Yorkshire Building Society upbeat about long-term despite drop in profits

Yorkshire Building Society believes it has increased its financial strength despite a year in which it faced strong competition pressures.

The mutual had £1bn growth in both mortgages and savings and increased its customer satisfaction rating.

However, just as its rivals Leeds and Skipton reported yesterday, its pre-tax profits were down – falling 13% to £167.2m.

Mike Regnier, Yorkshire Building Society group’s chief executive, said: “I’m pleased to report another good set of results. Not only have we increased our financial strength, to support the long-term sustainability of the Society, but we’ve also made excellent progress against our strategic plan.”

That plan has seen the Society reduce costs by £20m, launch a new platform that simplifies the application process for brokers, relaunch its commercial lending business under the YBS brand, and and achieve compliance with new payment services regulations.

Regnier added: “As a mutual, keeping costs down is a key focus for us. Using members’ money wisely and ensuring that we are focused on our core mortgage and savings business enables us to deliver against our purpose of providing real help with real lives.”

It helped more than 49,000 people into a home in 2019, and it paid out £95m in “additional interest”, by paying an average savings rate that is 0.34% higher than the market average.