Heritable+Securities

=[|The Heritable Securities and Mortgage Investment Association Ltd]=

Company Number: SC000668 Date of Incorporation: 20 April 1876 Contact Details: Standard Life House, 30 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2DH Operating Details: Active, but accounts listed as dormant by Company House. Subsidiary company of Standard Life. Other names (if known): Function of Company*: Other financial intermediation (6523) Headquarters/Base of Operations Location: Area of Operation:


 * Taken from Standard Industrial Classification 2003, as used by Companies House in 2010

Records
Held By: Privately held. Catalogue available at the [|National Register of Archives for Scotland], NRAS 3494/10

Scope/type: Minute books 1876-1981; Ledgers 1876-1970; Journals 1915-197; Cash books 1918-1955; Seal books 1936-1982; Registers 1882-1938; Legal Papers 1876-1958; Miscellaneous promotional material and correspondence (1891 onwards)

Conditions governing access/use: These records are held privately, and their access is restricted. All enquiries should be addressed to The Registrar, National Register of Archives for Scotland, HM General Register House, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY

Related records: Sub-fonds of NRAS 3494, records of The Standard Life Assurance Company, Edinburgh

Company History
The Insurance Company of Scotland, whose function primarily involved the transaction of the fire insurance business, was founded in Edinburgh in 1821. However, by 1825 shareholders had decided to establish a subsidiary life company under the title of The Life Insurance Company of Scotland. This was the original name of today's Standard Life Assurance Company. By 1831 the former two companies, previously housed under one roof, separated with the Life Insurance Company of Scotland moving to new premises. It was in 1832 that the name Standard Life Assurance Company first appeared, due to the passing of an Act of Parliament. By 1837 Standard Life had moved to 3 George Street in Edinburgh which offered more potential for expansion, confirmed when plots 1 and 5 had been purchased and the corner block had been completely rebuilt. However, the acquisition of larger premises was not the only outward sign of growth that has elevated Standard Life to the position of largest mutual life company in the ECC.

Initially expansion in the home market was encouraged by the strategic placing of local boards of directors in major Scottish towns but was accelerated by the acquisition of several companies such as Experience in 1850, East of Scotland in 1852, Minerva in 1866 and eventually Heritable Securities in 1934.

The Heritable was a modest sized mortgage company with assets of just under £400,000, mostly invested in small property developments and commercial developments in Glasgow. It was acquired by Standard Life so it could use its expertise in the field of mortgage negotiation to open up more business in the field of House purchasing: Standard Life even set aside £2.5 million for the scheme. However by the outbreak of the Second World War, only £250,000 had been drawn by the Heritable from Standard Life.

The Heritable came into its own in the post war years. By 1950 loans to the company from Standard Life had leapt to £4 million, and mortgages account to 9 % of the business by 1951, reflecting Standard Life’s policy of committing to mortgage investment. This policy remained in place throughout until the 1970s, and Standard Life (via the Heritable) was often willing to give loans on old property. By 1972 advances from the main company reached £77 million, much of it new business generated by staff at the ground level.

However from 1972 it was decided that the Heritable would no longer transact new mortgage business, and would remain an instrument for conducting loans to staff only. This business was subsequently wound down, although the name remains registered with Companies House.

Please See Michael Moss, Standard Life 1825-2000 (Edinburgh; Mainstream Publishing 2000) for more detail

Information supplied by and used with permission of the NRAS