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Adrian Coles: 30 years at the BSA
Natalie Ceeney: Financial OmbudsmanService
PlusBath BuildingSociety
Coventry BuildingSociety
A diversity indexfor financialservices
Jonathan Evans: Chair of the APPG for mutuals
Five minutes with…Caroline Rookes of the Money Advice Service
Iona Bain: Financial Education
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HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE SUMMER EDITIONOF SOCIETY MATTERS.
OVER THE PAST FEWDECADES, A STAGGERINGNUMBER OF CHANGES HAVEOCCURRED IN FINANCIALSERVICES, IN BOTH THE PLCAND MUTUAL SECTORS.
Society Matters is a publication of the Building Societies Association - ISSN 1756-5928. The views expressed by authors in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Association.
Director-General Adrian Coles [email protected] Victoria Bamber [email protected], 6th Floor, York House, 23 Kingsway, London, WC2B 6UJ www.bsa.org.uk
Designed by Solo, Mariners Wharf, 8 Holyrood Street, London, SE1 2El www.solodigital.co.uk
Taking his own retrospective look at thefinancial services sector is Adrian Coles whoafter 20 years at the helm of the BSAannounced that he was going to step down atthe start of this year. Adrian’s article focuseson the changes the mutual sector hasexperienced since joining the organisation in1979 as an Economist.
In addition, we also have contributions fromthe Financial Ombudsman Service CEO, whotalks us through a new era for complaintshandling. We also thank Jonathan Evans MPfor informing us about the new All PartyParliamentary Group for Mutuals andCaroline Rookes, who takes the spotlight inour Five Minutes With... section. We also havearticles from the Energy Saving Trust, CUNAMutual and from Economist Andrew Gall,who analyses the results of a report whichlooks at the importance of diversity in the UKmortgage and savings market.
is time, we also welcome articles from anumber of members. Bath Building Societytells us about the uniqueness of theirorganisation and how they operate sosuccessfully in a market largely dominated bymultinational corporations. CoventryBuilding Society also discusses how they helpimprove financial capability for children intheir local communities, which ties in with apiece from Iona Bain, Financial Journalist andYoung Money blogger who elaborates on theimportance of financial education.
Enjoy the issue.
Victoria BamberSociety Matters Editor
Back in the late 1970s mortgage finance wasprimarily available from building societies andthere was a distinct culture of ‘save before youbuy’. Since the last edition of this magazine,Margaret atcher, the Prime Minister whohad one of the greatest effects on modernbanking has passed away. Although her deathprovoked unsurprisingly mixed reactions,some of the decisions made by herGovernment played a large part in shapingthe financial services sector and the housingmarket we see today.
» spotlight on 3CAROLINE ROOKES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE MONEY ADVICE SERVICE
» news 4WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT DIVERSITY IN FINANCIAL SERVICES?
» reflection 6COLES CONTEMPLATES
» insight 8 SETTING NEW STANDARDS:BUILDING SOCIETIES AND A NEW ERA FOR COMPLAINTSHANDLING
» community 10 SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY
» comment 11THE IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION
» demistifying 12THE NEW ALL PARTYPARLIAMENTARY GROUP FOR MUTUALS
» innovation 13VIVA INDIVIDUALITY!
» initiative 14FINANCIAL FRAGILITY AND ‘THE PROTECTION GAP’ RISK
» opinion 15BUILDING A MORE ENERGYEFFICIENT FUTURE
» diary 16BSA EVENTS
» SOCIETYmatters welcome
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As the new Chief Executive of the MoneyAdvice Service, what material changes areyou planning to implement?Evolutionary rather than revolutionary ones.Last year the Money Advice Service helpedover two million people, three-quarters ofwhom decided on a course of action as aresult. Numbers are important, but only ifyou are actually changing people’s long termmoney management for the better. So myfocus is firmly on lasting impact - but also oncollaboration, because no one organisationcan hope to achieve that on its own.
e Money Advice Service currently offers free, unbiased, face-to-face adviceacross the UK. How important do you think this is and will you be continuingwith this service? Advice leads to action, and there is a huge need and demand across the UK for the free,impartial, generic advice we offer. We have amajor contribution to make with the service we deliver direct to consumers, as well as in our statutory role to provide leadership andcoordination on financial capability. We are currently developing a new UK strategy for financial capability and I wouldwelcome BSA members’ interest andinvolvement in this process.
According to the latest Glenworth Index the number of financially vulnerablehouseholds has trebled since 2007. What are you doing to help people in this situation?
We are a service for everyone in the UK, butwith a particular focus on those in most needof our help. Our face-to-face advice servicesprioritise the most financially vulnerable andwe are specifically targeting development ofnew tools and content with the needs ofyounger adults and lower income familiesfront-of-mind. at’s because these twogroups are doing the fewest of the five coreactivities we consider good moneymanagement - saving, managing debt well,preparing for retirement, protecting assets andproviding for dependents.
