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FINANCIAL STRENGTH - (May 2010) |
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Independent and mutual, Bath Building Society is amongst the smaller Societies in Britain, with assets of £252m as at the end of 2009. Size, however is not a good measure of a Society’s financial strength, and indeed, smaller Societies are showing the greatest levels of financial strength and resilience in current market conditions. Since the start of the financial crisis in 2007, Bath Building Society has made a priority of putting the safety of its customers first, and will continue to do so. The most reliable indicators of resilience in the current market are levels of capital and liquidity. Bath Building Society has a level of capital that is over 110% of its current capital guidance level, as set by the FSA. The Society’s capital is equivalent to 170% of its Basel 2, Pillar 1 capital requirement. The FSA’s capital guidance and the Basel 2 requirements are set to maintain the solvency of deposit takers such as banks and building societies. |
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The Society is directly regulated by the FSA and it holds FSA permissions to take deposits and give advice on regulated mortgages. It is regulated under exactly the same compliance regime as larger societies. Its external auditors are Deloitte & Touche LLP and it outsources its internal audit requirements to Mutual One Limited, a subsidiary company of the Skipton Building Society. It is a feature of the building society sector that only the top 10 or so societies have formal credit ratings. As such Bath Building Society does not have such a rating. Under the FSA’s regulatory regime, it does however have to hold a significant percentage of the total monies invested by its customers as liquid cash at all times. For example, it is currently managing over £65m of cash and other easily realisable liquid assets within its treasury department. This equates to just under 29% of all of its share and deposit investments. As part of the regulatory regime covering liquidity risk management, the Society also has to hold substantial lines of credit that it can call on in the event of high demands on short-term liquidity. The Society is almost entirely funded by private individuals who save with the Society through traditional retail channels, such as via its branch and agency network. It has very limited exposure to wholesale money markets. The Society continues to have a level of arrears half the level of the industry average. We continue to monitor arrears closely and work with borrowers on a one-by-one basis to find arrears solutions. As is common with most deposit takers, all of the Society’s share and deposit investors are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme under the standard rules of that scheme. In summary, Bath Building Society is a well regulated, well managed and well capitalised mutual organisation that has provided a secure home for its members’ savings for over 100 years. Contact: Bath Building Society, 15 Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2HN Telephone: 01225 423271 Bath Investment and Building Society is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (registration number 206026) |
 Click here for our historyClick here for a Message from Dick Jenkins, Chief ExecutiveClick here for the Bath Building Society Members ReviewClick here to meet some of the people at Bath Building SocietyClick here to meet our Non-Executive DirectorsClick here for community involvementClick here for branches and agencies Click here for our 'Up close and personal' articleClick here for the 'Lenders Handbook' for SolicitorsClick here to download a Standing Order Form (To make payments into your BBS account)Click here for information about Careers at Bath Building Society |
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Bath Building Society 2008. E&O.E (click here to view Legal Information and here for our Privacy Policy) |
