The number of customers in the savings bank Sparisjóður Höfðhverfinga, which has its headquarters in the village of Grenivík, northeast Iceland, and is 133 years old, more than doubled after a branch opened in the larger town Akureyri early this year.

Archive photo by Geir Ólafsson.

Many of the new customers are people whose savings banks have now been closed or merged with other banks, ruv.is reports.

“There are many families who have always traded with savings banks and were satisfied with the experience and there are also people turning to us who have never traded with a savings bank before but there is something about our bank that they like,” said Akureyri branch manager Örn Arnar Óskarsson.

There have been so many new customers since the branch opened that its facilities had to be enlarged and more employees hired.

Örn added that people are also keen on supporting local companies. “After the banking collapse people prefer trading with companies that are run by locals and owned by Icelanders.”

ESA