Making people financially capable is a keyissue for the Money Advice Service, but doyou think introducing financial educationin schools as of September 2014 will help?Do you think a lack of awareness from ayoung age is part of the current problem?Definitely, which is why the prospect offinancial education in the secondarycurriculum in England is a great step forward.But on its own that won’t transform youngpeople’s money habits. Attitudes to money areformed very young, by the age of seven, so wewould like to see financial education in theprimary curriculum too. Parents, of course,are crucial in developing their children’shabits and we will continue to work withothers to support parents and educators,including at primary level and even younger.
Finish the sentence. e most importantfinancial lesson I have learnt is...Simply don’t spend more than you havecoming in. I know how difficult this is. WhenI first started work I had a very low income,no washing machine, central heating orholidays. I was tempted by easy credit andfortunately had my dad to bail me out. Noteveryone’s father can do that for them.
If you were invited to be Prime Minister forthe day, what would be top of your agenda?Banning unscrupulous lenders.
You’re stranded on a desert island. Whatbook, luxury item and musical track couldyou not live without?e complete works of John Irving (I love hisbooks and if anyone hasn’t read A Prayer forOwen Meany they should); a supply of chilledSauvignon blanc (to de-stress and enjoy); andRigoletto (which I love and would try tounderstand in Italian).
«SOCIETYmattersspotlight on
FIVE MINUTES WITH...
CAROLINEROOKESCHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE MONEY ADVICE SERVICE
CAROlinE ROOkES wAS APPOinTEd AS ThE nEw ChiEFExECuTivE OF ThE MOnEy AdviCE SERviCE in lATE2012. nOw, AFTER SinkinG hER TEETh FiRMly inTO ThEROlE, CAROlinE hAS TAkEn TiME OuT TO AnSwER AFEw quESTiOnS...
For more information on theMoney Advice Service, visit their website at
www.moneyadviceservice.org.ukor follow them on Twitter@YourMoneyAdvice
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» SOCIETYmatters news
one falters there are others whichare less affected and can step into provide a service in their place.Greater diversity can mean thatthe system is more robust, so thatimpairment in one part of themarket does not stop theoperation of the whole system.
Competition vsstability?In the measures taken at theheight of the financial crisis wesaw that competition andstability can be in conflict. Forexample, the Government-directed takeover of HBOS byLloyds was made in the interestsof financial stability even thoughit resulted in an institution witha share of almost 30 per cent of
WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUTDIVERSITY IN FINANCIAL SERVICES?By AndREw GAll, BSA ECOnOMiST
A MARkET ThAT hAS A divERSE RAnGE OF FinAnCiAl SERviCEPROvidERS RESulTS in widER ChOiCE FOR COnSuMERS And A MORESTABlE FinAnCiAl SySTEM. ThE divERSiTy OF ThE uk’S MORTGAGEAnd SAvinGS MARkETS hAS BEEn AnAlySEd in A nEw REPORTCOMMiSSiOnEd By ThE BSA TO PROvidE An indiCATOR FOR CuRREnTGOvERnMEnT POliCy OBjECTivES.
In 2010 the Government madethe following commitment in itsCoalition PartnershipAgreement:
“We will bring forward detailedproposals to foster diversity infinancial services, promote mutualsand create a more competitive banking industry.”
is commitment was made outof a belief that more diversefinancial services markets arebeneficial and a recognition thatin the run up to the financialcrisis these markets had becomedominated by institutions thathad grown more alike. ereduction in diversity was seen tohave resulted in shocks spreadingrapidly across the system whenthe credit crunch hit.
No ‘best’ wayIf there were a single approach toproviding financial services thatwas superior in all respects to allothers, there would not be a casefor diversity amongst providers.In practice, however, eachapproach to providing financialservices has pros and cons, andnone is without risks.
A large universal bankcombining retail and investmentbanking operations might be ableto spread costs across thedifferent divisions, reducing totaloutlay, but its scale maynecessitate an impersonal,transactional approach to retailcustomers. In contrast, a smallbuilding society with close links
to the region in which it operatesmay be able to use its localknowledge to design productstailored specifically torequirements of customers inthat area.
In the absence of a single optimalapproach, encouraging diversitycan yield greater benefits thanconcentrating on any oneparticular model and diversitycan exist simultaneously acrossmany dimensions. For example,one ownership type is that ofcustomer ownership, as atbuilding societies, but evenwithin this ownership type thereis considerable variety in terms ofsize, scope and strategy.
e BSA commissionedacademics to measure the extentto which diversity in retailfinancial services markets haschanged, enabling theGovernment’s progress against its goal of fostering diversity tobe assessed in the future. e results are summarised in thechart on the right, with the indexshowing a decline in diversityfrom 2004 of about 20 per centin both the mortgage and savings markets.
How diversity canimprove competitionDiversity can result in moreeffective competition than if allproviders operate in the sameway. Providers operating withdifferent models have differentincentives and goals. Forexample, a building society
owned by its customers might beexpected to behave differentlyfrom a bank aiming to maximisereturns for its shareholders. Withthese, and other, approachesfirms will compete to win andserve consumers in differentways. is can enhance thechoice available to the public,and improve innovation to meetvarying consumer demands.
How diversity canimprove financialstabilityIf all providers are the same, theyare all likely to be similarlyaffected by a sudden change inmarket conditions. Instead, ifthere is a wide range of differentapproaches to provision, when
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the mortgage market:competition was sacrificed tosupport immediate stability.
