{"id":4710,"date":"2019-05-24T09:39:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T09:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/beverley-building-society-balances-strong-profits-with-member-value\/"},"modified":"2019-05-24T10:40:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T10:40:08","slug":"beverley-building-society-balances-strong-profits-with-member-value","status":"publish","type":"good-news","link":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/good-news\/beverley-building-society-balances-strong-profits-with-member-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Beverley Building Society balances strong profits with member value"},"content":{"rendered":"
We're today announcing a positive set of annual results, which reflect its intention to continue investing in enhancing the personal service our members value so highly.<\/span><\/b>\r\n\r\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n2018 saw the Society continue a positive five-year trend of solid pre-tax profit \u2013 enabling us to retain strong reserves for our members\u2019 benefit while returning value directly to our savers and investing in developing the Society so that it can continue to look after members\u2019 financial interests for many years to come.<\/span>\r\n\r\n <\/span>\r\n\r\nPre-tax profits exceeded expectations at \u00a3473k, enabling us to maintain strong reserves to further protect our savers' financial security.  Significant strategic investments, including our new Beverley Online portal, new branding and a reward for all our savers as we passed on the full benefit of the Bank of England base rate increase, meant that profits were down from last year\u2019s levels (2017: \u00a3680k).<\/span>\r\n\r\n <\/span>\r\n\r\nWe walked our members through its positive performance at its recent AGM, which also saw new Chairman Stuart Purdy being officially welcomed on board and the Society\u2019s new branding \u2013 with the new strapline \u2018Building Better Futures\u2019 revealed.<\/span>\r\n\r\n <\/span>\r\n\r\nOf this year\u2019s positive financial outcomes, Chief Executive Karl Elliott said: \u201cBeing a mutual, for us, is about performing well enough to sustain strong reserves for our members\u2019 peace of mind, while having enough left over to invest in the ongoing development of the business, to maintain the straightforward, good value products and outstanding service they value so highly.<\/span>\r\n\r\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cI am pleased to say that we have continued to do just that \u2013 while being one of the only financial institutions to reflect the Bank of England\u2019s Base Rate rise across all our accounts in the Autumn.\"<\/span>\r\n\r\n <\/span>\r\n\r\nHighlights of our 2018 results:<\/span><\/b>\r\n\r\nSupporting our East Yorkshire community<\/span><\/b><\/pre>\n
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    Almost 85% of our savers and 60% of borrowers continue to be based in the East Yorkshire region;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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    Members visiting our branch voted to select \u2018Charities of the Month\u2019 from across the local region, with 12 winners, as diverse as the PetRespect animal charity and the Daisy Appeal, each receiving \u00a3250 during the year;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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    Contributing to local community life, we supported popular local venues and events, including East Riding Theatre, Driffield Agricultural Show, Beverley RUFC and the Beverley Food Festival;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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    We awarded a total of \u00a31,500 to help sustain vital transport service Beverley Community Lift;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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    And, with members\u2019 help, we raised over \u00a31,000 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance through our Tour de Yorkshire cycling challenge;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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    We also contribute to the economic vitality of the East Yorkshire region as a major employer with a commitment to using local suppliers wherever possible.<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    Strong platform for investment in growth<\/span><\/b><\/pre>\n
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      The Society\u2019s assets increased by 3% in 2018, to \u00a3191.4m, up from \u00a3185.5m in 2017;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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      Our total capital ratio (as a percentage of risk weighted assets (RWA) has increased consistently over the past five years, to 17.1% in 2018 compared to 16.1% in 2017 and 13.0% back in 2014. This is significantly above the minimum capital our regulator requires us to hold, at 9.48% and is an important measure of the Society\u2019s strength;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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      Our liquidity \u2013 the cash we use to meet our savings customers\u2019 needs and to lend on mortgages \u2013 increased to \u00a340.9m in 2018, from \u00a335.2m in 2017;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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      Our investments in new branding, our online mortgage broker portal and passing on benefits to our savers, resulted in a reduction in our Net Interest Margin to 1.26% from 1.30% in 2017;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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      Increased staff costs were also a factor in this year\u2019s results, our Chief Executive having been in post for a full year during the 2018 financial year. We continue to monitor costs carefully, and to have one of the lowest cost\/mean assets ratios in the sector, at <\/span>0.98 per cent or 98p in every \u00a3100 during 2018<\/span>;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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      Our policy is not to pay staff bonuses and, as a mutual, we do not pay shareholders\u2019 dividends either, meaning our profit is invested fully back into our reserves for members\u2019 benefit and to improve the Society\u2019s capital \u2013 a key measure of our financial strength;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      Rewarding our savers<\/span><\/b><\/pre>\n
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        Our decision to pass on the full Bank of England Base Rate increase to our members, resulted in inflows of \u00a35.6m into savers\u2019 balances during the year, taking our retail savings and deposits to \u00a3178.2m from \u00a3172.6m the previous year<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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        Our average savings rate increased by 0.30%, to 1.03% from 0.73%;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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        Having repaid our last tranche of subordinated debt during the year, the Society is now entirely funded by savers\u2019 deposits.<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        Helping homeowners<\/span><\/b><\/pre>\n
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          We continued to meet people\u2019s homeownership needs in line with our mutual purpose, by lending \u00a322.2m to borrowers during 2018, up 9%<\/span>, <\/span>from \u00a320.3m the previous year. <\/span>Overall lending was up by \u00a30.1m, to \u00a3149.4m in 2018, compared to \u00a3149.3m the previous year. This positive increase resulted from our personalised approach to underwriting and meeting people\u2019s niche borrowing needs \u2013 something we plan to build on in the coming year and beyond with our renewed focus on areas including self-build, self-employed, later-life and inter-family mortgages;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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          As a result of our exceptional service offering, we continued to retain over 80 per cent of mortgages reaching the end of their original offer;<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
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          In 2018, our mortgage impairment charge increased to \u00a378k from \u00a373k in 2017, primarily as a result of charges made on properties in possession. There were no new properties in possession during 2018, and the Society continues to take all necessary steps to help borrowers experiencing genuine difficulties, while minimising losses to the Society.<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          Karl added: \"'<\/span>Building Better Futures\u2019 is the strapline featured in our new branding, which we have unveiled this week. It signals our intent to remain true to our mutual purpose by continuing to return value to our members; providing face to face support and a genuine listening ear in an increasingly automated era to help people achieve their financial aspirations, and looking for new ways in which to contribute to the vitality and economic vibrancy of the communities where our members live and work.\u201d<\/span><\/pre>\n
           <\/span><\/p>\n
          \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
          We're today announcing a positive set of annual results, which reflect its intention to continue investing in enhancing the personal service our members value so highly. 2018","protected":false},"author":12312795,"featured_media":4709,"template":"","good_news_category":[7],"class_list":["post-4710","good-news","type-good-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","good_news_category-achievement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/good-news\/4710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/good-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/good-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12312795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/good-news\/4710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4711,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/good-news\/4710\/revisions\/4711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"good_news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/good_news_category?post=4710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}