Airdrie Savings Bank
It is a real honour to bring this debate to Parliament, marking the 175th anniversary of the Airdrie Savings Bank and the 200th anniversary of the Scottish savings bank movement. I am grateful to members who supported the motion and made it possible for us to have this evening’s debate. I am sure that we all welcome the representatives of the Airdrie Savings Bank who are present in the public gallery.
I note that the debate is pertinent and highly topical because the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee has today published its “Report on the way forward for Scotland’s banking, building society and financial services sector”.
Several weeks ago, my Central Scotland colleague Alex Neil, the minister who will reply to the debate, hosted a reception here in Parliament to mark those historic anniversaries. I was sadly unable to make that particular occasion, but I understand that it was very successful, with more than 60 trustees, staff members and customers in attendance.
The Airdrie Savings Bank, at 175 years old, is the sole survivor of the Scottish savings bank movement. That movement was founded in 1810—200 years ago—by the Rev Henry Duncan, in Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire. Henry Duncan started his bank so that everyone, irrespective of their wealth or position, could benefit from saving with a bank. It was common at that time to need a whole £10 to open a bank account—in Ruthwell, sixpence was enough. The bank channelled what surplus it made into a charitable fund, which is a concept that remains today in the form of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland. Many members will be familiar with the struggles that that organisation now faces, but that is perhaps a matter for another day.
The Airdrie Savings Bank was established on 1 January 1835, adopting the same principles that were established by the Rev Henry Duncan 25 years previously. Those principles have been proven to stand the test of time. While a storm rages across the financial sector, the Airdrie Savings Bank has remained a port of shelter and calm.
The bank is first and foremost a product of, as well as a product for, the community that it serves. Its trustees are drawn mainly from the local community and have no financial interest in the bank’s progress. As the bank has no shareholders, it has no need to pay dividends. Its headquarters remain in Stirling Street in Airdrie, and six of its seven branches are located in the Central Scotland region, which I represent, in Airdrie, Bellshill, Coatbridge, Motherwell, Muirhead and Shotts. The Baillieston branch is located in the area that is ably represented in the House of Commons by my colleague John Mason MP.
That local emphasis is what makes the bank so popular with its customers. The bank provides a service that many in other parts of the country—indeed, other parts of the world—may think has gone forever. Decisions are made by local managers who know their customers and emphasise face-to-face service. That commitment has helped the bank to remain stable and profitable while other banks have collapsed under the weight of their own overexposure. To put it in the words of the bank’s chief executive, Jim Lindsay, in a recent interview with The Herald:
“Sub-prime? Equities? Absolutely not. This is proper banking”.
That is a telling statement.
In a debate on the state of Scotland’s economy, I was able to say:
“I hesitate to use the term ‘sub-prime’, as it implies that those who fall into that category are sub-people, rather than unfortunates who bought into the myth that home ownership was the key to their future happiness and who were willingly loaned mortgages by banks that should have known that those people were not in a position to afford them.”—[Official Report, 12 November 2008; c 12269.]
Perhaps if more banks had been willing to follow the example of Airdrie Savings Bank’s honesty and personal approach to its customers, we might not be in a position in which it is the only independently owned bank that is headquartered in Scotland.
Scotland has a long and proud history of banking, which stretches back to the foundation of the Bank of Scotland in 1695, which was 115 years before the Rev Henry Duncan and only a year after William Paterson had founded the Bank of England. In recent decades the solid base of Scottish banking has been grossly undermined in the name of competition and deregulation, with many banks being allowed to consolidate and incorporate each other, including many of the savings banks, which merged to form the Trustee Savings Bank during the 1970s and 1980s.
The Trustee Savings Bank, which had remained mutually owned, gave over to the impulse to privatise itself, becoming Lloyds TSB, which is now the Lloyds Banking Group—an organisation that is 40 per cent owned by the taxpayer. In some ways, the TSB has come full circle, as the United Kingdom Government is a major shareholder in Lloyds Banking Group on behalf of the wider public.
The Royal Bank of Scotland group is 84 per cent owned by the taxpayer. As a result, through public ownership of UK Financial Investments Ltd, which holds those shares on the UK Government’s behalf, public money is being invested in the Kraft Foods takeover of Cadbury’s; in the Porterbrook Leasing Company Ltd, which owns rolling stock that is used on Scotland’s railways; in a range of private finance initiative consortia that are financing projects across Scotland; and in the preferred bidder for private ownership of the UK search and rescue helicopter operations.
