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Record attendance at our 168th Annual General Meeting

29 Mar 2018

3 min read

 Added: 29 March 2018

Ipswich Building Society attracts record attendance at its 168th Annual General Meeting with BBC Countryfile’s Adam Henson

Ipswich Building Society held its 168th Annual General Meeting on 28 March 2018 at Trinity Park, Ipswich. The event saw a record audience, with 633 members in attendance.

The Annual General Meeting, which was hosted by the Society’s CEO, Richard Norrington and recently appointed Chairman, Alan Harris, continues to attract record numbers having seen the audience rise from 500 in 2017, and 250 in 2016. Last year, Ipswich Building Society had the highest member attendance in the building society sector, when comparing AGM attendees to total membership figures.

As a mutual, Ipswich Building Society operates to put the interests of its members first. Through its industry leading All In membership programme, members are encouraged to have a say in how the Society is run, and are granted access to special events, exclusive experiences and local discounts with specially selected partners.  The AGM and member event, which is part of this unique membership proposition, gives members an opportunity to hear about the Society’s performance, as well as its priorities for the year ahead.

This year’s guest speaker was Adam Henson, star of BBC’s Countryfile and one of the UK’s best known farmers whose Cotswold Farm Park pioneers rare breed conservation. Adam spoke to the audience about how he is working to spread the story of food and farming, encouraging people to buy British and understand where their food comes from. In his work with rare breeds Adam also entertained members with stories of how his animals have been used in film and television, including a memorable appearance of a pair of oxen, along with Adam himself, in the 1995 film Braveheart.

For Ipswich Building Society’s CEO, Richard Norrington, the AGM marked his first financial year in charge of the Society. Speaking to the audience, Richard spoke about the strengths he has seen at the Society over the past year, and addressed its responsibility as a mutual to remain accountable to its members, keeping their satisfaction at the core of its strategy. He also addressed a year of growth in mortgage assets, having been able to strengthen its proposition for mortgage members through continued individual underwriting:

“Over the past year, we were really pleased to be able to extend what is known as our Mortgage Misfits offering to zero hour contract workers who experienced difficulty when attempting to access the mainstream mortgage market. In addition to this, we maintained a strong and consistent level of performance, having had growth in mortgage assets and customer satisfaction which led us towards the launch of two new branches at the beginning of this year.”

Chairman Alan Harris said “Despite a backdrop of changes and uncertainty throughout the UK economy in 2017, Ipswich Building Society achieved some very pleasing results. Mortgage assets increased by £44 million to £521 million and savings balances which support this mortgage growth also grew by £26 million to £567 million. We were able to further strengthen our relationships with mortgage intermediaries, and this was all underpinned by a strengthened Enterprise Risk Management Framework.”

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