Ibestad Sparebank was founded in 1843 to offer financial services to fishermen and, as stated in most of the plans for savings banks from that period, "...to accept Money from Persons of both Genders, especially from Working People and those in Service, and render these Sums fruitful for the Owners through the Payment of Interest and by adding Interest to Capital".

When it was built, Ibestad Sparebank was the first bank in a rural community in Northern Norway

only Tromsø Sparebank had been established previously. Because of the tower in the middle of the building, parallels have often been drawn with Austråttborgen, the old manor house in the municipality of Ørland in Sør-Trøndelag. Not long after the bank had moved into its new building, it fell into difficulties, and in 1912 Ibestad Sparebank was obliged to stop payments. "The Old Bank" has in later years been used as a place of entertainment, serving as an inn and offering accommodation.