That is the utterly bizarre situation in which we find ourselves as a result of too many banking institutions forgetting what proper banking ought to be. Public money is invested directly in those banks, and little is asked for in return. There is no end to the bonus culture, nor a return to the sound banking practices of old that helped to make Airdrie Savings Bank the success that it is today.
In the past few years, while the major financial institutions were being bailed out, while the UK Government was desperately struggling to press the reset button on the never-ending boom and while Scotland’s 300-year-old banking history was being almost dismantled, one port remained secluded from the storm. In the year ended 31 October 2008, Airdrie Savings Bank posted pre-tax profits of £790,000. A year later, the figure was £270,000. That is perhaps modest, but it is more than enough to satisfy the bank’s customers and its many obligations.
The bank has invested considerable time and resources in the training and development of its staff, and it is recognised as an investor in people. It is proud that 50 per cent of its staff hold banking or other professional qualifications. The bank takes its community responsibilities seriously, sponsoring a range of cultural, sporting and other activities. In particular, the supercounty champions awards, which celebrate Lanarkshire’s unsung heroes, has recognised the contributions of many people to their local communities, thanks to the support of the bank. It was fitting that the bank itself received a supercounty award earlier this year, in recognition of its contribution to the area.
The bank’s motto is “Trusted Locally, Welcomed Nationally”. Perhaps that sums up all that can and will be said about the bank in the debate and on the many other occasions to mark the anniversaries that are being celebrated this year. It is 200 years since the first Scottish savings bank and 175 years since the Airdrie Savings Bank was founded. The bank still has much to offer, not just in the important services that it provides to its customers but in the lessons that we can learn about the real meaning of community involvement and the true purposes of banking.
17:16
Karen Whitefield’s speech evoked some memories. My memory of my first savings account, which will be familiar to other members of my age group, is of a wee book from the post office for which I bought stamps every week and stuck them in. I see that Cathy Peattie remembers that. Yes, there was a great sense of pride in watching the savings mount up. That seems to be lacking now.
My savings bank story relates to the Savings Bank of Glasgow, where I got my first ever bank loan. It was for 50 quid, which was to be paid back over, I think, a year. When I think back, what I find really interesting is the absolute terror that, as a lass of about 18 or 19, I felt when going in to justify the loan to the bank manager. It was, I must say, an interesting relationship. I had the feeling that I was entering into an obligation that someone would keep me to, which in a way helped me along a bit, too. That was something very precious and it has, I think, been largely lost in banking circles.
Indeed, I notice that one of the big banks now has a promotion for private banking. When I asked people at lunch time today whether they knew what that meant, I was told by someone who had looked into it that it meant that one could get an appointment with the bank manager. However, one has to sign up to being a very special kind of customer. We seem to be just going back the way. Why do we not just recognise that the baby was thrown out with the bath water and that an awful lot of wrong was done in eroding those kinds of relationships? Certainly, the people at Airdrie Savings Bank are to be much congratulated on sticking to their guns over the years. It should be recognised that they had it right.
The other night, I went to a lecture at the David Hume Institute that was well presented by Jim Lindsay, the chief executive of Airdrie Savings Bank. At that fascinating seminar we heard about the bank’s experiences over the years. Another chap who spoke outlined some of the issues over the years, where banking has gone wrong and why we no longer have the mutual models that we all used to feel were of benefit and promoted responsibility with money and saving, rather than the instant gratification that the rogues of the banking system who came in expected everyone to sign up to.
It is clear that what we had did not work. The philosophy of banks being too big to fail was not true. It is not just the recent banking crisis that has shown the flaws in that thinking, but the behaviour of the financial institutions over the past few decades. The chap who spoke the other night—I should name him: it was Ed Mayo, the chief executive of Co-operatives UK—talked about the behaviour of financial institutions over the decades. We have only to look at the £13.5 billion of pension missellings in the 1980s and the mortgage endowments of the 1990s that all went wrong, causing problems for everybody who had taken out an endowment mortgage on the promise of great profits at the end of the term. I had one myself and remember those promises. It became clear that banks had started acting in the interests of their shareholders rather than in the interests of their customers.
