The Edinburgh Stock Exchange was established in 1844. Not to be confused with the Edinburgh Royal Exchange.

Formation

Shares were first dealt in the city around 1825. The Edinburgh Stock Exchange was established in 1844, when seven

broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

s met on 16 December 1844 to establish an exchange, recognising the increasing size of the industry. The rival Edinburgh and Leith Commercial and Stock Exchange was founded the following year by traders who did not wish to or could not comply with the rules of the Edinburgh Stock Exchange, such as a requirement to be a resident of Edinburgh, and to be nominated by two members to be admitted to the exchange. The two bodies merged in 1856. The founding of the stock exchange coincided with the development of the

financial industry Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

within the city, such as the establishment of the Society of Accountants in 1853 and the Actuarial Society of Edinburgh in 1859.

Premises

The Edinburgh Stock Exchange was originally located in a "front room flat" at No. 71 Princes Street, but quickly moved to South St. David Street. After a turn in the fortunes of the business, smaller premises were sought, but after a recovery new premises were being sought by 1870, and the exchange moved to Craigie Hall in 1874, before returning to South St. David Street in 1880. In 1888 a new building was constructed on the site, which stood until it was replaced by a modern one in 1966.

Merging

In 1964, the Edinburgh,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and Dundee stock exchanges came together to form the

Scottish Stock Exchange The Scottish Stock Exchange was a stock exchange which started trading on 2 January 1964 following a merger of the four main stock exchanges in Scotland: the Edinburgh Stock Exchange, Glasgow Stock Exchange, Dundee Stock Exchange, and Aberdeen ...

, while still continuing to trade locally in each city, but with Glasgow as the main branch. The Scottish Stock Exchange was closed in 1973, resulting in the closure of the Edinburgh Stock Exchange offices. More than three-quarters of Scottish bank shares were traded at the Edinburgh exchange, although the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

, the

Caledonian Bank Caledonian is a geographical term used to refer to places, species, or items in or from Scotland, or particularly the Scottish Highlands. It derives from Caledonia, the Roman name for the area of modern Scotland. Caledonian is also used to refer t ...

and the City of Glasgow Bank were also listed at other Scottish exchanges. Share prices from the Edinburgh Stock Exchange were published in the ''

Edinburgh Evening Courant The ''Edinburgh Courant'' was a broadsheet newspaper from the 18th century. It was published out of Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Its first issue was dated February 14–19, 1705 and was sold for a penny. It was Scotland's first regional newsp ...

'' until 1886, then the ''

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by JPIMedia, which also ...

''.

New Edinburgh Stock Exchange

A new Edinburgh Stock Exchange, called SCOTEX, has been proposed for 2017/18 by a team of former traders from the US stock exchange Nasdaq, pending the outcome of an application to the Financial Conduct Authority. The proposed Stock Exchange would be a “Scots-50” index to rank Scotland's leading listed companies. This has been proposed in light of the UK's

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

vote, and the expectation of a further Scottish Independence Referendum, by 2019, which did not transpire.

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

Edinburgh Stock Exchange War Memorial
in

St Andrew's and St George's West Church St Andrew's and St George's West Church serves Edinburgh's New Town, in Scotland. It is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The parish today constitutes the whole of the First New Town of Edinburgh and a small part of the early-19th-centur ...

{{Edinburgh 1844 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Edinburgh Economy of Edinburgh Economic history of Scotland History of Edinburgh Organisations based in Edinburgh Organizations established in 1844 Financial services in Scotland 1971 disestablishments in Scotland Defunct organisations based in Scotland Former stock exchanges in the United Kingdom