After a positive year for the Society, we’re pleased to report on our financial results for the year ending 30 November 2018. Despite the uncertain economic and political landscape with Brexit looming large on the horizon, the Society reports a profitable year and remains fully focused on providing long term sustainable value to our members, while investing further in our branch network.
Key numbers for the year include:
- Total profit (before tax) of £3.3m (2017: £3.1m)
- Mortgage asset growth of £15m, to £536m (2017: £521m)
- Savings balance growth of £5m, taking overall deposits to a record £572m (2017: £567m)
- Total regulatory capital £37m (2017: £34m)
This year saw the introduction of our later life range, a collection of mortgage products specifically designed for borrowers aged 50 and over. Our manual approach to underwriting enables applications to be considered on an individual basis, and demonstrates acknowledgement for the diverse lifestyle arrangements and incomes that later life borrowers have.
While many banks and financial providers continue to announce high street closures, we’ve invested in our branch network with the relocation of premises in Woodbridge and the opening of Mutual House, our flagship branch in the heart of Ipswich.
The Board of Directors has welcomed several new additions throughout the year including Fiona Ryder as Non-Executive Director, Trevor Slater as Finance Director, and Ian Brighton who was promoted internally to Operations Director.
The Society has also demonstrated its commitment to gender diversity in the workplace by signing up to the UK’s HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter. The current Board has a 30 per cent female representation pleasingly exceeding the recommended target of 25 per cent outlined in the Davie Report.
Alan Harris, Chairman, commented on the results:
“The UK’s forthcoming exit from the European Union continues to dominate the economic landscape, creating a highly competitive mortgage market. In response to this, we have continued to develop and offer a varied range of innovative and accessible products designed in the best interest of our members. While we anticipate wider economic changes, we are confident that through our business model and the additional business controls we have in place that the Society will remain secure and largely unaffected during these uncertain times.
“Our mutual model enables us to put our members at the heart of everything we do, therefore a key strategic objective is to ensure we have knowledgeable, highly skilled and engaged staff across the Society, to deliver a great experience. I believe that the new introductions to the Board will bring immeasurable value to the Society and support our commitment to helping our members achieve their long-term financial goals.
“We have always placed high value on our relationships with our intermediary partners. This year we made several developments to our broker proposition, clearly defining how we can help serve their mortgage clients and we are delighted to see that our excellent broker satisfaction rating has improved further as a result.”
Additional highlights from the last year:
Savings: continued offering of children’s accounts, ISAs, instant access and bonds through to charity support accounts. An enhanced savings proposition will be developed over the next two years with a focus on both digital and face-to-face services.
Member satisfaction: member satisfaction levels and Net Promoter Score (NPS) both remain exceptionally high, with scores of 98.6% and 83 respectively.
AGM: Record attendance at the Annual General Meeting, with 633 members attending (27% increase from 2017).
Community Matters: ongoing support and nurturance of Suffolk communities with over 835 volunteering hours donated by employees; 515 hours were spent in schools, colleges and prisons delivering our bespoke financial education programmes.
Lending: improved offering for borrowers building or remortgaging a property using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and the launch of a new remortgaging deal for those with shared ownership properties.
