The first account was opened on 21st
January, 1835, with a deposit
of £2 10s (£2.50) and by the end of 1835 a total of £355 had been deposited (over £31,000 today).
The first branch was opened in the Session House of a local church but the church closed in 1841 so the bank moved to the shop premises of a local tailor, where it remained for 20 years before relocating to Mr Knox’s hat shop.
Finally, a purpose-built independent office was established in the town in 1883. This move did not meet with universal customer approval. Being located in shop premises afforded customers a degree of confidentiality as there was no way of knowing whether someone going into the shop was there for the shop or the bank.
The establishment of stand- alone premises resulted in public exposure of those who held bank accounts and some resented this.
By 1885 the bank total deposits had risen to £20,000 (£2 million today) and within a decade this figure increased ten-fold to £200,000 (£20 million today). At the same time the number of customers more than quadrupled from 1100 to 4600.
The bank went from strength to strength and deposits continued to double every decade. By 1916 they had reached the £1 million mark (£87 million today). And at the end of 2014 those deposits stood at over £100 million.
During the First World War the bank continued to expand, opening new branches in Coatbridge (1916) and Bellshill (1917). In 1925 the head office in Airdrie relocated to new premises at
Airdrie Savings Bank 1841-61
the botom of Wellwynd in the town, where it remains today. Further expansion in the 1930s resulted in new branches in Shots and Muirhead (both 1931) and Ballieston (1936).
Whifflet followed in 1969 and Motherwell in 1997. Finally, following a cash injection of £10 million from a number of leading Scotish business people (including David Murray, Tom Farmer, Ann Gloag and Brian Souter), a branch was opened in Falkirk in 2011.
Throughout this time, the bank continued to see the idea of thriſt as a moral crusade. As part of that crusade it enlisted the help of local schools and encouraged every pupil to have a savings account. Bank officials even took the bank into schools to do the banking there. That school scheme was launched in 1924 and continues to this day.
Now, aſter 180 years, Airdrie Savings Bank is unique; it is the last of its kind – the last independent savings bank in Scotland. But it remains true to its founding ethos. It has no shareholders; it is run by a Board of Trustees and it reinvests any profits for the benefit of customers.
But, most of all, it remains firmly rooted in the local community where it was founded all those years ago and it continues to be commited to the needs of that community.
Airdrie Savings Bank since 1925
It remains firmly rooted in the local community where it was founded all those years ago and it continues to be committed to the needs of that community.
Airdrie Savings Bank 1883-1925 September 2015 93
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