Airdrie Savings Bank clearly acts in the interests of its customers, which is how it should be. Is it time to roll back and rethink the whole banking model? Is it time to recognise that separating investment from savings and having the personal relationships that different banks had with their customers are the right way forward? I think that it is. Those points are reflected in the report that was published today by the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee. Perhaps we should look again at the role of mutuals and recognise that terming something a social enterprise does not mean that it is of lesser value than something that is deemed to be a corporation. We should stop being terribly impressed by the guys of big business big banking, whom we were supposed to be impressed by but who, quite honestly, just mucked it up for one and all.
An International Labour Organization study showed the robustness of co-ops and mutuals around the world—the research was carried out at the University of Stirling. We have an opportunity to look at different ways of providing money. We should look again at some of the things that we used to do that were to the benefit of customers and society in general.
I echo Jamie Hepburn’s point about the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland and the way in which the foundation is being treated by Lloyds Banking Group, which is trying to ride roughshod over it. The foundation was founded on the same principles as those of the savings banks, and Airdrie Savings Bank and other ethical financial organisations still have them. What Lloyds Banking Group is doing is not in the spirit of the savings banks—it is certainly not in the spirit of Airdrie Savings Bank. I hope that, in the future, Airdrie Savings Bank continues to keep at its heart the spirit in which it has operated so far.
17:29
I, too, congratulate Jamie Hepburn on bringing this evening’s debate to the Parliament. It was fascinating to hear the local member, Karen Whitefield, and others talk about their personal experiences.
Part of the message is that we can either learn from history or ignore it. In many respects, we do both, of course. Many people had not heard of Airdrie Savings Bank two years ago, but it has since become fashionable to a certain extent. Local authorities in my area have been to visit it and have studied it closely as if it is an innovative way in which to correct some of the imbalances that we have perceived in the finance sector in the past few years. However, as Margaret Mitchell eloquently said, a consistent thread throughout Airdrie Savings Bank’s history, from the outset to the present, is that it is essentially a custodian of people’s money. That is an honour but also a considerable responsibility. Other parts of the financial services sector have travelled a long way from that approach, and we in Scotland have had to take our share of the blame for that in the past three years. The custodianship of people’s money has not always been seen as an honour. Instead, their money has been regarded as an asset that can be put at risk or, in effect, gambled in a casino-style operation. To our collective cost, that has had to be underwritten by the taxpayer. That is not a sustainable method of banking. A good example of sustainable banking is the model that we are congratulating today.
We cannot simply look back at halcyon days in history, as much as we can look back to the constitution of the Bank of England, which took place at the same time as a third of the money in Scotland was risked on the Darien adventure—it is not, I think, an accident that it is now described as an adventure. A century later, David Hume wrote to Adam Smith after the 1772 banking crisis and asked him to add to “The Wealth of Nations” a new section that counselled against unnecessary risk. In the past couple of years, Scottish institutions in the financial services sector, which was in effect a gift from Scotland to the world, have been at the heart of what has in some cases been a collective shame.
The history has been rehearsed. Jamie Hepburn was right to say that the first commercial savings bank was founded in 1810 and that it was a Scottish invention. Other savings banks were subsequently established throughout Scotland, including in my area of the Borders, where Hawick Savings Bank and Galashiels Savings Bank were created. Later, such banks were linked to the National Savings Bank or the Post Office Savings Bank. They were the repositories of the savings of mill workers who put aside a shilling a week so that they could afford a holiday to Spittal beach in my home town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. My parents still remember the mill workers from the Borders coming across to Berwick on the train.
What we need from banking—reliability—has not changed. However, it is not simply a question of looking back at heritage. Anyone who had an account with Northern Rock three years ago understands that what they require from banking is a trusted resource that looks after their funds properly. Airdrie Savings Bank has been consistent in doing that throughout its history.
I end by sounding a note of caution. The Scottish financial services sector is one of the key elements of the modern Scottish economy and it is part of the global economy. Nearly 200,000 people are employed in the sector, either directly or indirectly, and it manages more than £300 billion-worth of assets. I and my party, the Liberal Democrats, strongly believe that we need radical reform of the sector. It is not sustainable for the taxpayer to underwrite the risk of the investment banking sector, nor is it right that investment banking is underwritten by savers and their assets. Urgent reform is required.
However, we also recognise that the Scottish financial services sector cannot simply be a network of small, traditional banks. The public expect a more sophisticated financial services sector. They want to use the internet, their personal digital assistants and their mobile phones to access banking services. The essence of the challenge, which has been neatly captured in some of the recommendations of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, is how we can provide what the consumer wants while preserving the essence of the approach that the trusted and reputable brand that is Airdrie Savings Bank has taken throughout its history. We can learn from history because, although the bank is 175 years old, its approach is still remarkably relevant.
