Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has launched a new financial services arm Wyelands Capital as he expands his business empire in the UK.
The Liberty House executive chairman's umbrella group, GFG Alliance, announced the expansion last week.
The expansion follows Gupta's acquisitionin December 2016 of Wyelands BankPlc, which has been functioning as an "industry-friendly" deposit-taking institution focused on providing working capital solutions for UK and international companies.
"Wyelands Bank is already filling a very important gap in the market for working capital solutions. Through Wyelands Capital, the GFG Alliance is determined to engage the best and most experienced figures from the financial services sector, in order to establish a powerful presence in the financial services market and make a real difference to the growth prospects of industry in the UK and globally," said Jay Hambro, chief executive of Wyelands Capital and chief Investment Officer of the GFG Alliance.
During the initial phase, Wyelands Capital will deliver structured finance and capital markets expertise to the GFG Alliance with a view to serving wider markets in the future, the company said.
The GFG Alliance is an association between Sanjeev Gupta's business interests and partner P K Gupta to forge an "agile, sustainable, non-cyclical, integrated, global business model".
Its key focus is the creation of a resilient supply chain - from liquid metal produced from recycled scrap and renewable energy, to highly-engineered products manufactured locally on a global basis, funded through a pioneering financial approach.
The Group has a global footprint spanning 30 countries and comprises five distinct businesses, including Wyelands Capital, an innovative financial services enterprise.
GFG businesses claim to have invested more than 500 million pounds in the past two years in the UK, making it one of the country's fastest-growing enterprises.
It is now among Britain's largest steel and engineering employers with nearly 5,000 staff.
More recently it has agreed deals to acquire major US steel and iron ore assets and is in the process of securing large-scale Australian steel and mining assets.
Wales-based Gupta has been on an acquisition spree as part of what he has branded as a GreenSteel vision of a sustainable future for steel production, which will facilitate investment in engineering products and reduce the supply-chain gaps in the UK.
Local councils now face four “nationally significant” cyber attacks weekly, putting essential services at risk.
Cyber-attacks cost UK SMEs £3.4 billion annually, with the North West particularly affected.
Experts recommend proactive measures including supplier monitoring, threat intelligence, and an “assume breach” mindset.
Cyber threats escalate
Britain’s local authorities are facing an unprecedented surge in cyber threats, with the National Cyber Security Centre reporting that councils confront four “nationally significant” cyber attacks every week. The escalation comes as organisations are urged to take concrete action, with new toolkits and free cyber insurance through the NCSC Cyber Essentials scheme to help secure their foundations.
Recent attacks on major retailers including Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Jaguar Land Rover have demonstrated the devastating impact of cyber threats on critical operations. Yet councils remain equally vulnerable, with a single successful attack capable of rendering essential public services inaccessible to millions of citizens.
The stakes are extraordinarily high. When councils fall victim to cyber attacks, citizens cannot access housing benefits, pay council tax or retrieve crucial information. Simultaneously, staff are locked out of email systems and case management tools, halting service delivery across social care, police liaison and NHS coordination.
Call for cyber resilience
According to Vodafone and WPI Strategy’s Securing Success: The Role of Cybersecurity in SME Growth report, cyber-attacks are costing UK small and medium-sized enterprises an estimated £3.4 billion annually in lost revenue. Over a quarter of SMEs surveyed stated that a single attack averaging £6,940 could force them out of business entirely. This financial impact is particularly acute in the North West, where attacks cost businesses nearly £5,000 more than the national average.
Renata Vincoletto, CISO at Civica, emphasises that councils need not wait for legislation to strengthen their cyber resilience. She outlines five immediate priorities: employing third-party continuous monitoring tools to track supplier security compliance; subscribing to threat intelligence feeds from the NCSC and sector experts; engaging with regional cyber clusters supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration ( UKC3) establishing standardised incident reporting processes aligned with NCSC frameworks; and adopting an “assume breach” mindset to stay vigilant against inevitable threats.
“Cyber resilience is not a single project or policy it’s a culture of preparedness,” Vincoletto states. “Every small step taken today reduces the impact of tomorrow’s inevitable attack.”
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