Airdrie Savings Bank closures spell end of an era

Britain’s only independent savings bank has finally closed, as Airdrie Savings Bank (ASB) shuts its last two branches in Bellshill and Coatbridge today.

ASB, founded in 1835, once boasted eight branches but announced in January that it was winding up after finding trading difficult in the wake of the 2008 crash.

Over 70 jobs have gone, but the Airdrie HQ will be staffed until September to assist savers who have not already moved their money.

ASB chief executive Rod Ashley told BBC Scotland: “The changes to banking that had happened as a result of the financial crisis back in 2008 have meant that the landscape’s completely changed.

“The interest rate environment being particularly low means that savings banks find it very difficult to make the margin in order to survive.

“You really need to be bigger and have a bit of scale in order to generate sufficient revenue in order to survive now and, to an extent, that was a critical challenge that we faced at the bank.”

Banking historian Prof Charles Munn, who has written a book about the bank, said the closure of the UK’s last independent savings bank represented the “end of an era”.

He said: “For people of my generation it was a very clear part of their Scottish culture. As soon as you were born your father opened an account for you in a Scottish savings bank.”

Prof Munn said Airdrie had resisted the temptation to merge with other small banks in the 1970s and remain independent.

Mr Ashley added: “This has been a particularly difficult time for the customers and the staff at the bank.

“It’s been sad and that’s the overwhelming emotion that’s come through - that it’s a sadness that the institution is in the case of winding down but understanding of the reasons why we’ve had to come to that decision.”