Green Investment Bank could be staffed with Scottish talent

Scotland is hoping its expertise in energy investment will give it the edge over other UK cities when it comes to securing the government's proposed Green Investment Bank.

One of the stumbling blocks to basing the green investment bank in Edinburgh could be the need to pay City-style salaries and bonuses in order to attract sufficient talent, suggested energy secretary Chris Huhne yesterday.

But Tom Speirs, a partner in the energy and climate change team at HBG Gateley Wareing, believes that the local market has sufficient talent to staff up the green investment bank if it is set up in Scotland.

"Scotland not only has the talent locally in green and energy investment but that talent's geographical proximity to the majority of the renewable energy combined with a government committed to very ambitious green energy targets makes Scotland the best place in the UK to base the Green Investment Bank," he says.

If Scotland gets the nod, then much of the recruitment for the green investment bank will take place this year. The department for Business Innovation and Skills confirmed last year that the final proposals will be released in May, with staff in place by the end of 2011, with the intention to formally launch in 2012.

The bank would initially be financed with 1bn of public investment to fund energy projects in the UK and Scotland's increasing focus on renewables has been seen as a strong case for basing the bank here.

Still, the Scottish government has been campaigning to locate the bank north of the border since early last year, and it's not been without its critics - from the financial sector itself.

Colin Welsh, chief executive of Aberdeen-based investment bank focused on the energy sector, has said previously that he doesn't believe it's the best way to encourage green investment.

"Government-backed entities have a very poor track record when it comes to making investments on behalf of the public purse," he said. "This is largely due to the fact they struggle to hire the best people with the right experience and they get bogged down in the red tape that plagues all government bodies."