Isle of Man Bank celebrated its 150th year serving the local community on Friday. The bank, which opened its doors for the first time on 1st November 1865, said that it wouldn’t have been able to celebrate the milestone without the support from their customers and the wider Isle of Man Community.

To mark the occasion, Isle of Man Bank hosted a thank you evening for a number of customers, past and present colleagues and guests from the Isle of Man community. Visitors at the event were taken on a journey through their banking history which included old pictures, timelines and memorabilia.

An animation was also projected on the outside of their Athol Street building during the evening and in the lead up to the event so that the whole Island can celebrate this anniversary with them.

Bill Shimmins, Managing Director, Isle of Man Bank said:

“We wouldn’t be able to celebrate such a significant milestone without our customers and the support from the wider community and for that, we thank you. If you look at how banking has changed over the years, we really have been on a remarkable journey, but what has not changed is our determination to support our customers achieve their ambitions. We look forward to what we hope will be another 150 years.”

The bank also celebrated this achievement by carrying out improvements at Ballaugh Forest in September, which included planting 1,150 new trees and creating a nature trail at a community tree planting and educational family fun day. As the first registered company in the Isle of Man, the bank has also featured on some stamps created by Isle of Man Post, to celebrate 150 years of the Isle of Man's first Companies Act.

Photo - One of the bank's longest serving colleague Juan Cottier and one of their newest recruits Rachael Coates.