Sustainable success as challenger bank delivers solid set of results

Paul Ellis

Ecology Building Society has delivered another year of solid results which it said “continues more than 30 years of uninterrupted profitability” with record assets and savings balances for 2016.

The Yorkshire-based society offers a range of savings accounts that fund mortgages for properties and projects which support individuals and communities to adopt environmental building practices and improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s building stock.

For the year to December 31, 2016, it recorded assets of £173.1m (2015: £145.9m) with a strong asset growth rate of 18.59% (2015: 5.85%).

Gross lending stood at £30.7m (2015: £42.1m) while the society saw a surge in savings balances to £163.1m (2015: £134.7m) and an increase in net profit to £920,000 (2015: £881,000).

In 2016 Ecology lent more than £30.7m for sustainable properties and projects, with 94% of mortgages advanced on residential properties, including new builds, renovations and shared ownership, and 6% on community-led housing, including charities, housing co-operatives and community businesses.

Chief executive Paul Ellis said: “Our financial success is based on sticking to our core principles: thinking long-term, putting our members first and focussing on our social and environmental impact.

“Our priority for 2017 is to continue to grow our mortgage book, particularly supporting more and more people to renovate their homes to a high environmental standard.”

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