17:40
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S3M-5436, in the name of Jamie Hepburn, on 175 years of the Airdrie Savings Bank. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes that 2010 represents the 200th anniversary of the Scottish savings bank movement; recognises that Airdrie Savings Bank is the last remaining independent savings bank in the United Kingdom; further notes that Airdrie Savings Bank was formed in 1835 and celebrates its 175th anniversary in 2010; congratulates Airdrie Savings Bank for its relative success compared with the large banking groups during the recession, and considers that the success of Airdrie Savings Bank proves that a model of prudent and responsible banking continues to work after 175 years.
17:09
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate celebrating the success and achievements of Airdrie Savings Bank on its 175th anniversary. I begin by declaring an interest: I am the chairperson of Petersburn Development Trust, and we have a bank account with Airdrie Savings Bank. I give my apologies to the minister and other members, as I will be unable to stay for the closing speeches. Petersburn Development Trust will be meeting tonight so that we can discuss our returns from Airdrie Savings Bank and how we can use that money wisely to invest in further developments in Airdrie.
The recent collapse of some of the UK’s and indeed the world’s largest financial institutions has shattered the assumption that big is better in the world of banking. The continued stability of Airdrie Savings Bank has highlighted some of the benefits of having a small, local bank that is in touch with its customers in a way that larger banks can never be.
My first bank account was with Airdrie Savings Bank. The money was collected at Dykehead primary school every fortnight, and I was no different from the vast majority of children in Shotts who signed up to the bank’s saver accounts.
I pay tribute to the excellent book on Airdrie Savings Bank by Charles W Munn. Much of the information in my speech and, I am sure, those of many other members will be drawn from his book. The bank was founded on 21 January 1835 as the Airdrie Temperance Society Savings Bank. From the outset, the bank had a strong social element to its aims and objectives. The bank’s first depositors were the Rev John Carslaw and his family. Deposits for that year totalled £275. By the turn of the century, the total annual deposits had risen to £332,850. In 2008, deposits totalled almost £125 million.
As Charles Munn points out, Airdrie Savings Bank is the sole survivor of a large number of local savings banks that were formed throughout the UK in the 19th century. All the other savings banks merged into the TSB, although the trustees of Airdrie Savings Bank decided to remain independent.
Looking through the history of the bank, it is fascinating to see how the relationship between banks and their customers has changed over the years. The bank’s annual report of 1888 contains this wonderful statement on the advantages of saving:
“1. An Account at the Bank gives the Depositor a feeling of self-respect and independence.
2. It gives him real money profit by the accumulation of Interest.
3. His money is always under his control, and within reach of any emergency.
4. The practice of saving preserves from many vices, and promotes habits of industry, sobriety, and reflection.
5. A weekly deposit of five shillings continued for ten years will amount, with interest, to £150”.
Excellent stuff. However, I hope that not only the men of Airdrie but the women of the town and of the surrounding villages are now able to make deposits.
Perhaps if some of the failed global banks had used a similarly straightforward advertising campaign and ethos, they might not have ended up having to be bailed out by the taxpayer. Indeed, the words of James Knox, who was once secretary to Airdrie Savings Bank, sound very appropriate when we consider the fate of Northern Rock. In a paper to the board in 1911, he said:
“The stability of a bank—great or small—depends to a very great extent on its ability to meet the legitimate demands of depositors in any circumstances and at any moment”.
Wise words indeed.
It is certainly worth taking time to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of the bank’s trustees over the years. Like Mr Hepburn, I welcome the trustees who have joined us for tonight’s debate. I know that the trustees—both past trustees and, most certainly, current trustees—have taken their responsibilities for the bank’s stewardship very seriously.
There is great local pride about the success of Airdrie Savings Bank, which is an institution that is truly part of our community. We should remember that the bank has expanded considerably over the years and now has branches throughout Lanarkshire. Those branches not only look after our money but invest in the local community. For example, I know that many schools throughout Lanarkshire enjoy an excellent relationship with the bank and appreciate the support that they receive for their annual Burns competitions. Such payback to the community is very much appreciated.
