Private bank Hampden & Co welcomes 63% income growth during 2018

Hartop says progress during the year shows demand for its services. Picture: Stewart Attwood.

The lender, which operates from Charlotte Square and has an office in London’s Mayfair, said lending was up 40 per cent to £132.5 million and deposits up 38 per cent to £267.5m, while total income was up 63 per cent to £6.4m.

The capital bank also in April of this year saw shareholders invest a further £9.8m in the business.

Chief executive Graeme Hartop said: “This growth demonstrates the demand for our truly personalised private banking service. And we added to it in February 2019 our digital banking service and mobile app.”

Hartop said when these were launched that the aim was to enable another channel between banker and client, “while providing the client with more information and capabilities to help manage their finances”.

The bank yesterday also noted that its founder Ray Entwistle retired as chairman in 2018, succeeded by industry stalwart Alan Hughes. Hughes was previously chief executive of First Direct Bank, a former executive board member at HSBC, and serves as pro-chancellor and deputy chair at Loughborough University.

Hughes praised Entwistle’s “highly successful” career spanning more than five decades, and culminating in the creation of Hampden & Co. Hughes said: “After only three years Hampden [was] awarded UK Private Bank of the Year. Ray has a great deal to be proud of.”

Hampden & Co said it became the first UK private bank to be established in a quarter of a century when it opened for business in June 2015 – and concentrates “purely on providing high-quality banking”.