West Brom customers to have a greater say in its affairs
The West Brom, the 7th largest Building Society in the UK, with around 430,000 members and over 750 staff, is setting up a Member Council for the first time since its foundation in 1849, a significant move for the business which offers its members a full range of retail banking, mortgage, savings and investment products, with current assets in excess of £5bn.
The new Member Council will comprise 15 people, and will meet on a quarterly basis with the current management team and board of directors, to better inform them of the views of the society’s members. Anyone who has a savings account or a mortgage with the society, for more than one year, and is over 16 year of age, can apply to become a member of the council, whose first meeting is planned for January 2019.
West Brom’s CEO, Jaonathan Westhoff said:”There is growing expectation for business to build strong relationships with key stakeholders and use their insight to influence strategic thinking and decision making. For a building society, where our customers effectively own the business, this deeper level of engagement is arguably even more important.”
“We already have a number of initiatives in place to gather feedback about our products and customer service. The Member Council however will take things much further by acting in a consultative capacity and making a genuine difference to gthe way we operate.”
In order to ensure that all relevant voices are heard by management and the board, a similar group is being created for the society’s employees, which will run in tandem with the new Member Council, in order to capture a wide and diverse range of opinions and views.
The West Brom has significant geographical reach, so as well as being the biggest building society in the Black Country, its 37 branches extend into Birmingham, parts of Shropshire and mid-Wales.