However, in less extreme timescompetition and stability canreinforce each other, anddiversity of provision can helpbring this about. With effectivecompetition from a range ofproviders with business modelsstrong enough to thrive on theirown merits rather than viaimplicit or explicit Governmentsupport, the system as a wholecan be more robust to suddenchanges and better at copingwith another firm’s failure.
Reforms to promotediversityMany of the reforms introducedsince the financial crisis such asring-fencing and changes to theresolution regime aim to makelarge, complex banks easier toresolve so that the risk they poseto the system as a whole isreduced and so that the taxpayeris not obliged to stand behindthem if they run into trouble.For the reasons described above, promoting diversitycomplements these reforms,helping to make them moreeffective.
However, breaking the ‘too bigto fail’ problem is itselfimperative to promotingdiversity, not just because theimplicit guarantees some banks
enjoyed represented a barrier tosmaller challengers, but alsobecause of the excessive influenceit provided, granting the largestbanks strong political bargainingpower. e result was that policymaking and regulationsreinforced the dominance of oneparticular model rather thanpermitting alternative approachesto thrive.
Promoting diversity does notnecessitate favouring certainmodels or approaches. Instead,barriers to entry and expansionshould be lowered for allproviders. Policy and regulationsshould have a neutral effect onthe availability of different typesof businesses’ ability to compete.If a certain offering takes marketshare, it will be up to other firmsto respond to that rather than forthe market to be segmented bypolicymakers on an artificial and arbitrary basis due tosubsidies or discrimination.
Promoting diversity andchanging the balance of power infinancial services will be difficultand face considerable resistance.However, the decline in theOxford Centre’s measure ofdiversity suggests more work isnecessary to ensure differenttypes of financial serviceproviders are free to compete.
you can read the summary of research findings in full by visiting www.bsa.org.uk and clicking on ‘industry publications’.
An index of corporate diversity in financial services
The BSA commissioned academics at the University of Oxford Centre for Mutual and Employee-owned Businessto compile a measure of corporate diversity in the mortgage and savings markets.
Diversity as measured by the index has declined in bothmarkets from 2004, prior to the financial crisis, as shown in thechart opposite. Actions taken in the crisis then exacerbated thisdecline, though diversity has stabilised in the most recent yearscovered by the analysis. By the end of 2011 the diversity indexwas measuring around 82 in the mortgage market and 85 in thesavings market, both down from 103 in 2004.
This aggregate diversity index is composed of four individualindices measuring changes in various factors of diversity:
• Corporate ownership: is the market divided betweenshareholder-owned banks, customer-owned mutuals andState-owned institutions?
• Firm size: is the market dominated by a few large firms ormany small firms?
• Approach to funding: are financial institutions reliant onwholesale or retail funding?
• Geography: are firms based in the same locations, or are theirheadquarters spread out through the country?
Each of these measures of diversity was found to be lower in2011 than in 2000, the first year in the analysis, indicating thatboth the mortgage and savings markets became moreconcentrated in larger, wholesale-funded, London centredshareholder owned banks over the period.
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» SOCIETYmatters reflection
COLESCONTEMPLATESBy AdRiAn COlES, diRECTOR-GEnERAl OF ThE BSA
in 1979, Pink FlOyd wERE RidinG hiGh in ThE ChARTS wiThThE SinGlE ‘AnOThER BRiCk in ThE wAll’. EARliER ThAT yEARMARGARET ThATChER BECAME ThE uk’S FiRST FEMAlE PRiMEMiniSTER And MOnTy PyThOn’S ‘liFE OF BRiAn’ wASRElEASEd in CinEMAS.
SinCE ThiS dATE, MuCh hAS ChAnGEd in ThE wORld OFFinAnCiAl SERviCES, A FACT nO OnE undERSTAndS BETTERThAn AdRiAn COlES, whO EARliER ThiS yEAR AnnOunCEd hEwAS STEPPinG dOwn FROM hiS ROlE AS diRECTOR-GEnERAlOF ThE BuildinG SOCiETiES ASSOCiATiOn.
As I approach the end of my 34 years at theBSA, including 20 years as Director-General,it seems appropriate to look back at some ofthe working highlights of that period.
I joined the BSA in December 1979 on theday that the recommended mortgage rate wasincreased from 11.75 per cent to 15 per cent -in one go! For modern-day readers there willbe two unusual aspects of this. First of all, theheights to which interest rates rose during the80s and 90s now look unbelievable; secondly,the idea of a ‘recommended’ rate now looksalmost bizarre. Between 1936 and 1983 the
BSA ran a ‘cartel’. Each month the BSACouncil would consider the rates of intereston mortgages and savings it recommended its members charge and offer; basing itsdecisions on aggregate lending and savingsflows, the latest changes in official rates, andtrends in margins.
ere was remarkably little resistance amongbuilding societies to the Council’srecommendations; the arrangements werespecifically exempt from contemporarycompetition legislation. Furthermore, anybuilding society that wanted to offer a
reduced mortgage rate or an increased savingsrate - that is to become more competitive -had to give, under the associated BSA Interest Rates Undertaking - 28 days notice to the Association of its intentions,with the Association mandated to circulatedetails of such a competitive move to everyother member.
