Meet Adam Last, Head of Cash Sales, Amsterdam

Be open to change and spot the opportunity.

Adam’s vast experience, his deep knowledge, and his ability to seize opportunities when they arise, have all led to him taking a key role in Barclays Europe.

Adam was headhunted into his first role at Barclays in London 18 years ago. He joined as a Relationship Support Manager, and for many years moved between Coverage and Product roles, building a broad knowledge of the bank and its clients. Eventually, he transitioned into a Cash Manager role, which he had never done before and describes as “a big learning curve”. Always open to change and the opportunity it presents, he grasped the role with enthusiasm and learned as much as he could from his colleagues and contacts.

In this role, as in the roles I was to take in the future, I reached out to the people who could help me. I took advice and learned on the job – that’s consistent with the way we do a lot of things at Barclays.

After a successful period in Cash Management, Adam wanted to expand his experience and client portfolio and took a secondment as Relationship Director within International Corporate Banking (ICB). Again, a new product area for him, this gave him an invaluable opportunity to work with a portfolio of important international clients, first in Germany and then later in the US. His next role was back into Cash Management within ICB, where he built a solid reputation as a trusted specialist. That’s when an opportunity arose to join Barclays Europe.

I was given the chance to become an ex-officio adviser for Barclays Europe’s senior leadership team in Cash Management. They were able to benefit from my wide experience in relationship management, product and coverage, and I was able to gain great insight into their capabilities and potential.

Adam worked closely with this team, providing essential advice about how Cash Management was handled in the UK and suggesting ways they could enhance their operations. At the same time, he was able to bring his knowledge of Barclays Europe back to his London team to help them identify future opportunities.

He stayed in this role for six months and made such an impression that he was approached with an exciting opportunity to join Barclays Europe as Head of Inbound. This was a critical role, and Adam’s knowledge and experience made him the right person for the position. So, he took the major step of relocating to Amsterdam, where he has been playing a leading role in developing the Barclays Europe Cash Sales business since 2022.

He says there were many reasons why he was interested in joining Barclays Europe. For Adam, it felt like “a fresh start”, a chance to join a growing business with great potential and make a real difference. He saw an opportunity to bring all his experience into play, to being involved in shaping and forming this exciting new entity, with almost a blank slate:

I needed to go through a process of discovery. And also to map out the clients, the countries we were dealing with and the stakeholders. I needed to gauge our opportunities and potential, and to figure out the pipeline we had and how to develop it. It was essential to assess the products we already offered, and think about those we’d need going forward. And most importantly, we needed to define our brand and what we stood for. For the first nine months I was laying foundations, meeting people and building trust.

Adam thinks all of the groundwork has paid off, and his team is now starting to land the new clients they need to grow the business. He is very pleased with their progress, and is optimistic about the future of Barclays Europe - he sees the bank as becoming a trusted partner for a growing client base. He is confident that Barclays Europe can build its brand, grow sustainably and realise its great potential. His immediate challenge is to ensure the Cash Management business is fully operational. And after that?

I don’t know where my career will take me in the future. The business is constantly changing and I’ll always keep my ear to the ground for future opportunities.

Change is important to Adam, and his main advice for others thinking of joining Barclays Europe is that they should be open to opportunities. The bank, he says, is a place where talented, flexible people can make a real difference to the business, and make a personal impact in their career.

You’ll be working for a business that feels like it has the growth opportunity of a start-up, but with the backing of the Barclays engine. Do you want to be part of this growth story at Barclays Europe?