d2RXu_4 #CloseBrothers #ArmedForces #Veterans Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Association for Greater London

On Tuesday our summer interns joined us at our Crown Place, London office for a day of soft skills workshops covering topics such as networking and presenting. They were later joined by members of our Executive Committee for a chance to put these new skills into practice, and the opportunity to learn from the experiences of our Executive Committee members. “It is fantastic that we are able to offer these workshops and the opportunity of having a networking lunch with Executive Committee members for our interns. These create valuable and memorable experiences and all who attended enjoyed immensely.” Samuel (Elisha) Dytch (Assoc CIPD) Learning and Development Advisor, Bank and Group Central Functions #CloseBrothers #SocialMobility #internship upReach The 10,000 Interns Foundation

Close Brothers is proud to celebrate Disability Pride Month, a time for us to champion each person’s uniqueness, challenge stereotypes and to advocate for equal opportunities for people living with a disability. Throughout July, our Accessibility Network will be hosting informal coffee and cake sessions across our offices for colleagues to learn more about the Network and Disability Pride Month, to reflect on the achievements of the Network and to invite colleagues to share their thoughts on possible future initiatives. “Recognising Disability Pride Month across so many of our offices through events planned and hosted by colleagues investing their own free time, is demonstrative of the culture and people we have here at Close Brothers. This year we have a theme of “Making the invisible, visible” and we seek to achieve this through our continued mission of normalising conversations around diversity, celebrating our differences and creating spaces where all people can feel safe, grow and flourish.” Marc Barnard-Naulls, Accessibility Network Chair #CloseBrothers #DisabilityPrideMonth #Accessibility

It was great to see our allyship and conversation on equality and inclusion in action as we celebrated Pride month. Our Unity Network organised many events across the group including a speaker event to introduce our new Transgender Inclusion Policy, Pride pets, a Pr-idol lip-sync competition with finale party and more, while fundraising for the Terrence Higgins Trust.  Thank you to our Unity Network and colleagues for supporting these events. Close Brothers is committed to building an inclusive environment that enables all colleagues to be their authentic self and thrive, and we encourage colleagues to continue to demonstrate allyship by being curious every month of the year. #CloseBrothers #Pride #Unity