Editor's take: The new sense of hope around Scotland's banking sector

If the mood surrounding Scotland's banking sector going into to 2009 was one of trepidation, following a torrid end to 2008, the eventual battering dished out to its international reputation and its workforce would have left even the pessimists thinking they'd been overly cheery.

Noble, the Edinburgh investment bank, dished out the final blow to 'brand Scotland' in December after its acquisition by brokerage firm Execution sees its HQ move to London. This is after its two main banks - RBS and Lloyds Banking Group - witnessed a power shift towards the City.

But, as we enter 2010, there's a new sense of optimism slowly gaining ground. RBS's share price has already increased by 20% since the beginning of this (admittedly from a low starting point) and banking analysts are increasingly bullish about its prospects.

Lloyds has also begun building a significant new company division in Scotland in a bid to shed to the risky reputation of Bank of Scotland Corporate, and it expects to win new clients. Its credit team will also be based north of the border

"It is often overlooked that many Scottish businesses are demonstrating growth and have strategies in place to come out of the recession with strong balance sheets and business models," said Fraser Sime the newly appointed head of business development at the bank.

Before his testimony to Holyrood's ongoing banking enquiry, MP John McFall said that Scotland should stop "beating itself up" over the demise of HBOS and RBS and instead focus on attracting new banking players north of the border.

Here too, moves by both Virgin Bank and Tesco Personal Finance to increase their presence in the UK banking sector could benefit Scotland's banking industry and create new opportunities for the thousands of financial sector workers turfed out north of the border in 2009.

But while initial signs of an improvement are positive, it's a still little too early for banks to start patting themselves on the back.

Clydesdale chief operating officer David Thornburn provided a timely reminder how we arrived at this situation in the first place, why the bank had managed to fair better than its Scottish contemporaries throughout the crisis. It has laid off just 75 people in Scotland, after all.

Extolling the traditional Scottish banking virtues of prudency and criticising the "aggressive" lending practices of RBS and HBOS, he said: "The Clydesdale is a very traditional, conservative banking operation. It hasn't ever really strayed away from its roots."