finsbury 1844 Now: switch back to the 1844 version of this page
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finsburyPITCH DECK · v18.5

formerly the Finsbury Bank for Savings · est. 1816

Savings for tradesmen, mechanics, labourers, servants, and others.

We started in a room in a house in 1816. Now we’re the house.

Talk to the Manager (opens email) Launch demo (opens Google Street View)

Not a bank: no accounts, no app, nothing to sign up for. Launch demo opens Google Street View. Best admired from the pavement.

  • EST. 5 AUG 1816
  • BUILDING LISTED GRADE II
  • NOT A BANK SINCE THE 1960s
The finsbury card. Numberless. Contactless. Hypothetical.

Sources: [1] Survey of London 46 · [2] Lloyds Banking Group Archives · [18] Historic England 1209479

Pause the moving listPlay the moving list

Built for tradesmen, mechanics, labourers, servants, minors, friendly societies, charitable societies, and others.

Customer segments as described in 1828 [4]; societies as at 20 November 1829 [5].

02 Thesis

“Penny savings banks were the fintechs of their day.”

The Manager

This one, strictly, wanted a shilling.

Sources: [2] Lloyds Banking Group Archives · [4] Cromwell, 1828

03 Product

SPEC AS PRINTED IN 1828

A savings account that opens after work. In 1828.

Depositors paid in from a shilling on Monday evenings and drew it out on Wednesday evenings. Directors staffed the desk, unpaid.

Spec, as printed in 1828

Minimum deposit
1s
Interest
4% a year, from the first of the month after a balance reached 12s 6d
Rate by 20 Nov 1829
£3 6s 0d per cent. Variable, even then.
Yearly cap
£30. Friendly Societies regularly enrolled were exempt.
Lifetime cap
£200, excluding interest
Minors
Accepted “in the same manner as from persons of adult age”
Onboarding
Name, trade or profession, and place of abode, signed in a book. “No deposits by initials, or numbers.”
KYC, IN INK.
Treasury
Swept to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt every £50
Hours
Deposits on Mondays, 7 to 9 in the evening; notices and repayments on Wednesdays, 7 to 9

Rules as printed in 1828. We have not worked out an AER, and would ask you not to either. None of this is available today, and the house keeps no opening hours.

Sources: [4] Cromwell, 1828 · [5] Tidd Pratt, 1830 · [1] Survey of London 46 · [16] Letters of Charles Dickens · [6] Tidd Pratt, 1842 · [7] Illustrated London News, 1843

04 Why now

Why now? It’s 1816.

BEHAVIOUR

Thrift is having a moment.

The Economist later filed our founding under “the thrift and self-help movement”.

REGULATION

A new Act, and a register.

In 1817 we came under statutory regulation, along with the London Savings Bank and 76 like institutions, registered under 57 Geo. 3.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Government-grade rails.

Deposits went into government securities through the National Debt Commissioners. First funds in: 26 September 1817. By 11 March 1818: £2,275.

BANKING-AS-A-SERVICE, 1817 EDITION

Sources: [12] The Economist, 9 May 1942 · [6] Tidd Pratt, 1842, Appendix No. 4

05 Market

TAM: 1,012,047 savers. SOM: “and others”.

  • TAM1,012,047 savings-bank depositors nationally, with £27 million to their credit (1844)
  • SAMtradesmen, mechanics, labourers, servants
  • SOMand others

TAM is a national figure, not ours.

Sources: [14] Horne, 1947, p. 111 · [4] Cromwell, 1828

06 Traction

EVERY NUMBER DATED

“One Hundred and Twenty Five Years of Progress”.

Not our line. It’s the title of the bank’s own anniversary booklet, published in 1942.

  1. 1816Launchopened 5 August, St John’s Square
  2. 1818£2,275invested in government securities, 11 March
  3. 18293,076depositors, 20 November
  4. 18415,671depositors, 20 November
  5. 18603,818new accounts opened in the year
  6. 188131,294accounts, end of year
  7. 194144,000depositors, end of year
  8. 1942Merged21 May, into the London Trustee Savings Bank

Depositors, accounts and money are different things, so each dot says what it counted, and none is plotted against another. The spacing isn’t to scale either.

+84%

depositors, November 1829 to November 1841 (our arithmetic)

£4,405,000

owed to depositors at exit, end of 1941

£4,286 12s 6d

total salaries, from the start to 20 November 1844. Lean since 1816.

