Shawbrook Bank named Official Banking Partner of Saracens Rugby Club

By Bridging Loan Directory 23rd April 2021

Shawbrook Bank has announced it is entering into a multi-year partnership with Championship rugby union side, Saracens.

The Bank, founded in 2011, offers specialist property and business finance in addition to personal loans and savings products.

It will support Saracens as they seek to return to the Premiership and re-cement their standing as one of Europe’s most successful rugby union teams, a decade after winning their first English league champions title and a decade on from Shawbrook’s own inception.

Shawbrook describes itself as ‘proudly different’ and, as a specialist business operating in specialist markets, uses a balance of expert people and progressive technology to consistently deliver positive outcomes for customers – from reliably great savings rates or transparent loan pricing for consumers, to tailored products for professional property investors and businesses of all shapes and sizes right across the UK.

This day-in-day-out experience of ambition presents an obvious synergy with the north London club as they challenge for the Championship title, and promotion, in order to deliver Premiership rugby for a fan base complementary to Shawbrook’s own customer and intermediary audience.

Another key factor behind the partnership is Shawbrook and Saracens shared belief in inclusivity.

The Club has been taking great strides to address gender inequality within professional sport by investing heavily in its women’s rugby team and its netball team, the Saracens Mavericks.

Shawbrook, too has taken steps to improve inclusion within the bank and the wider financial services sector and will work with Saracens to support charitable and grassroots initiatives.

Saracens also has a strong commitment to its surrounding community, with the Saracens High School opened in 2018 to raise the aspirations and improve the academic attainment of young people living in one of the most disadvantaged communities in the local area.

As part of the sponsorship Shawbrook will also provide ongoing financial support to the 20 year old ‘Saracens Foundation’, whose mission is to transform lives on and off the pitch to build stronger communities.

As the Club’s Charitable arm, the foundation delivers a wide range of initiatives, all designed to use sport to bring about positive social change and improve the lives of local people, with a focus on those who often find themselves excluded from participation.

From 17^th April 2021, Shawbrook will feature on all three of Saracens’ team kits and will have a significant presence at their stadiums.

And, forming a natural extension of Shawbrook’s vision for a technologically innovative future, is the new ‘Shawbrook Stats Centre’, a portal designed to bring the bank’s data-driven philosophy to deliver additional value for fans and journalists alike by sharing key player information and stats across multiple platforms.

Shawbrook will also have use of a large corporate box for every home game to help enhance existing and develop new relationships across all its specialist markets.

Lucy Wray, CEO at Saracens commented:

“We are delighted to complete this new partnership with Shawbrook. We both consistently strive to be the leaders in our respective fields, and we share a deep commitment to diversity and inclusivity.

Following the recent announcement of the StoneX partnership, this is another great milestone for the Saracens family as we look towards an exciting future.

We look forward to the rest of this season as we hope to return to some normality and push towards end of season goals across all three Saracens teams. It will be great to have Shawbrook by our sides as we do so.”

John Eastgate, Managing Director for Shawbrook Bank’s Property Finance Division added:

“There are many synergies between our business and Saracens which make this partnership so exciting.

We are both ambitious organisations, committed to thinking and acting differently and driving positive change in our industries and wider communities.

Indeed, our shared focus on having an impact is a key tenant of this partnership. The Saracens Foundation does incredible work in support of its local community and this resonated with us at Shawbrook.

This is why our partnership will go far beyond financial support. We are committed to working with the Saracens Foundation to bolster its efforts whether that’s through volunteering or fundraising.

The ability to support all three of the Saracen’s teams is another aspect of the partnership that we are particularly proud of. Inclusion within sport is incredibly important, and its vital that organisations like ours commit to encourage and support diverse talent.

We are looking forward to watching the men’s, and women’s rugby sides as well as the netball team on the field and court with Shawbrook on their shirts.

Shawbrook, since being founded, has been committed to standing out and being different. It’s part of our DNA.

Our partnership with Saracens will help us to take further strides to make a difference as a business to our customers, intermediary partners and the communities in which we work.”