My initial job, on joining the BSA, was towrite the papers for the BSA Council to givethem the information that they needed tomake this collective decision. In those daysthe BSA Council amounted to 35 building
December 1979Adrian Colesjoins BSA asEconomist
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
1981Adrian becomeshead of theEconomics and Statisticsdepartment
1983End of therecommendrate system
1986Adrian becomeshead of ExternalRelations (includingeconomics andstatistics)
1989Abbey national becomesthe first building societyto convert
Formation of CMl, run by BSA Secretariat
1993Adrian becomes BSA and CMl director-General
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«SOCIETYmattersreflection
society chief executives, so there were somelengthy meetings once everybody had hadtheir say!
e recommended rate system did not survivethe onset of competition under the newlyelected atcher government of 1979. By1983, the system was in disarray, mainlybecause the banks had, for the first time,entered the mortgage market in a seriousmanner and, of course, they were not at allconstrained by the recommendations made bythe BSA.
at competition with the banks - offering avery wide range of services - highlighted therestricted range of services that buildingsocieties could offer - essentially onlymortgage and savings accounts. During theearly 1980s pressure mounted for buildingsociety legislation - essentially unrevised sincethe Building Societies Act 1874 - to bemodernised. e Building Societies Act 1986was the result. is established a newregulatory framework - e Building SocietiesCommission taking over from the ChiefRegistrar of Friendly Societies - and listed arange of powers related to housing andfinance that enabled building societies, if theywished, to extend their activities. Mostnotably, the legislation introduced aframework to allow building societies thatwanted to go beyond this extended list ofactivities to become banks, converting awayfrom their mutual form to plc status - in thelong-term the most disastrous consequence ofthe 1986 Act.
In 1988 Abbey National announced itsintention to convert to plc status, an ambition it achieved in 1989.
e 1986 Act was one example of a range ofderegulatory measures that the ConservativeGovernment of 1980s introduced. ‘Big Bang’in the City, changing fundamentally the waythat the City markets worked, the abolition ofhire-purchase controls and the encouragementto the banks and other types of lenders tooffer mortgages helped to fuel the boom ofthe late 1980s and the subsequent andinevitable bust of the early 1990s. During thisperiod, repossessions rose to much higherlevels than before (or since), negative equitybecame a concept that moved from obscurityto become a well known term and interest rates, once again, rose to 15 per cent andsometimes over. Sadly the crash of the early1990s saw a number of building societies losetheir independence.
By the mid 1990s confidence was returning. In 1994 the Cheltenham & GloucesterBuilding Society announced that it was to betaken over by Lloyds Bank with typicalpayments of over £2,000 to C&G savers andborrowers in return for giving up theirmembership rights. is resulted in thebeginning of the “carpetbagger” phase. Largenumbers of people deliberately opened smallaccounts with large numbers of buildingsocieties in the hope of obtaining short-termbenefits if the society converted to plc status.Ten societies did precisely this between 1995and 2000 thus sowing some of the largestseeds of the recent crisis. By then I wasDirector-General of the jointly-staffed BSAand CML, but the tensions created bydemutualisation meant that this arrangementwas untenable, and the CML (in 1997)became an independent entity.
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
1997BSA and CMl split,each with their ownSecretariat
2000Final demutualisation(Bradford & Bingley)
2007Run on northern Rock.By 2009 all converters hadlost their independence
2011Adrian Colesawarded OBE
2013Adrian Colesannounces hewill be standingdown as BSAdirector-General
Often overlooked was the further deregulationthat occurred as a result of the BuildingSocieties Act 1997, which amended the 1986Act and which remains the governing statutefor building society affairs. Whereas the old1986 Act allowed building societies to exercisecertain powers defined in the legislation, the1997 Act reversed this and allowed societiesto undertake almost any activity unless theywere expressly prohibited by the legislation.Building societies still had to maintain aparticular balance sheet structure, but, broadlyspeaking, were allowed to diversify in any waythey thought appropriate providing they hadthe managerial and financial resources to dothis. It remained the case, however, thatproprietorial market making in derivatives,foreign exchange and commodities wasprohibited and large scale, wholesale fundingof the type that bought about the ultimatedemise of the Northern Rock and HBOSbanks was also not allowed by the legislation.
is whistle-stop tour of the last 30 or soyears concludes with the global financial crisisof 2007 to - well, we are not quite sure whenit will all end. Despite some problems in themutual sector, the sector has performed wellin the face of the deepest financial crisis sincethe 1930s. ere has been relatively littletaxpayer support required by mutuals and thebulk of the problems encountered have beenresolved within the mutual sector rather thanrequiring taxpayer assistance, as has been thecase with the banking sector. Mutuals lookforward with renewed confidence toconvincing more customers of the benefits ofthe alternative approach to doing businessthat they represent.
