High street banking boost: Building society opens new Edinburgh super-branch

The Scottish Building Society has reaffirmed its commitment to high street banking with the opening of a new Edinburgh “relationship centre”.

The Edinburgh-based mutual, which is celebrating its 175th year, has launched its latest facility in a prime city-centre location on Frederick Street. Bosses said the society was doubling down on its commitment to providing accessible banking by making a “significant” investment into retaining and enhancing its physical presence in communities. Relocating from Dalry Road, the new capital relationship centre - in a site previously occupied by optician Black & Lizars - enjoys a prominent city centre location and offers increased capacity for society members.

Paul Denton, chief executive of the Scottish Building Society, said: “Edinburgh has been at the heart of our organisation, since our first every branch on 6 York Place 175 years ago, so it was rather special to be able to open our new relationship centre here in the heart of the city. There can be no doubt that banks closing facilities across the country has impacted local communities and the most feedback we receive from our members is that having accessible, in-person facilities to discuss their finances is invaluable to them. Our values are driven by our membership so rather than closing branches like others within the industry, we are investing in them because we believe in the value of local high street branches.”

Alongside the new Edinburgh operation, the society has recently completed a round of improvements to all six of its local centres. Denton added: “This is a special year for us as we celebrate our 175th anniversary, and the launch of our new Edinburgh relationship centre is a great way to mark the next chapter for the Scottish Building Society.”

In April, the mutual announced a pre-tax profit of £3.3 million and said it had steadily grown its customer base, with the cost-of-living crisis motivating people to “make their money work harder for them”. The venerable institution now holds mortgage assets of £496m, up £42m from the previous year, and has grown its savings balances to £418m. As part of its 175th anniversary, the society is also launching a charitable foundation.

The Big Interview: Scottish Building Society CEO Paul Denton