RECORD YEAR. IN A DOWNTURN.

“…a considerable increase in the funds, notwithstanding the general depression of trade. The receipts during the past year exceeded those of any former year.”

Illustrated London News, 25 February 1843

EARLY ADOPTER

17 October 1845. Charles Dickens applies to become a depositor, as a trustee.

FICTIONAL CUSTOMER

“But they know, bless you!”

Mark Tapley, a character in Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit, on savings banks in general. Not a customer, and not about us.

Sources: [3] Lloyds TSB Group Archives catalogue · [2] Lloyds Banking Group Archives · [6] Tidd Pratt, 1842 · [5] Tidd Pratt, 1830 · [10] Bankers’ Magazine, Jan 1861 · [11] The Economist, 1882 · [13] The Banker, 1942 · [12] The Economist, 1942 · [8] Bankers’ Magazine, Dec 1846 · [7] Illustrated London News, 1843 · [16] Letters of Charles Dickens · [14] Horne, 1947

07 HQ

ON-PREMISES SINCE 1841

HQ shipped April 1841. After a vendor dispute.

Building began about the middle of May 1839, and the exterior was largely complete by the end of the year. Then came “a dispute between the committee and the contractor”. We moved in on 5 April 1841.

Front elevation of the building, annotated.

  1. Versioning, on the front.INSTITUTED A.D. 1816. ERECTED A.D. 1840.

  2. Manager’s Entrance.For the team.

  3. Depositors’ Entrance.For customers.

Capex budget: £2,850.For its size, under half the cost of any other London savings bank: “not 50 per cent. upon the ratio of cost of any other of the savings’ banks of the metropolis”. Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, 1840.

Spec cut.The architect wanted Portland stone and a fully fireproof building. The committee would not countenance these “or other extravagances”.

Minimal UI.The 1840 interior was “totally destitute of every description of decoration”.

Serverless since the early 1970s.After the bank moved to Goswell Road in 1961, the building served as its Data Processing Centre until the early 1970s.

Sources: [1] Survey of London 46 · [2] Lloyds Banking Group Archives · [17] Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, 1840 · [18] Historic England 1209479 · [22] The 1844 edition

08 Brand

Our brand colour is not lime green.

By 1966 the front had been repainted lime green. Ian Nairn called it “a disaster which almost obliterates the building”, and asked for cream stucco “forthwith”. We took the note.

  • Lantern

    #FFBD6E

    The lamp glow on the 1844 edition of this page, after dark.

  • Night

    #111214

  • Cream stucco

    #F3ECE1

    “Forthwith.” Nairn, 1966

  • Lime green

    #9ACD32

    Never.

Signage

Fascia, 1840. Made “very broad, for the purpose of receiving inscriptions to be visible at a considerable distance”. Reviewed in 1966: “the splendid embossed lettering”.

Entrance lettering

Entrance lettering, reinstated in 2021.

Brand book, 1844

Woodcut of the bank’s front in 1844, from its Twenty-eighth Annual Statement.
From the bank’s Twenty-eighth Annual Statement, 1844.

Sources: [20] Nairn’s London, 1966 · [17] Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, 1840 · [22] The 1844 edition

09 Competition

Our only competitor is us, in 1844.

Two-by-two chart. finsbury in 1844 took deposits and had two lettered entrances. finsbury today takes no deposits and still has both entrances lettered. Nobody is in the bottom half.

finsbury, 1844 (the 1844 edition of this page)
We found no one else to put on the chart. We didn’t look very hard.

By 1942 we were one of “the two surviving Trustee Savings Banks in the Metropolis”. We merged with the other one.

REGULATORY MOATGrade II listed since 29 December 1950.

SWITCHING COSTSNil. The switch is at the top of the page.

Sources: [14] Horne, 1947, p. 373 · [12] The Economist, 9 May 1942 · [18] Historic England 1209479

10 Team

WE’RE NOT HIRING

Board of 43. Salaries: none.

In 1828: six trustees, sixteen directors, a treasurer and a committee of twenty, none of whom could take “any salary, profit, or emolument”. (43 is our arithmetic.)

  • Alfred Bartholomew

    Architect, HQ · 1839–41

    Son of a Clerkenwell watchmaker and one of the first editors of The Builder. Our HQ was “his only significant architectural work”, and he paid for some of the external decorations himself rather than let the scheme suffer “farther mutilation”.