Over the years, being taken as a child to open an account at Airdrie Savings Bank has become a rite of passage in Airdrie and the surrounding villages. Over the next century, I am sure that that tradition will remain and that Airdrie Savings Bank will continue to go from strength to strength.
17:22
I congratulate Jamie Hepburn on bringing this important subject for debate in the Parliament this evening. I am particularly pleased to take part in the debate because it was a real disappointment that I was not able to attend the reception in the Parliament that was hosted by Alex Neil to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Airdrie Savings Bank.
I was born and brought up in Coatbridge; my husband was born and brought up in Airdrie. Across the huge geographical divide, we both have strong connections with the two towns. My father was a local dairyman and my father-in-law was a trustee of the Airdrie Savings Bank. My mother, who is a lively 98-year-old, is still resident in Coatbridge, where the first ASB branch opened in 1916. Their generation was brought up with a strict code of financial conduct and a fear of debt. Quite simply, they saved for what they wanted to buy and, if they could not afford it, they did without until they could afford it.
That mindset mirrors the general thrift movement that was prevalent when Airdrie Savings Bank was founded on 1 January 1835,
“for the safe custody of the savings of the people”.
The bank took its first deposits when it opened its doors on 21 January that year. Its main focus then, as it has been ever since, was on savings.
In 1924, the bank started a savings scheme, which continues today, to encourage schoolchildren to save. As a child, I had an ASB piggy bank. It was not in the shape of a pig, however. Instead, it was a rather serious object, silver in colour and oval, as I remember it. It took thruppences, sixpences and even half crowns—of course, that was in the pre-decimalisation days, when we had real money.
Schoolchildren also had the opportunity to make deposits in their savings accounts and have them dutifully marked up by the staff who visited the school. That scheme continues to this day and has proved to be extremely successful in getting children started in saving as well as in providing an early form of financial education.
In the past 25 years, the bank has expanded its range of services, lending to personal customers and developing its range of general banking services for business customers. In today’s financial climate, Airdrie Savings Bank represents a model that many of the banks that are now seeking and receiving financial help from the taxpayer would do well to emulate. At a time when banking has become impersonal to a ludicrous degree, Airdrie Savings Bank has endured and flourished by continuing to have a face-to-face approach to banking, providing strong personal service and putting an emphasis on supporting local customers so that, when technological improvements are made, the focus is strictly on communicating with customers directly.
According to the bank’s 2009 annual report, ASB, by consistently following a longer-term, prudent approach, has been reasonably immune from the effects of the current banking crisis. The bank will continue to manage its affairs with care and prudence in order to ensure that it can face those challenges with confidence.
In Airdrie, there has always been a strong sense of community spirit and a sense of the need to put something back into the community. It is no surprise, therefore, that this Lanarkshire-based savings bank started its life with a board of trustees governing the bank. The trustees are drawn from members of the community and are appointed to represent the interests of depositors and ensure that the bank is managed prudently and efficiently. As Jamie Hepburn said, the trustees give up their time without remuneration. They have no financial interest in the bank’s progress, there are no shareholders and there is no requirement to pay dividends. Any surpluses are, therefore, reinvested for the benefit of the customer.
James Knox’s work, “Airdrie—A Historical Sketch”, refers to the stewardship of ASB, which was known to locals as the Knox bank, which reflects the family’s involvement with it over the years. The book says:
“It is the proud record of the bank that throughout its long history not a single penny of depositor’s money has been lost by investment!”
There are lessons for the UK’s main financial institutions to learn from Airdrie Savings Bank.
I wish Airdrie Savings Bank well for the next 175 years and for its plans to expand the number of branches from seven to nine. On its track record and performance to date, it well and truly deserves its unique status as Britain’s only independent savings bank. As such, through the ages, it has honoured its motto: “Trusted Locally, Welcomed Nationally”.
That is a winning formula that I hope and believe will continue to encourage saving, prudence and work for the benefit of local people for many generations to come.
17:34
I join members in congratulating Jamie Hepburn on securing the debate. We are now down to being a fairly small number of members here, but the fact that there has been cross-party support for the essence of the motion is extremely important, and is tribute not only to Airdrie Savings Bank as an institution, but to the philosophy that it represents. I am proud to respond to the debate on behalf of the Scottish Government.
It is appropriate that this is the day on which the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee published its report on the future of the banking industry not just in Scotland, but worldwide. As members have said, it is clear that there are major lessons to be learned from how Airdrie Savings Bank has conducted its business in recent times and over the past 175 years.
