Handelsbanken boosts presence in city

Handelsbanken, the local relationship bank, has strengthened its position in Edinburgh as it moves to a new branch premises in the city’s west end.

The move to 40 Torphichen Street supports the bank’s continued growth in the city, with demand seeing the bank outgrow its previous west end home of 10 years at Haymarket Terrace.

Staffing numbers at Handelsbanken Edinburgh West End have more than doubled in the past decade to currently sit at 14. With the new facility comprising 3684 sq. ft. of space, it is 40% larger than the previous office.

Edinburgh West End branch manager Iain Henderson (3rd from left) with private banking colleagues (l-r): Fiona Salmon, Greg Robinson and Nikki Calder.

The move means the West End branch is now a similar scale to the bank’s East End premises in Waverley Gate.

Handelsbanken, which was founded in Sweden in 1871, opened its first branch in Scotland’s capital in 2009. It has been a fully-licenced UK bank since 2018, and has firm foundations to support continued growth in Edinburgh and beyond.

“Not only has our team of expert colleagues grown to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of our customers,” said Iain Henderson, Edinburgh West End Branch Manager, “we also wanted a bright, modern, environmentally-friendly space to reflect our ambitious sustainability targets.

“We wanted to take the time to find the right location, and we couldn’t be happier to be moving into 40 Torphichen St. It not only places us in the heart of the West End, it also means we have the capacity to grow further as our offering develops.”

Housing the corporate, private banking and wealth management colleagues, the expanded Edinburgh West End base is now one of two branches in the city and will act as a hub branch for the wider Scotland and Cumbria district, hosting training, leadership and development courses.

The design work for the new premises was completed by Simon Laird Associates, whilst Edinburgh firm Yule and Yule Interior Solutions completed the high-spec fit out.