Sustainable success as challenger bank delivers solid results
Ecology Building Society has hailed a solid set of results, which it says continue more than 30 years of uninterrupted profitability, with record assets for 2017.
The Silsden-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 the end of December, it recorded assets of £178.7m (2016: £173.1m) and gross lending of £28.2 (2016: £30.7m).
Ecology reported a rise in savings balances to £167.8m (2016: £163.1m) while profit was maintained at £915,000 (2016: £920,000).
In 2017 Ecology lent over £28.2m for sustainable properties and projects, with 78% of mortgages advanced on residential properties, including new builds, renovations and shared ownership, and 22% on community-led housing including charities, community land trusts and housing co-operatives and non-residential properties such as sustainable businesses.
CEO Paul Ellis said: “Recent initiatives such as the report of the Government’s Green Finance Taskforce are positive signs of a growing interest in Ecology’s sustainable lending model, demonstrating how finance can support the transition to a low-carbon economy.
“We’ve been providing sustainable mortgages for more than thirty years, offering innovative discounts that incentivise the most energy efficient projects and properties. Our continued growth and success shows that finance that benefits both people and planet can be profitable.
“As well as supporting more and more people to renovate their homes to a high environmental standard, I’m particularly pleased that we have increased our lending for community-led housing solutions which are helping to tackle the housing and affordability crisis.
“We have a strong pipeline of lending opportunities which will enable us to continue to grow our mortgage book in 2018 while maintaining our commitment to our core principles of sustainability.”
Ellis continues to be the longest-serving CEO in the building society sector and during 2017 he celebrated 25 years at Ecology.
Since his appointment as chief executive in 1995 he has overseen an increase in assets of more than £150m.
