Building society posts record profits for second year
Silsden-based Ecology Building Society has reported a second successive year of record profits in its results for the year ending 31 December 2019.
The business recorded profit after tax of £1.073m (2018: £1.022m) and gross lending of £43.5m (2018: £38.4m).
It also reported total assets of £198m (2018: £177.9m) and a savings balances of £185.3m (2018: £166.0m).
In 2019 Ecology lent over £43.5m for sustainable properties and projects.
90% of its mortgages were for residential properties (including new energy efficient homes, renovations and shared ownership) and 10% for community-led housing (including charities, community land trusts and housing co-operatives) and non-residential properties.
Chief executive, Paul Ellis, said: “These results mark another strong year of sustainable growth for Ecology demonstrating that the time is now for finance that benefits people and our planet.
“Our members can be assured that their money is delivering a real contribution to the increasing efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
“Looking ahead, while we won’t be immune to the challenging economic impacts of Covid-19, our financial strength gives us the resilience required to maintain our focus on lending that improves our environment throughout 2020 and beyond.
“We are delighted to see the elevated level of interest in collaborative action to support a sustainable green recovery. The recognition of the urgent need to accelerate the retrofit of existing homes is welcome and the Society’s strong pipeline of lending for low impact homes will add to the benefits of this focus in 2020 and beyond.
“Given this we have joined calls for the Government to quickly deliver the economic stimulus required to create green jobs and a just transition to a low-carbon economy.”
