savings bank industry finance and insurance founded 1835 founder dr william clark first president headquarters airdrie north lanarkshire scotland key people roderick ashley ceo jeremy brettell non executive chairman products financial services slogan trusted locally welcomed nationally website www.airdriesavingsbank.com airdrie savings bank is a small commercial bank operation in the lanarkshire area of scotland . it runs 3 branches throughout this area with its head office in airdrie north lanarkshire . total assets of the bank at 31 october 2013 were 158 million with a reported loss of 267 000 . contents 1 corporate structure 2 history 3 list of presidents of airdrie savings bank 4 references 5 external links corporate structure edit 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 bellshill and coatbridge . history edit the revolutionary fervor which swept across europe towards the end of the 18th century was due in no small part to the relentless endemic poverty that gripped the continent at that time . one response to this chronic poverty was the savings bank movement which was started by individual philanthropists as an attempt to tackle the issue . these enlightened pioneers saw savings banks not as repositories of money for safe keeping but rather as a means for stimulating thrift among the poor with the aim of lifting them out of poverty . to them thrift was nothing less than a moral crusade . the first true savings bank was established by rev. henry duncan in the dumfriesshire village of ruthwell in 1810 . but duncan s model was rapidly adopted across scotland the rest of the uk and continental europe . in 1924 the world s first international thrift congress was held in milan and there were representatives there from 350 institutions around the world . at the start of the 19th century airdrie was a thriving town of weavers growing rich on the napoleonic war economy . with wellington s victory at waterloo the weaving industry collapsed and airdrie s future looked bleak . but within a decade the discovery of ironstone beneath the ground transformed the town s fortunes transforming airdrie once again into a booming industrial community . it was against the backdrop of this febrile atmosphere that the airdrie savings bank was forged . the bank was instituted in 1835 by the efforts of four founding fathers rev. john carslaw a local church minister and strong advocate of the temperance movement ; dr william clark a retired doctor and member of a wealthy old airdrie family ; rev. andrew ferrier another local minister ; and james knox a local hat and cap manufacturer . 1 in keeping with the spirit of the bank s ethos the first board of directors included several weavers a blacksmith a schoolmaster a stonemason a tailor and a salesman . indeed the blacksmith was vice president of the bank for over twenty years . the first account was opened on 21 january 1835 with a deposit of 2 10s 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 and the bank moved to the shop premises of the aforementioned tailor where it remained for twenty 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 customer more than quadrupled from 1100 to 4600 . the bank went from strength to strength and deposits continued to double every decade such that 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 the bottom of wellwynd in the town where it remains today . further expansion in the 1930s resulted in new branches in shotts and muirhead both 1931 and ballieston 1936 . whifflet followed in 1969 motherwell in 1997 and falkirk in 2011 . throughout this time the bank continued to see the idea of thrift as a moral crusade . as part of that crusade they enlisted the help of local schools and encouraged every pupil to having a savings account . they even took the bank into schools to do the banking there . this school scheme was launched in 1924 and continues to this day . 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 sir david murray ann gloag brian souter sir tom farmer 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 . 2 on 28 may 2015 the bank announced that the branches at baillieston muirhead motherwell and shotts would close on 28 august . 3 falkirk branch closed in april 2016 . list of presidents of airdrie savings bank edit name presidency dr william clark jp 1835 1837 rev john carslaw 1837 1840 rev andrew ferrier 1840 1841 rev john carslaw 1841 1848 james knox 1848 1861 rev james mcgown 1861 1866 telford martin 1866 1890 thomas jeffrey jp 1890 1906 david martyn jp 1906 1918 william neilson jp 1919 1921 james davidson jp friba 1921 1923 d. rankine jp 1923 1926 thomas armour jp 4 1926 1928 william fraser 1928 1931 john kennedy 1931 1932 david martyn 1932 1935 john mcgregor 1935 1938 john harkness 1938 1941 col. j. maurice arthur 1941 1944 major w.a. chapman 1944 1947 james tennent 1947 1950 james russell 1950 1953 lt col. john macfarlane 1953 1956 james r. cunningham 1956 1959 robert paterson 1959 1963 john g. mcgregor 1963 1966 hugh k. symington 1966 1968 peter s. murray 1968 1970 william a nelson 1970 1972 andrew m.s. cleland 1972 1974 andrew h.s. marshall 1974 1976 john o. ormerod 1976 1978 graham t. cargey 1978 1980 wm norman law 1980 1982 robert l. paterson 1982 1984 william irvine 1984 1986 christopher j. ormerod ca 1986 1988 william m. ross ffa 1988 1990 john c.a. sword 1990 1992 harold f. hamilton 1992 1984 alexander f. bankier frags 1994 1996 gilbert k. cox mbe dl jp 1996 1998 james c. osborne bl 1998 2000 david j. mccallum 2000 2002 james armstong jp 2002 2004 alexander a. mcarthur msc ceng mice fiht 2004 2006 david h. towers 2006 2008 christopher j. ormerod ca 2008 2010 robert boyle 2010 2012 james armstrong jp 2013 christopher j. ormerod ca 2014 references edit knox james 1927 . the triumph of thrift . airdrie baird & hamilton ltd campsie alison 28 august 2010 tycoons hand last independent bank 10 million . glasgow the herald . airdrie savings bank to close four branches . bbc news . retrieved 12 september 2015 . knox james 1927 . the triumph of thrift . airdrie baird & hamilton ltd. pp. 101 102 . external links edit airdrie savings bank v t e banks of scotland adam and company airdrie savings bank bank of scotland clydesdale bank halifax intelligent finance royal bank of scotland sainsbury s bank tesco bank tsb bank v t e commercial and retail banks in the united kingdom banking in the united kingdom barclays barclays bank barclays wealth cybg clydesdale bank yorkshire bank hsbc holdings first direct hsbc bank hsbc private bank m & s bank lloyds banking group1 bank of scotland bank of wales birmingham midshires halifax lloyds bank royal bank of scotland group2 adam and company child & co. coutts & co. drummonds bank natwest royal bank of scotland ulster bank santander group cahoot cater allen santander uk wholly state owned national savings and investments post office money uk financial investments uk asset resolution bradford & bingley3 nram3 other airdrie savings bank al rayan bank aldermore allied irish bank gb first trust bank arbuthnot latham & co secure trust bank bank and clients bank of ireland butterfield bank cambridge & counties bank c. hoare & co close brothers group the co operative bank smile danske bank duncan lawrie handelsbanken harrods bank icici bank uk julian hodge bank kingdom bank kleinwort benson metro bank monzo onesavings bank raphaels bank reliance bank n m rothschild & sons sainsbury s bank sg hambros shawbrook bank standard chartered tesco bank triodos bank tsb unity trust bank virgin money big four banks are underlined and private banks are shown in italics 1 10 % owned by ukfi 2 73 % owned by ukfi 3 mortgage assets only retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title airdrie savings bank & oldid 736504619 categories banks of scotlandcompanies based in north lanarkshirebanks established in 18351835 establishments in scotlandairdrie north lanarkshirehidden categories use dmy dates from september 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom 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