Alliance Trust

INVESTING FOR GENERATIONS A History of Alliance Trust Alliance Trust, one of Scotland's oldest and most interesting companies, began life in Dundee in 1888 as a mortgage company financing farmers in the American West. It inherited the business of several Dundee-based mortgage companies that had lent, wisely and unwisely, on large and small tracts of land in Oregon, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. It was an industry leader from the outset but, unlike some of the companies it had acquired, it soon built a reputation for stability and prudence. Despite the company discovering oil on some of the land that in owned in the USA, the economic difficulties of the inter-war years necessitated a change of business strategy. It made the transition from lending on mortgages to investing in securities. It enjoyed the boom years of the 1950s and 1960s, fought its way through the troubles of the 1970s and, when better times returned in the 1980s, it extended its reach, first into asset finance and then into retail savings and investment products. It remains the United Kingdom's largest generalist investment trust. Its history is the story of flexibility, patience, careful management and acting in the best interests of shareholders. Professor Charles W Munn, OBE, FCIBS is the author of several books on the history of financial institutions including Clydesdale Bank: The First 150 Years and Airdrie Savings Bank: A History. He is also co-author of Ethics, Integrity and Reputation, a handbook for bankers, and was associate editor of the Scottish Dictionary of Business Biography. Originally a Glasgow bank clerk, he spent 10 years teaching business history at the University of Glasgow before becoming Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, a position he held from 1988 to 2007. He has served as President of the European Bank Training Network and is currently a member of the boards of the Chartered Insurance Institute and of the European Financial Planning Association. He is an Honorary Professor of the Universities of Glasgow, Stirling and Dundee.