TWO bank managers, one from Barclays and the other from Lloyds TSB, have begun new appointments in Salisbury, and a third, from NatWest, has won a top award.

Richard Smart has joined Barclays' High Street branch as the bank's rural relationship manager, Mark Handscomb, corporate markets area director for Lloyds TSB, has been relocated to his bank's Blue Boar Row offices, and Paul Mattock, NatWest's regional manager Retail Banking for Wiltshire, has been recognised as his bank's top regional manager.

Mr Smart is part of the South Wessex Local Business Team and specialises in working with agricultural and rural businesses.

He said his aim was to "understand the specific financial and management demands facing these types of businesses in today's unpredictable rural economy".

"I am delighted to have moved into this role," he said.

"It provides me with an opportunity to work within an organisation that aims to champion agricultural and rurally-based businesses by understanding the unique challenges of making them profitable.

"We have been providing banking services to farmers for more than 200 years and I am personally looking forward to helping my customers achieve their ambitions through my industry specialist knowledge and by providing bespoke products specifically designed to support businesses operating in this sector."

Mr Handscomb, who has worked for Lloyds TSB for 27 years, will manage more than 50 relationship bankers in towns and cities including Salisbury, Poole, Christchurch, Bournemouth, Dorchester and Weymouth.

For the last four years he has been an area director for the central south region.

He said: "I am delighted to be leading this well-established and successful team. And I'm looking forward to working closely with them to build upon their success and to develop Lloyds TSB's local market share."

Mr Mattock, who has overall responsibility for the managers and customer service officers working in NatWest branches across Wiltshire, received his award for outstanding customer service.

Positive feedback and comments from customers and staff helped him beat his colleagues from the rest of the UK.

He said: "I'm thrilled to receive this award, but couldn't have done it without the hard work and dedication of my team.

"It's great to work with a group of people who are so committed to providing outstanding service to all their customers and this award belongs to each and every one of them.

"It means so much more because it's customers and colleagues that have put me in the number one spot."