Airdrie Savings Bank is a small commercial bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

 operation in the Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...

 and Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 areas of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It runs 8 branches throughout this area, with its head office in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire

Airdrie, North Lanarkshire

Airdrie is a town within North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau roughly 400 ft above sea level, and is approximately 12 miles east of Glasgow city centre. Airdrie forms part of a conurbation with its neighbour Coatbridge, in the former district known as the Monklands. As of 2006,...

. Total assets of the bank at 31 October 2006 were £126 million with reported profits of £0.555 million.

Corporate Structure

Airdrie Savings Bank is the only remaining independent Savings Bank in the UK. It operates on mutual principles, has no shareholders and is instead governed by a Board of Trustees, appointed to represent the interests of depositors and to ensure that the Bank is managed properly.

In addition to Airdrie, there are branches in Baillieston

Baillieston

Baillieston is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It is about 7 miles east of the city centre.It is also the name of Ward 20 of Glasgow City Council...

, Bellshill

Bellshill

Bellshill is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, 10 miles south east of Glasgow city centre and 37 miles west of Edinburgh. Other nearby towns are Motherwell , Hamilton and Coatbridge . Since 1996, it has been situated in the Greater Glasgow metropolitan area...

, Coatbridge

Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...

, Motherwell

Motherwell

Motherwell is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, south east of Glasgow. The name "Moderwelt" appears on a map of Lanarkshire made by Timothy Pont some time between 1583 and 1611 and printed in the Netherlands in around 1652, although the settlement was probably little more...

, Muirhead

Muirhead

Muirhead is a small suburb about 7 miles North-East of Glasgow city centre. Nearby villages and towns include Chryston, Stepps, Lenzie, Garnkirk and Gartcosh....

 and Shotts

Shotts

Shotts is a small rural town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh . As of the 2001 census, the population was 8,235...

There are plans to expand with a new branch due to open in September in Falkirk

Falkirk

Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....

, and is the first stage of an expansion plan.

History

Airdrie Savings Bank was formed as part of a movement to bring banking services to the wider community in 1835. A board of trustees from the local community act as board of governors. Similar banks were set up throughout the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Eventually most of these were brought under the umbrella of the Trustee Savings Bank

Trustee Savings Bank

The Trustee Savings Bank was a British financial institution which specialised in accepting savings deposits from the poor. They did not trade their shares on the stock market and, unlike mutually held building societies, depositors had no voting rights nor the ability to direct the financial and...

, which was subsequently floated on the London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...

. Airdrie was the only Savings Bank not to join this scheme.

In August 2010 it was announced that a new branch would be opened after a cash injection of £10 million, from a group of Scottish entrepreneurs who support the bank's mutual model. Sir Angus Grossart

Angus Grossart

Sir Angus McFarlane McLeod Grossart, CBE is a Scottish businessman.Born in Lanarkshire, he was schooled at The Glasgow Academy and studied law at Glasgow University...

, Sir David Murray

David Murray (Scottish businessman)

Sir David Edward Murray is a Scottish entrepreneur, businessman and former owner and chairman of Rangers Football Club....

, Ann Gloag

Ann Gloag

Ann Gloag, OBE , is a Scottish business woman and charity campaigner.-Biography:Educated at Caledonian Road Primary School and Perth High School, she qualified as a nurse and during a 20 year career worked as a burns unit sister.-Stagecoach:Gloag founded bus company "Gloagtrotter" in October 1980...

, Brian Souter

Brian Souter

Sir Brian Souter , is a Scottish businessman. He is the co-founder of the Stagecoach Group, along with his sister, Ann Gloag. He is also widely known for his controversial public statements and for his attempt to keep Section 28 in law, which led to widespread accusations of homophobia...

, Sir Tom Farmer

Tom Farmer

Sir Thomas "Tom" Farmer, CVO, CBE, KCSG, FRSE, DL is a Scottish entrepreneur.One of seven siblings in a devoutly Catholic family, in 1964 Farmer founded his own tyre retailing business which he sold in 1969 for £450,000. Farmer "retired" to the United States, but became bored and decided to find a...

and Ewan Brown each provided £1 million. Soutar stated that "Airdrie Savings Bank represents what Scottish banks once stood for - security of funds, a focus on savings and outstanding personal service". He went on to say that: "We believe the mutual principle is fundamental to the integrity of the bank. We are doing this because so many Scots are dismayed at what has happened within the banking sector".

External links

• Airdrie Savings Bank