Yorkshire Building Society
| File:Yorkshire Building Society.svg | |
| Building Society (Mutual) | |
| Industry | Financial Services |
| Founded | 1864 |
| Headquarters | Bradford, West Yorkshire, England |
|
Key people
|
Chris Pilling, Chief Executive |
| Products | Savings, mortgages, investments, insurance |
| £157 million GBP (December 2012) | |
| Total assets | [1] |
|
Number of employees
|
4,100 (2013) [1] |
| Website | www.ybs.co.uk |
The Yorkshire Building Society is the second largest building society in the UK,[2] with its headquarters in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. With assets of approximately £33 billion.
Contents
Background
In 1864 the Huddersfield Equitable Permanent Benefit Building Society was founded in Huddersfield, and expansion through a series of agreed mergers, predominantly with the Bradford Permanent Building Society in 1975, has seen it evolve into the national building society that it is today. The current name came into use in 1982, following the merger of the Huddersfield & Bradford Building Society and the West Yorkshire Building Society. The Yorkshire also has a mortgage subsidiary company, Accord. In August 2011 it announced that it was closing its offshore subsidiary, Yorkshire Guernsey.
Despite changes in the industry in recent years, the Yorkshire remains as one of the major mutual building societies in Britain - a review in 1995 confirmed that their mutual status was important to them, so that they remain answerable to their members, rather than outside shareholders.
The Yorkshire currently provides financial services both directly and through a 224-strong branch network and 94 associated agencies across the UK. It is a member of the Building Societies Association.
Mergers and acquisitions
The Yorkshire took over the Sussex-based Haywards Heath Building Society in 1992, in an effort to develop a southern based branch presence. In 2001, the Society merged with the Gainsborough Building Society.
In 2008, the Yorkshire merged with the Barnsley Building Society which had become a victim of the Icelandic banking crisis. After learning lessons from previous mergers, and with the Barnsley being a larger organisation with a well-established brand, the Yorkshire decided to keep the Barnsley brand in order to keep existing customers and use it as another route to market their products.
In 2009, Yorkshire noted that they were in advanced merger talks with Chelsea Building Society.[3] The following day it was announced that they were to merge.[4] The merger with Chelsea Building Society, which also retains its own branding, was completed in 2010.
The ninth largest building society at the time, Norwich and Peterborough, entered into merger discussions with the Society on 19 March 2011.[5][6] Following due diligence by the Yorkshire board,[7] N&P members voted in favour of the proposal on 22 August.[8] FSA approval followed on 23 September[9] and the transfer of engagements was completed on 1 November.[10] With almost no geographical overlap, the N&P name is retained as a separate and distinct brand.[11]
On 25 July 2011, the Yorkshire announced it was buying the Egg savings and mortgage business from Citi in a deal worth £2.5 billion.[12] Use of the Egg trade marks by Yorkshire Building Society is currently under licence from Egg Banking Plc which provides any residual Egg savings products that were not transferred to the Yorkshire and any Egg loans products that were not sold to Britannica Recoveries S.a.r.l.
Present day
The Yorkshire today forms the core of the Yorkshire Building Society Group, which comprises; Chelsea Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, Barnsley Building Society, Accord Mortgages, and Egg Banking. All brands (except Egg), have a distinctive and active presence in the UK. Collectively the group employs 4,100 staff throughout the UK and services 3.5 million members.[13]
Brass band
In 1993 the former Hammonds Sauce Works Band was renamed as the Yorkshire Building Society Band. The building society supported the main band and also the YBS Hawley Band and YBS Juniors.[14] The building society ceased its sponsorship in December 2004 although the YBS initials were retained in its name until 2008.[15] From January 2009 the band was renamed the Hammonds Saltaire Band.[16]
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Key Statistics Extract from BSA Yearbook 2011/12
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Yorkshire eyes merger with rival society BBC News, 18 March 2011
- ↑ Wachman, Richard Yorkshire building society in merger talks with Norwich and Peterborough The Guardian, 19 March 2011
- ↑ Yorkshire and N&P building societies to merge BBC News, 20 April 2011
- ↑ Members agree Yorkshire and N&P building societies merger BBC News, 22 August 2011
- ↑ FSA confirms Norwich & Peterborough Building Society merger with the Yorkshire Building Society Financial Services Authority, FSA/PN/081/2011, 23 September 2011
- ↑ Dickson, Annabelle Norwich and Peterborough Building Society merger complete Norwich Evening News, 1 November 2011
- ↑ Joint Announcement Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, 20 April 2011
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External links
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