Lloyds Bank Appoints Linda Weston as Head of Commercial Cards

Lloyds Bank Business & Commercial Banking has appointed Linda Weston to the newly created position of head of commercial cards, effective in June.

Weston will join the bank with 25 years of experience in the cards and payments industry, including roles at Barclaycard Payments, J.P. Morgan and RBS, Lloyds Bank said in a press release emailed to PYMNTS.

In the new position, Weston will support U.K. businesses with their working capital needs and support the group’s wider strategy, according to the release.

“Linda brings a deep understanding of supporting businesses with their working capital needs,” Chris Loring, managing director and head of commercial lending and working capital at Lloyds Banking Group, said in the release. “Linda will spearhead our plans to deliver exciting new products and services.”

The creation of the new role of head of commercial cards at Lloyds Bank follows the expansion of the bank’s existing Working Capital team to create new, dedicated Invoice Finance and Cards teams, per the release.

This new structure supports the group’s wider strategy and reflects its plans to deepen relationships with clients and develop new products and propositions that meet their needs, including expanded delivery of traditional card products and electronic pay solutions, the release said.

“Lloyds Bank is investing significantly in new client propositions and services such as enabling startup businesses to apply for cards online in minutes,” Weston said in the release. “I’m thrilled to be leading the newly created Commercial Cards product team, helping the U.K.’s businesses to be more efficient and manage their working capital and payments needs.

In one recent development aimed at helping businesses, Lloyds Bank said in October 2023 that it expanded its partnership with consumer-centric commerce platform FreedomPay. With this collaboration, merchants using Lloyd Bank’s Bank Cardnet have access to FreedomPay’s payment processing capabilities.

In September 2023, the bank teamed up with Visa to launch a virtual card solution for businesses. The solution created by this partnership allows for efficient online purchasing by instantly issuing virtual cards that employees can request to make work-related purchases such as subscription payments or business travel, Visa said at the time.