How Edinburgh-based private bank Hampden & Co is snapping up Britain’s high net worth individuals

Releasing first-half results, bank bosses said they had seen “significant demand for personalised banking” as deposits, lending and client numbers all grew by double-digits. Hampden & Co was founded in 2010, opening for business in 2015 when it became the first new UK private bank launch in a quarter of a century. Its client base mainly comprises high-net-worth individuals.

Chief executive Graeme Hartop said: “Our results for the first half of 2024 reflect our reputation for personalised service and the value clients across the UK place on having a banker they can speak to. We continue to invest in the business, to add to and enhance the experience for clients. Apple Pay and Google Pay are recent additions and we will upgrade our digital banking service later in the year.”

The latest results show that total deposits across current, call, notice and term accounts increased by 15.8 per cent year-on-year to £895 million. Total lending by the bank rose by 20.4 per cent to £555m, compared with £461m in the first half of last year, on the back of strong support from mortgage intermediaries and as interest rates stabilised. Client numbers grew by 15.2 per cent year-on-year on the back of referrals from professional advisers and introductions by existing clients.

However, there was a dip in earnings in the first half with a pre-tax profit of £4.2m registered, compared with £5.1m in the same period in 2023, reflecting the higher cost of deposits as demand for term deposits continued, the bank noted. Total income for the first half of the year was £14.9m. Balance sheet assets reached £1 billion for the first time during the first six months of 2024.

In its results for 2023, published in April, the bank announced it was paying an inaugural dividend to shareholders as profit before tax reached £9.1m for the full year. The bank, which also has a London office, noted at the time that client numbers had increased by 19 per cent to finish the year at a new high of 5,598.

Business introduced by mortgage brokers was up 39 per cent, more than double the growth rate seen in the previous year. To meet the increased demand and continue delivering a personalised service, the bank grew its number of employees by almost a quarter to 154.

Hampden & Co, which competes with the likes of Adam and Company and Weatherbys, recorded a profit before tax of £9.1m for 2023, up from £2m the year before. In May, the bank announced that Tracey Davidson would become CEO this October when Hartop steps down after 11 years in the role. Davidson is joining from Handelsbanken UK where she was deputy chief executive.

Edinburgh's Hampden & Co sees numbers leap amid increased demand for personalised banking