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» SOCIETYmatters insight
SETTING NEW STANDARDS: BUILDINGSOCIETIES AND A NEW ERA FORCOMPLAINTS HANDLINGBy nATAliE CEEnEy, ChiEF OMBudSMAn, FinAnCiAl OMBudSMAn SERviCE
RAREly A wEEk GOES By wiThOuT ThE SuBjECT OF ClAiMS MAnAGEMEnT COMPAniESAnd PAyMEnT PROTECTiOn inSuRAnCE hiTTinG ThE hEAdlinES And wiTh ThiS, AREnEwEd FOCuS On ThE FinAnCiAl OMBudSMAn SERviCE hAS FOllOwEd. ThEChAnGinG EnviROnMEnT And TAlk OF COnSuMER ExhAuSTiOn iS hiGh uP On ThEOMBudSMAn’S AGEndA And wiTh iT, A FOCuS On FinAnCiAl SERviCE PROvidERS,inCludinG BuildinG SOCiETiES.
As Chief Ombudsman, I’m often asked, bysenior industry managers, what I think abouttheir businesses, and how they’re ‘doing’ whenit comes to complaints. at can be a hardquestion to answer as, by definition, I only seewhat goes wrong. And, unfortunately, we’veseen a lot going wrong recently. Over the pastyear we’ve seen the numbers of complaintsreferred to us by consumers rise across the board- with banking and credit complaint volumesup by around 20 per cent, and investment &pensions cases up by around 30 per cent.Our figures suggest that building societies areamongst the better performers in financialservices - whether judged on uphold rates, onoverall volumes of complaints referred to us, oron the way that consumer dissatisfaction istreated. Put quite simply, building societiescompare very well against other types ofbusinesses we handlecomplaints about.We also know that, especiallyfor smaller mutuals, anycomplaint is a concern. Asbusinesses intimately linkedwith your local community,the idea that people aren’thappy with your services isn’ta comfortable one. Also,financial redress to oneconsumer can affect the bottom line for others.is can make it harder to step away and ask“what’s right for this particular customer at thisparticular time?” And if complaint volumes arerising - particularly if you feel that the rises are aresult of circumstances outside of your control -it can be easy to stop seeing complaints as ‘anopportunity to improve customer relationships’and more of a compliance cost.
A changing environment So, why are complaint volumes currently high?We know that consumer trust in financialservices is low. So, if something goes wrong, inthe current environment they may be more
likely to complain. But I don’t believe thisexplains most of the rise in complaint levels.I believe many consumers’ reality is one of‘financial exhaustion’. Many who havestruggled for years to maintain mortgages andloan repayments feel that things are on a knifeedge. All it takes is a rise in their mortgage rateor a cut in their working hours and theirdomestic finances will suffer. It’s perhaps nosurprise, then, that people struggling to paytheir mortgages are more likely to raise issueswhich can turn into ‘complaints’. Ourmortgage volumes are up around a quarter onthis time last year, with around one in three ofthese complaints resting on issues of financialhardship. ere are other, less obvious reasons, for therise in complaint volumes. A new ‘consumervoice’ is emerging, facilitated by the changes in
technology, and particularlysocial media. Customers arefinding new and innovative waysto voice dissatisfaction aboutcustomer service, whether onTwitter or other social networks.Your customers have more waysthan ever to share experiences,and when consumers startsharing dissatisfaction - and findthey’re not alone - it can fuel
their resolve to ‘get something done about it’. It’s easy to assume that this lack of trust isbeing steered by outside interests. I know wecan’t switch on a television without hearing anadvert for claims management companies(CMCs), but the simple truth is that we’vebeen dealing with CMCs in areas of “massdetriment” for years - initially in mortgageendowments, then bank charges, and now PPI. In fact, our evidence suggests that consumeruse of CMCs is reducing - and outside of PPItheir activity remains low. It’s unsurprising thatCMCs are currently widespread in ‘massdetriment’ areas such as PPI, with millions of
policies potentially mis-sold, and trust in banksat an all time low. e publicity around PPI,following the BBA’s failed attempt to challengeus and the FSA in the high court in 2010,coupled by the FSA’s choice to have acomplaints-led approach to PPI redress hasmade PPI a fertile ground for CMCs. Yet in the complaints that are referred to us wesimply don’t see any evidence for an increase inconsumers ‘trying it on’. In fact, less than threeper cent of the complaints we received last yearwere ‘frivolous and vexatious’.
So, what’s happening in PPI? Complaints about PPI have risen dramaticallysince the court case in 2011, and lastDecember we received our 600,000thcomplaint about this product. However, thesenumbers don’t really do the reality of the taskjustice. For example, in one week we canreceive up to 40,000 pieces of writtencorrespondence before we even start trying toinvestigate and resolve cases.
“OUR FIGURESSUGGEST THATBUILDING SOCIETIESARE AMONGST THEBETTERPERFORMERS INFINANCIAL SERVICES”.
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PPI is by far the biggest area of complaintwe’ve ever seen. But then the figures aroundPPI are all staggering. It’s estimated that over50 million policies were sold over more than adecade. And, having a complaints-led approachto redress puts the onus on consumers tocomplain if they feel their policy might havebeen mis-sold. e scale of PPI means that we can’t write PPIoff as a temporary issue. So far, according toFSA data, around ten per cent of all consumerssold PPI have complained, and none of us canbe sure what the eventual figure will rise to.e work of the ombudsman in this area willcontinue for some time, both because the
volumes we’re having to manage remain so high, and because the number of cases we’ve already received means there is asignificant queue of consumerswaiting for an answer to their complaint.