Under the Scotland Act 1998, matters that are connected with regulation of the financial services industry are reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament—although I am sure that that situation is temporary. However, the savings bank initiative is a Scottish success story that has had a worldwide impact, and it still has an important part to play in Scottish society in the present day. Airdrie Savings Bank employs a large local workforce—more than 100 people—in areas that are historically reliant on heavy industries.
As members have said, Scotland has a distinguished history in financial services that dates back more than 300 years. I am sure that, despite the current difficulties, we will also have a distinguished future in financial services. The history of financial services in Scotland is the result of national attributes of caution and prudence combined with a flair for innovation and excellence. Scotland has been at the forefront of the delivery of financial products and services to meet the needs of all individuals, businesses, and private and public organisations within Scotland and globally. It is no accident that the Bank of England was founded by a Scotsman.
The celebration of Airdrie Savings Bank is a timely reminder of the important contribution that Scotland has made to the development of banking. I congratulate it on its 175th birthday, on its success, and on maintaining its independence. It rightly resisted the lure of joining the trustee savings bank mergers. That it made the correct decision on that has been proven through time.
This year, we are celebrating not only the success of Airdrie Savings Bank. As Jamie Hepburn and other members have said, we are also celebrating the bicentenary of the founding of the savings bank movement by the Rev Henry Duncan. I am aware that various events have been and will be held in the Parliament and elsewhere in Scotland to mark that occasion.
It would be remiss of me in representing the Scottish Government not to mention briefly the current circumstances surrounding Lloyds Banking Group and Lloyds TSB Foundation. I deeply regret that turn of events, and the Government is working closely with both parties to try to facilitate a successful outcome. We understand the bank’s need to work within tight financial limits, but the impact of the loss of moneys to the most vulnerable people cannot be overestimated. It is hoped that, in the spirit of all that the Rev Henry Duncan stood for and believed in, a solution and a way forward can be agreed. It was the wish of the Rev Henry Duncan to do something of real and lasting value for underprivileged people that led to the beginning of his savings bank movement. He believed deeply in the dignity of the ordinary working man and woman. Wherever he saw injustice, he worked and spoke against it.
Today, Airdrie Savings Bank is the last savings bank that operates independently. Its original ethos remains strong and, as has been said, its focus on the needs of its customers and the local community remains a vital element. As I said, the bank employs a large number of people—100—in the local economy. In what was historically a heavy industry area, the bank provides opportunities for rewarding lifelong careers. Not only does it look after its staff, but it looks after the communities in which it operates as well as its 60,000-odd customers. I am delighted with the expansion plans that the bank announced last week. I congratulate the chair, the chief executive and the trustees, who are in the public gallery.
I underline Margaret Mitchell’s point about the role of the trustees. On a day when the main race at Cheltenham was won by the horse Big Buck’s—a name that seems to sum up the image of the banking industry in the UK and globally—we can say that the trustees of the Airdrie Savings Bank are honest and true, not just to the bank, but to the ethos and the philosophy of the bank and all the savings banks that have operated in Scotland—the trustees show that through their commitment to corporate social responsibility. We have heard about the saving scheme for children that was started in the early part of the previous century. The bank is involved in Young Enterprise, it provides work experience to young people, and is involved in events such as the supercounty champions awards, which celebrate Lanarkshire’s unsung heroes. The bank also has a role in the financial education partnership. Through all those initiatives and the efforts to find new jobs and industry for the Airdrie area, the bank has played, and continues to play, a major role in the community.
The current financial crisis and the many complex issues that led to it have taught us a hard lesson about the need to understand and effectively mitigate risk. However, we are clear that, in doing so, we must ensure that our industry remains successful and offers the services and choice that customers demand. The Scottish Government has made clear its support for the part that local employers and communities play in achieving our goal of creating a more successful country with opportunities for all to flourish through increasing sustainable economic growth.
I applaud the board, the senior management team, the staff and the customers of Airdrie Savings Bank and all that they have done for the people of Lanarkshire and beyond. They have brought vitality not only to local banking, but to the local community. Therefore, on behalf of the Scottish Government, I am delighted to support the motion in the name of Jamie Hepburn. In so doing, and along with members of other parties, I wish Airdrie Savings Bank every success as it heads towards the next 175 years and its continued expansion, not just in Lanarkshire but, I am sure, further afield.
Meeting closed at 17:48.