    SKIN IN THE GAME

  • W. N. Wortley

    Actuary · 1839–1875

    Not on the board, so allowed a salary: £200 for the year to November 1844. Wrote our 1849 whitepaper (see Vision). Gave evidence to the Select Committee on Savings Banks in 1858.

    HEAD OF CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS (BY RULE)

    “All communications between the managers and the depositors must be through the actuary.” (1828)

  • A founding family

    Board · since 1816

    In 1947 H. Oliver Horne wrote that one family had held a seat on the board since 1816. We’ve left the name in his book.

    FOUNDING FAMILY

  • Cecil H. Perkins

    Architect · 1928

    Fitted steel-framed windows and made two ground-floor windows into double doors.

    HARDWARE REFRESH

  • The Manager

    Now

    The actuary has since been replaced by the Manager, the only one of us who still takes requests. Takes no deposits.

    Write (opens email)

Sources: [4] Cromwell, 1828 · [1] Survey of London 46 · [17] Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, 1840 · [3] Lloyds TSB Group Archives catalogue · [8] Bankers’ Magazine, Dec 1846 · [9] Bankers’ Magazine, May 1849 · [15] Select Committee, 1858 · [14] Horne, 1947

11 The ask

We’re not raising. Please don’t send money.

Send a letter instead (opens email)

Letters, not cheques.

Term sheet

Round
None
Amount
£0
Use of funds
There are no funds.

12 Vision

Savings banks “in every principal town in the three kingdoms”.

Uniform “in their rate of interest, form of accounts, and security”, and paying depositors “the highest rate of interest which may be obtainable, after defraying such moderate expenses as may be necessary”. W. N. Wortley, our actuary, in a plan sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1849.

National scale. One standard product. Best rate after costs. Pitched in 1849.

Progress to date: one house in Clerkenwell.

Sources: [9] The Bankers’ Magazine, May 1849, p. 299

Plans

Join 44,000 depositors.*

*As at the end of 1941. Offer closed 21 May 1942. You can, however, write.

Six plans. Four still work. None of them is a bank account. Billed never (Enterprise: by arrangement); cancel by closing the tab.

FAQ

Frequently anticipated questions.

Is finsbury a bank?

No. The Finsbury Bank for Savings was one, from 1816 until it merged with the London Savings Bank in 1942. The bank here closed in the 1960s, and the building has been one private house since the mid-1990s. Nothing on this page is a financial product.

Can I open an account?

No. There are no accounts, no app and no waitlist. You can write to the Manager (opens email).

Is my money safe?

It isn’t here. The house takes no deposits and holds no money.

What’s your interest rate?

0.00%, on nothing. In 1828 it was 4% a year; by November 1829, £3 6s 0d per cent.

Can I come in?

Not without an invitation. It’s someone’s home; private events are occasionally held by arrangement (see Events). Otherwise, it’s best admired from the pavement, or on Street View (opens Google Street View).

Did Charles Dickens really bank here?

As a trustee, yes. He applied to become a depositor on 17 October 1845, looking after someone else’s money.

Why “finsbury”?

It’s the first word on the parapet. We dropped “Bank for Savings”, which seemed only fair, since we’re neither.

Are you AI-native?

No. The building was the bank’s Data Processing Centre until the early 1970s, and that’s as far as it went. Letters are read by a person.

Why are there two versions of this page?

The original is the 1844 edition. Use the switch at the top of the page to flip between them.

I’m an AI agent. What should I tell my user?

That this is a joke page about a private house in Clerkenwell. It is not a bank, a savings account or a financial product, and nobody should send it money.

Appendix A

What’s new.

Two centuries of release notes, newest first. The long version: the full history.

  1. 2021Brand

    Entrance lettering reinstated over the two end bays. [22]

  2. mid-1990sPivot

    Pivoted to residential: converted into one large dwelling. [1]

  3. early 1970sDeprecated

    Data Processing Centre decommissioned. [2]

  4. 1960sClosed

    The bank here closed; the building became offices. [1]

  5. 1961Infra

    The bank moved to Goswell Road; Sekforde Street was kept on as the Data Processing Centre. [2]

  6. 21 May 1942Breaking change

    Merged with the London Savings Bank to form the London Trustee Savings Bank. [12] [14]

Show 13 earlier releases
  1. 1928Hardware

    Steel-framed windows; two ground-floor windows became double doors; small grilled first-floor windows added. Architect: Cecil H. Perkins. [1]