What does this mean for you?I know that it can be hard tosee beyond the ‘noise’ ofcomplaints. e sheer logisticsin managing higher complaintvolumes on staff, infrastructureand support are not trivial,whatever the size yourbusiness. My task is no different - in the last year we’ve added 1,000 complaint handlers to our workforce and in the comingyear we’ll employ 1,000 more - primarily tohandle PPI complaints.
if you would like more information on the Financial OmbudsmanService, visit their website at
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
of our service to you is sharing our insight and experience to help you in handling your complaints. At the Ombudsman, we believe that bettercomplaint handling is at the heart of rebuildingtrust. Building societies are well-placed to dothis because you’re already focussed on meetinglocal needs. We know that the most loyalcustomers are those for whom you’ve managedto turn things around when they say “thishasn’t gone right for me”. ey repay you byspreading the word - and by creating the loyalcustomer base that your members are rightlyproud of.
Practically, handling larger numbers ofcomplaints is going to be a reality for manyfinancial businesses in the coming year, notleast as we work with you to resolve thecomplaints your customers have raised. We arenow training up teams of specialist adjudicatorsto work through MPPI and our teams will beliaising with you over the coming months tomake sure we can work through these volumesin an operationally effective way, which alsogets answers to consumers quickly.But I’d urge you to think beyond complianceand operational issues to consider what liesbehind a customer’s complaint - because it mayprovide you with a valuable opportunity. Itmight be a consumer telling you that they are
What the ombudsman sees
• 4.5% of all the complaints theOmbudsman received were aboutbuilding societies
• 76% of all the complaints theOmbudsman received were about banks
• 8% of all mortgage related complaintswere about building societies
• The Ombudsman upheld 17% of all complaints made about buildingsocieties - a fall of 4% from the year before
• The Ombudsman upheld 51% of allcomplaints made about banks
really struggling to meet their mortgagepayments, and some creative thinking may beneeded if you are going to keep that consumer
in their home and getthe debt eventuallyrepaid. It may be aconsumer giving youan early warning signal that youradministrativeprocesses aren’t quite asgood as you think theyare. Or a signal thatyour products aren’tquite meetingconsumer needs.
Complaints can provide great insight, and handling them well and learning fromthem is a way of improving consumer loyalty, and developing an even better service for your customers.
How are we working with you -and how can we all do more? We offer a technical advice desk to supportfinancial businesses - staffed by some of ourmost experienced complaint handlers. eyprovide guidance and complaint-handlinginformation to businesses and can help youresolve complaints in the first instance. Manyof you will also have seen our ombudsmen atindustry events alongside our outreach team,there to answer your casehandlers’ questionsand provide more guidance on our approach toparticular types of complaint. We’re not just a dispute resolver; we’re a service- for both consumers and businesses. And part
“COMPLAINTS CANPROVIDE GREAT INSIGHT,AND HANDLING THEMWELL AND LEARNINGFROM THEM IS A WAY OFIMPROVING CONSUMERLOYALTY, AND DEVELOPINGAN EVEN BETTER SERVICE.”
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Coventry Building Society are on Twitter. Follow them@CoventryBS
or visit their website atwww.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk
SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITYBy AnnA CuSkin, CORPORATE RESPOnSiBiliTy MAnAGER,COvEnTRy BuildinG SOCiETy
in ThESE CuRREnT unCERTAin ECOnOMiC TiMES, iOnA BAin,FREElAnCE jOuRnAliST And yOunG MOnEy BlOGGER SAyS ThEnExT GEnERATiOn nEEd “All ThE hElP ThEy CAn GET”.COvEnTRy BuildinG SOCiETy AGREE And hAvE RESPOndEd wiThA SERiES OF wORkShOPS, PROjECTS And SuMMER SChOOlS FORyOunG PEOPlE in ThEiR lOCAl COMMuniTiES.
We believe that we should support thecommunities we serve, and that we have aparticular responsibility to encourage a betterunderstanding of personal finances. is hasled to a broad range of activities, fromrunning budgeting sessions in schools tosupporting the Citizens Advice Bureau inproviding debt advice.
A project that we are very proud of is ourwork with Lyng Hall Trust and SportsAcademy. Lyng Hall is a secondary school ina deprived catchment area of Coventry that isreally proving that all students can respondwell given the right support andopportunities.
In the last five years, over 50 members of stafffrom all areas of the business have gotinvolved, including reading and numberpartners, financial literacy volunteers, businessmentors, e-mentors and summer schoolproject leaders. e reading programme forstudents with special education needs hasbeen particularly successful and made atangible difference. Deputy Head Chris Greenhas commented:
“ere has been a marked improvement in thereading ages of the students involved in theprogramme, but the most noticeable difference isin the confidence levels of the students who havegrown in self-assurance and have developed abelief in their own ability.”
