West Bromwich BS in rescue plan
It is understood that the West Bromwich Building Society is to be rescued within days after weeks of speculation about its future.
However, savers and mortgage borrowers have been assured that it’s business as usual since the rescue will not affect customers.
There were talks last month that the country’s eighth largest building society was in rescue talks after it was reported that the Financial Services Authority was seeking a bidder for the mutual.
At the time, the 160-year-old institution denied it was on the verge of collapse and said it was “well capitalised” and “able to meet all its obligations in full”.
However, the society has now said it is “advanced discussions” over a debt deal to strengthen its balance sheet.
The financial institution employs more than 800 staff in 46 branches and has approximately 350,000 customers.
Concerns over the future of building societies came to light earlier this year after Scotland’s Dunfermline Building Society was hastily taken over by Nationwide at the end of March.
Furthermore, Cheshire and Derbyshire building societies have been swallowed up by Nationwide, while Britannia Building Society is in the process of merging with Co-operative Financial Services, as are Scarborough and Skipton.
Meanwhile, in April, Moody’s downgraded the credit ratings of nine building societies, due to concerns they will be hit by losses due to the housing market slump.
The long-term outlook for the West Bromwich was downgraded from an A- to a BBB+. However, the society maintains that it remains “a safe and secure home for members’ savings”.
The society is due to report its annual figures early next week and huge losses are expected.
Comments (1)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Visited 3409 times, 1 so far today
“Britannia Building Society is in the process of merging with Co-operative Financial Services, as are Scarborough and Skipton.”
Scarborough and Skipton merged two months ago?