WHEN Graeme Hartop, chief executive of Hampden & Co, sat down to be interviewed by The Herald earlier this year, he highlighted how “refreshing” it was to work for a lender that is focused on providing a “high quality, traditional banking service” to its clients.

It is a sentiment, it would seem, that is being welcomed as much by the private bank’s 2,000 clients, not to mention its expanding team of seasoned personnel.

The Edinburgh institution’s first full year of accounts, unveiled by Mr Hartop to investors at is annual meeting yesterday, tell a story of growing balance sheet strength, and the continuing expansion of the bank’s loan and deposit book. Client deposits had risen to £143 million from £30m by December 31, and today stand at more than £200m as the bank celebrates its second anniversary.

That Hampden, which became the first private bank to open in the UK in 30 years when it launched in 2015, is attracting deposits and customers in big numbers illustrates just how prized its traditional, tailored banking approach is by clients.

It is a service that is perhaps all the more welcome given that major high street banks have retrenched from areas such as wealth management in recent years as they have slimmed down operations to cut costs.

And it has also provided a career path for some of the country’s most experienced banking practitioners. Mr Hartop, a former managing director of Scottish Widows Bank, said he continues to receive a steadily flow of CVs from talented bankers looking for work, many of whom have become disillusioned with life at the bigger lenders.

More broadly, Hampden’s progress, and indeed that of Shawbrook which recently accepted an £868 million takeover bid, shows that is possible for so-called challenger banks to find emerge and thrive, even in this ultra-low interest rate environment.