Bath Building Society yesterday announced its annual results at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Bath. The Society’s assets rose by 6.8% to £270m, from £252.8m on the previous year, and it showed a 9.6% increase in its reserves from £17.0m to £18.7m year on year.
Pre-tax profits fell by 4.5% to £2.2m in 2012 (2011: £2.3m). Market conditions have once again proved challenging, characterised by a stuttering economy, weak demand for housing finance, flat house prices and continued levels of record-low interest rates.
Dick Jenkins, Chief Executive, said: “Our Mortgage book has grown by 5.2% in 2012 to £193.4m. This growth has largely been achieved through focusing on specialist segments of the market, such as Self-builders. In 2013 we will be turning our attention to the First Time Buyer (FTB) market and have started to generate real interest through our innovative approach to lending to this group.”
“We have increased our Savings book in 2012 from £234.5m to £250.1m; a rise of 6.7%. This reveals that we remain competitive in the market and are able to attract new savings accounts in these difficult times. At a time of very low rates we have tried to ensure that our Savings customers still have access to competitive accounts”.
“We are more determined than ever to demonstrate that we do things very differently to the major banks. Decent values and respect for our members have been at the core of our business for generations and will remain so going forward. A very good run of results in recent years which has continued into 2012, suggests that this different approach is being appreciated by our members”.
The Bath Building Society is the only independent Building Society with its headquarters in the South West. The Society is known for its involvement in the local communities it operates within through its sponsorship of events, corporate fundraising initiatives and its annual Charity Awards programme.