As well as helping students develop core skills,we also work on raising aspirations and careersupport amongst some very able students.Last year, we offered places to eight Lyng Hallstudents at a summer school in London wherethey visited the House of Commons, the BBCand the Bank of England.
Ryan French, Year 10 pupil at the school wasone of the students who experienced thesummer school. ‘It instilled a sense of success,and was a wonderful opportunity. Being giventhe chance to meet people who run so manyaspects of my life motivated, inspired andencouraged me to pursue an exciting career.’Ryan was subsequently chosen to go toBrussels to visit the European Parliament and NATO.
We also introduced Lyng Hall to the UKCareer Academies which match students withbusiness mentors and organise internships toprovide both insight to and experience ofemployment. Via the Career Academiesprogramme, 30 students have worked with abusiness mentor and experienced a six weekpaid internship. Two of the former internscontinue to work for the Society whilst theycontinued their studies.
“From the Career Academy programme I gained anew level of independence and I’m not afraid totry new things. is programme opened my eyes tothe working world and made me realise howmuch I’m capable of and how much more I canachieve than anything I had realised.”(Angela Mhlanga, former Career Academy student)
But it’s not all a one way street - by workingclosely with the school, we can offer a range ofvolunteering opportunities which arethemselves valuable experiences for staff.
Over the last five years, the school has seen amarked improvement in academic results andattendance, and the fact that we now employsome former students who came to us as internsshows it offers genuine mutual benefit.
“We’ve had tremendous support from theCoventry. e personal finance educationalprogramme, together with further support andinformation for parents, has helped make a realdifference to the school and wider community.”Paul Green, Head Teacher
» SOCIETYmatters community
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«SOCIETYmatterscomment
THE IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL EDUCATIONBy iOnA BAin, FinAnCiAl jOuRnAliST And yOunG MOnEy BlOGGER
iT wAS An AnnOunCEMEnT MAdE FOuR MOnThS AGO,ThE CulMinATiOn OF FiERCE lOBByinG By ChARiTiES,MPS And RESPECTEd BOdiES in ThE FinAnCiAlSECTOR. BuT ThE nEwS ThAT MOnEy lESSOnS willSOOn hAvE TO BE TAuGhT in All SChOOlS iS STillREvERBERATinG AROund ThE induSTRy.
Up to now, financial education has been an ad-hoc affair - in England, at least. Scotland, Walesand Northern Ireland have technically beenahead of the game for many years.
But the Department of Education has finallycaught up with its neighbours, and perhaps not amoment too soon. In this economic maelstrom,
few doubt that the next generation need
all the help they can get. As well as depressedinterest rates and stagnant wages, youngpeople face their own unique set of financialobstacles. Numerous studies show thatbumped-up tuition fees will leave graduateswith a debt pile worth over £50,000. A first-time buyer could be waiting until their late30s to get on the property ladder - if the bankof Mum and Dad can’t help.
It’s little wonder that three quarters of thepopulation are in favour of financialeducation, according to a poll carried out bythe Nationwide Building Society. Half thepopulation think that if lessons on moneymanagement had been around in the past,they would have had ‘a positive impact’ ontheir situation.
But there are so many questions surroundingthis landmark decision; what exactly will be on the syllabus, and who is best placed to teach it?
at uncertainty could be down to the waythis curriculum has been drawn up. eDepartment for Education has stated thatschool pupils must be “equipped with thefinancial skills to enable them to managetheir money on a day-to-day basis as well asto plan for future financial needs”. atmeans learning about budgeting, as well asthe basic financial services that young peopleare likely to encounter at some point. Pupils
will also have to get to grips with wages, taxes, credit and debt, as well as the more
‘sophisticated’ financial products that their parents may still be struggling to grasp. But that is as far as it goes
in suggesting how money is taught. In thisway, the new draft curriculum followsarrangements already seen in Wales andScotland, where teachers can decide whatresources they use and how to cover the basics.
But could building societies, now attractingmore support following the traumatic fallout ofthe banking crash, prove helpful? Many mutualsare already working with young people toimprove their financial literacy. e NationwideEducation website, which has plenty ofinteractive resources, has received over 35million hits since its inception in 2008. Butthere are plenty of smaller, local buildingsocieties, demonstrating various strategies toengage children with this thorny topic.
For instance, Cambridge Building Society hashosted ‘Dragons Den’ style events to ensurelocal school children understand the world ofwork, similar to the Progressive BuildingSociety’s Young Enterprise Programme.Experts at Ipswich Building Society have gone into local schools as part of a Money Day programme, offering games and DebtCred sessions. e Newbury Building Society has even set up junior branches to get children learning about key financialproducts through practice.
