# Arbuthnot Latham

Arbuthnot Latham & Co. Limited is a British private and merchant bank headquartered in London, England. It is the principal subsidiary of Arbuthnot Banking Group plc, which trades on the Alternative Investment Market under the stock symbol ARBB. Founded in 1833, it has the status of one of the 12 accepting houses.

## History

Arbuthnot Latham was founded on 13 May 1833 by Alfred Latham and John A. Arbuthnot at 33 Great St Helen's, Lime Street (near The Gherkin) in the City of London. Originally starting as a general merchant business, it soon began involving itself in finance and lending operations.
In 1981 the Arbuthnot family's involvement with the bank ended, with its purchase by Dow Scandia; a consortium majority owned by the Dow Chemical Company. It was at this time that Henry Angest joined the bank. Shortly afterwards, Dow had sold Arbuthnot Latham.
By 1990, the business had had four separate owners and the Arbuthnot Latham name had been retired. After successfully leading the management buyout of Secure Homes (later renamed Secure Trust), Henry Angest acquired Arbuthnot Fund Managers (and thereby the Arbuthnot Latham name) in 1991, and then in 1994 acquired Aitken Hume Bank for an estimated £3.2million. In August 1994, Aitken Hume Bank was renamed Arbuthnot Latham & Co.

## Operations

Arbuthnot Latham focuses on three primary businesses practices: Private Banking, Commercial Banking, and Wealth Management.

### Private banking

Arbuthnot's Private Banking business is structured as follows:
* Executives & Entrepreneurs
* Sports, Media & Entertainment
* Specialist
* Treasury
Arbuthnot Latham Manchester, which has a large private banking client book, grew its balance sheet from £20m in 2016 to over £300m in 2021.

### Commercial banking

Arbuthnot's Commercial Banking business is structured as follows:
* Lending Solutions
* Buy to Let
* Real Estate Finance
* Media
* Specialists
* Asset Based Lending
* Arbuthnot Specialist Finance
* Renaissance Asset Finance
In 2019, Arbuthnot Latham was the winner of City A.M.'s Bank of the Year award (originally known as the Retail Bank of the Year award), beating Monzo, OakNorth, Barclays, and Credit Suisse.

### Wealth management

Arbuthnot's Wealth Management business is structured as follows:
* Investment Management
* Wealth Planning
* Retirement Planning
In November 2020, Arbuthnot's Investment arm one WealthBriefing MENA Awards for Excellence "Best Private Bank – Discretionary Fund Management (DFM) Offering" award.

## Locations

For the entirety of its existence, Arbuthnot Latham (including its predecessor companies) have been headquartered in the City of London. From 2004 to 2014, Arbuthnot was based in Ropemaker Street; one of the former ‘rope walks’ that existed on the outskirts of medieval London. The location Arbuthnot chose to base itself during this period was very close to the City's skyscraper, CityPoint. In 2014, Arbuthnot Latham acquired the freehold of a property in Wilson Street, in the Bishopsgate area of the City, and moved its headquarters to that location.
Outside of its Central London footprint, Arbuthnot Latham currently has offices in Gatwick, Manchester, Exeter, and Bristol. Until 2021, Arbuthnot had an international office based in the International Financial Centre in Dubai. The closure of this office was partially attributed to the collapse in Arbuthnot's earnings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Details

The bank is part of the "Arbuthnot Banking Group" (previously known as Secure Trust Banking Group), which is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM); it was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange. It offers banking, investment management and wealth planning services to both high net worth private individuals and commercial clients.