Scottish National Investment Bank will have to earn trust and respect – Brian Wilson

The chairman of the Scottish National Investment Bank, Willie Watt, wants it to become a “trusted institution owned by the whole of Scotland”.

Nicola Sturgeon, flanked by Scottish National Investment Bank chief executive Eilidh Mactaggart and chair Willie Watt, take part in its official launch in Edinburgh this month (Picture: Andy Buchanan/pool/AFP via Getty Images)

That is a noble aspiration. However, trust must be earned particularly where bankers are concerned, given their recent history of bringing two great Scottish institutions to their knees.

The “£2 billion” headline sounds impressive but is over a decade and has been largely paid for by cuts to Scotland’s existing enterprise network which has been steadily eroded, financially and in political independence.

Mr Watt hopes the new baby will be “a non-political institution” which seems optimistic when every other quango has gone in exactly the opposite direction. The first investment, in the technology firm M Squared, is exactly what Scottish Enterprise would have done in the past, without the benefit of a photo opportunity at Edinburgh Castle.

A former chairman of the old Highlands and Islands Development Board, Sir Andrew Gilchrist, described it as “a merchant bank with a social purpose”. It took risks and we live today with many of the benefits. On that basis, it won trust and affection.

As an MP in Ayrshire, most of my dealings were with Enterprise Ayrshire, part of the Scottish Enterprise network which was a successful model, closer to communities than a purely national agency, until it was scrapped as soon as the Nationalists took over.

Mr Watt should expect to be judged by the same criteria. For now, it is far from obvious why existing agencies have been marginalised or whether Edinburgh bankers are best qualified to define social purpose or local need in the furthest corners of our land.

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