The Scottish National Investment Bank is a Scottish state-owned

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

and national development bank based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. Although referred to as a bank, it does not do normal banking operations nor accepts deposits. The bank uses public money to fund commercial projects across Scotland with the hope that this seed capital will encourage further private investment, to help develop a fairer, more sustainable economy. £2 billion of taxpayers money is earmarked for the bank. The bank is a public corporation, with the only shareholder being the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

. It reports to the

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government (), commonly referred to as the Finance Secretary, is a member of the Cabinet in the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Secretary has Ministerial responsibility for the Scottish Government's ...

History

The bank was announced in September 2017 in the

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) sin ...

's 2017 Programme for Government. Benny Higgins was appointed as a strategic adviser, to oversee the organisation launching. In February 2018 an implementation plan was launched. The bill was introduced by Cabinet Secretary for Finance,

Derek Mackay Derek Mackay (born 1977) is a former Scottish politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work from 2016 to 2020. A former member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) ...

MSP. The Scottish National Investment Bank Act 2020 was passed by Parliament received royal assent in February 2020. The act legally obliged Scottish Ministers to establish a National Investment Bank for Scotland as both a public body as a publicly limited company, independent of the Scottish Government. The act states that "primary goal is to help Scotland transition to net-zero carbon emissions, while supporting small and medium-size enterprises."The bank was formally launched in November 2020. In February 2022 Eilidh MacTaggart left the bank as Chief Executive. First Minister

was questioned about the departure in the Scottish Parliament. The departure coincided with the publication of the Scottish Government's National Strategy for Economic Transformation which would direct the focus of future investments made by the bank. Ms MacTaggart subsequently insisted she left the bank for personal reasons, and received £117,500 having to work her notice period under the terms of her contract. In April 2023, Al Denholm was appointed Chief Executive. As of May 2025, the bank had committed £712.7 million in investments.

Portfolio

References

{{Scottish Government Nationalised Industries 2020 establishments in Scotland Banks of Scotland Public corporations of the Scottish Government

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Government-owned banks

History

Portfolio

See also

References