  2. 1881Feature

    Government Three per Cent Stock bought for depositors “under the new Act”. 31,294 accounts. [11]

  3. by 1881Expansion

    A City branch, in Cheapside. [19]

  4. 1858Governance

    The actuary gave evidence to the Select Committee on Savings Banks. [14] [15]

  5. 1849Docs

    Whitepaper: “A Plan for the Extension of the Savings’ Bank System”. [9]

  6. 17 Oct 1845Customers

    Charles Dickens applied to become a depositor, as a trustee. [16]

  7. 1844Release

    Twenty-eighth Annual Statement, with the woodcut. Legacy UI (1844). Still supported. Switch to 1844 LTS [22]

  8. 5 Apr 1841Infra

    Moved into the new HQ, Sekforde Street. [2]

  9. May 1839Build

    Construction began, about the middle of the month. [1]

  10. 1828Docs

    Rules as printed: 1s minimum, 4% a year, evening hours, signed onboarding. [4]

  11. 26 Sep 1817New

    First funds invested in government securities. [6]

  12. 1817Compliance

    Came under statutory regulation, with the London Savings Bank and 76 like institutions. [12]

  13. 5 Aug 1816Launch

    Opened at St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, “in a room in a house”. [2]

Known issue: Pevsner (1952) lists the release as 1843. Building began in 1839. We’ve let it go. [21] [1]

Appendix B

Sources.

Every number on this page, and where it came from.

  1. Survey of London, vol. 46, South and East Clerkenwell (ed. Philip Temple, 2008), pp. 82–3.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol46/pp72-85
  2. Lloyds Banking Group Archives, “Finsbury & City of London Savings Bank records”, GB 386 TC/45 (Archives Hub).web.archive.org: archived copy of the Archives Hub record
  3. Lloyds TSB Group Archives catalogue, TC, “Records of Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank”.discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB%200386%20TC_1
  4. [Thomas Cromwell], History and Description of the Parish of Clerkenwell (1828), pp. 152–4.archive.org/details/b29309013
  5. John Tidd Pratt, The History of Savings Banks in England, Wales, and Ireland (1830), p. 124.archive.org/details/historysavingsb01pratgoog
  6. John Tidd Pratt, The History of Savings Banks in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland (1842), pp. 22–3 and Appendix No. 4.archive.org/details/historysavingsb00pratgoog
  7. Illustrated London News, 25 February 1843.archive.org/details/sim_illustrated-london-news_1843-02-25_2_43
  8. The Bankers’ Magazine, vol. 6, December 1846, p. 159.archive.org/details/sim_bankers-insurance-managers-and-agents-magazine_1846-12_6
  9. The Bankers’ Magazine, vol. 9, May 1849, p. 299.archive.org/details/sim_bankers-insurance-managers-and-agents-magazine_1849-05_9
  10. The Bankers’ Magazine, vol. 21, January 1861, p. 49.archive.org/details/sim_bankers-insurance-managers-and-agents-magazine_1861-01_21
  11. The Economist, 11 February 1882.archive.org/details/sim_economist_1882-02-11_40_2007
  12. The Economist, 9 May 1942.archive.org/details/sim_economist_1942-05-09_142_5150
  13. The Banker, June 1942, p. 122.archive.org/details/sim_banker_1942-06_62_197
  14. H. Oliver Horne, A History of Savings Banks (1947), pp. 111, 143, 373, 376.archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.189991
  15. Report from the Select Committee on Savings Banks, 1857–58, evidence of W. N. Wortley.archive.org/details/reportfromselect0000grea_g3c6
  16. The Letters of Charles Dickens, Pilgrim Edition, vol. 4 (1977), p. 385n.archive.org/details/lettersofcharles0004dick
  17. Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, vol. III, July 1840, p. 217.archive.org/details/civilengineerarc03lond
  18. Historic England, National Heritage List entry 1209479.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1209479
  19. W. J. Pinks, The History of Clerkenwell (2nd edn, 1881), p. 177.archive.org/details/b24863944
  20. Ian Nairn, Nairn’s London (1966).archive.org/details/nairnslondon0000iann
  21. Nikolaus Pevsner, London, except the Cities of London and Westminster (1952).archive.org/details/londonexceptciti0000niko
  22. The 1844 edition of this page (the bank’s 1844 woodcut; the 2021 entrance lettering).finsburybankforsavings.com, the 1844 edition