Martin Whitfield MSP has hosted a reception at the Scottish Parliament to help celebrate 250 years since the establishment of the world’s first building society.

While the first building society was established in Birmingham in 1775, others followed in Scotland, including the Scottish Building Society, which started life in 1848 as the Edinburgh Property Investment Company. It is now the oldest remaining building society in the world.

Organised in partnership with the Building Societies Association (BSA) and Capital Credit Union, the parliamentary reception brought key stakeholders from Scotland’s mutualised financial services sector together with a cross-party group of MSPs.

The event provided an opportunity for MSPs to learn more about the anniversary and the wider history of mutuals in Scotland and the rest of the UK, as well as the difference that building societies and credit unions are making in communities across Scotland today.

Mr Whitfield has also tabled a motion in parliament to mark this significant milestone and the important role building societies and credit unions continue to have in supporting accessible, affordable and accountable financial services.

Speaking after the event, Martin Whitfield MSP said:

“I was delighted to host this reception to acknowledge and celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the world’s first building society. Mutual banking — strongly rooted in communities, driven by trust, and focused on people over profit – has played a key role in helping generations of people to save and become homeowners.

“The sector continues to make a positive impact in communities across Scotland, providing accessible savings and affordable lending options, supporting financial resilience, and empowering local decision making on financial services. It is a legacy worth protecting and growing and one I’m pleased to support.”

Further information about the celebration of 250 years of building societies can be found at www.bsa.org.uk.

This is the full text of Mr Whitfield’s parliamentary motion marking 250 years since the first building society:

That the Parliament recognises the 250th anniversary of the founding of the world’s first building society, established in Birmingham in 1775, marking the beginning of the mutual finance movement and what it sees as a pivotal moment in the development of ethical, community-focused financial services; considers that this anniversary represents an opportunity to celebrate the enduring value of building societies and credit unions in providing accessible savings and affordable lending options to individuals and families across Scotland and the UK; believes that building societies have played a crucial role in helping generations of people into home ownership, providing financial resilience during economic downturns, and embedding local decision making in the heart of financial services; acknowledges the presence of six building societies operating in Scotland, including Scottish Building Society, Cumberland, Leeds, Nationwide, Skipton, and Yorkshire, all with, it believes, a strong high street presence and customer base, contributing to the vibrancy of Scotland’s towns and cities; recognises that Scotland is home to three major credit unions, Glasgow, Capital, and Scotwest, with a combined membership exceeding 126,000 people; welcomes what it sees as the inclusive, community-led ethos of credit unions, which, it believes, offer lifeline support to many households facing high-cost credit or banking exclusion, particularly in areas of social deprivation; considers that, with over 126,000 members across the three Scottish credit unions, and six building societies with a presence on Scottish high streets, and over 21 million members across the UK, mutualised financial services play an important role in the lives of many of those in the region of South Scotland and of people across the country; believes that credit unions and building societies reinvest profits for the benefit of their members and local communities, playing a valuable role in promoting financial wellbeing, economic empowerment, and reducing inequality; recognises what it sees as the importance of protecting and strengthening Scotland’s mutual sector as part of building a fairer economy, and calls for continued support to ensure that building societies and credit unions can thrive and innovate in a changing financial landscape, particularly in support of affordable housing, community wealth-building, and ethical banking practices.