So however teachers decide to broach thistricky subject when it becomes compulsorynext year, they can, at least, be assured they are far from on their own.
visit iona’s young Money blog atwww.youngmoneyblog.co.uk, or contact her directly throughTwitter @IonaYoungMoney
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» SOCIETYmatters demistifying
For more information on jonathanEvans MP, visit his website atwww.jonathanevans.org.uk or
follow him on Twitter @JonathanEvansMP
THE NEW ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARYGROUP FOR MUTUALSBy jOnAThAn EvAnS MP
AS ThE lOnG-ESTABliShEd All PARTy PARliAMEnTARy GROuPFOR BuildinG SOCiETiES And FinAnCiAl MuTuAlS COMES TO AnEnd, A nEw APPG FOR MuTuAlS ExTEndinG BEyOnd ThE wORldOF FinAnCE iS BORn. ChAiR jOnAThAn EvAnS MP, ExPlAinS TOSOCIETY MATTERS whAT’S in STORE FOR ThE GROuP, ASPOliTiCAl inTEREST in ThE SECTOR COnTinuES TO RiSE.
Just a few years ago, some questioned thecontinued relevance of mutual societies andcompanies. With the frenetic drive towardsdemutualisation creating a ‘something fornothing’ culture, it seemed that the mutualsector in the UK would disappear forever.Undoubtedly, the shock of the 2008 financialcollapse brought about serious rethinkingabout corporate governance and ownership.
Since then, a renewed political interest hasbeen shown in the mutual ownership ofbusinesses, as the benefits of diversity in oureconomy have become even clearer. Allpolitical parties have shown an interest in themutual sector, and all made mutual specificpolicy proposals in their manifestos at the lastelection. Since then, the Coalition Governmentincluded in their programme an unequivocalcommitment to promote mutuals.
e long-established All Party ParliamentaryGroup (APPG) for Building Societies andFinancial Mutuals has done a great job over theyears in trying to highlight the contributionthat these financial sector businesses make tothe wider economy, but the current interest inthe mutual sector extends well beyond theworld of finance. ere are many areas wherethe broader mutual sector needs to takeforward the expertise and experience of thecurrent APPG, and that is why there has been universal parliamentary support for establishing a new Parliamentary Group, broadened to include the whole mutual sector.
ere is already a heavy agenda to be taken onby the new Group. e Government iscommitted to promoting new employee-ownedmutuals to run a number of our public services.It is also planning to convert the Post Officeinto a multi-stakeholder mutual. Othercommunity based mutuals like footballsupporter trusts have also created huge interestamong parliamentary colleagues.
All of these areas can clearly be better scrutinisedby building on the expertise of the establishedmutual financial industry APPG and wideningour work to cover the full range of mutualsector activity. We also anticipate much higherinterest in participation and engagement amongour parliamentary colleagues.
e initial work programme of the newlyformed Mutuals Group will look at FootballSupporter Trusts as well as analysing howmutual capital can be raised without destroyingthe mutual principle. We will look at howpublic service mutuals can be set up and survivein a competitive market.
We will also be looking at areas of continuinginterest to the building society sector, includingthe activities and impact of claims managementcompanies and the protection of vulnerableadults, as well as the Government’s reforms ofthe banking sector and their impact on buildingsocieties. It is crucially important that the focusof financial services mutuals on customer serviceis both understood by parliamentarians andregulators as well as enhanced and improvedupon by companies and societies themselves.
In this way we will be maintaining theeffectiveness of our Group in promotingfinancial services mutuals, whilst widening thefocus of our work to cover the majorcontribution which mutuals make in all sectorsof UK life.
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«SOCIETYmattersinnovation
VIVA INDIVIDUALITY!By diCk jEnkinS, ChiEF ExECuTivE, BATh BuildinG SOCiETy
ThE SizE, MAkE And MOdEl OF EACh BuildinG SOCiETyiS uniquE And duRinG A TiME OF diSTRuST in ThE PlCBAnkinG SECTOR, ThE MuTuAl MOdEl hAS EMERGEdAS A viABlE And wORThy AlTERnATivE. yET hOw dOSOME OF ThE SMAllER BuildinG SOCiETiES COMPETEin A wORld dOMinATEd By lARGE, MulTinATiOnAlCORPORATiOnS?
Companies that supply our sector - includingour own trade association- often tell me thatdespite the many things smaller buildingsocieties have in common, we all seem to bevery individual. Personally I like the fact thateach society has its own style, flavour andpersonality, in a world where so many thingsare standardised and commoditised. I believeit really adds colour and some spice to life tohave a little diversity.
At the core of all local and regional societies isa self-evident source of competitive advantage;our very size, which allows us to distinguishourselves and attract customers away from thelarger mainstream players. Our small sizeallows us to focus on personal service, to offerflexibility and access to the key decisionmakers which many customers really value.And the small size of local and regionalsocieties seems to generate something of a‘family’ type of culture quite distinct from thestandard ‘corporate’ culture which typifieslarger organisations.
But as I learn more about other societies, I dosee a pattern emerging whereby there are threedistinctive strategies which underpin thediversity of smaller societies. ose strategiescould be labelled ‘simple’, ‘local’ and ‘niche’.
• e simple strategy is one in which thesociety looks to have a very small range ofmortgage and savings products and thevery low cost base required to operate theseproducts allows the society to competewith the larger players. Typically theseorganisations do not have branches,outsource many of their operations andrely on PR and best buy tables to bringtheir very competitive products to thepublic’s attention.
• e local strategy is one in which loyalty isbuilt up through a real local presence inthe community which allows the society tosucceed even though its products may notalways have the most competitive rates.ese societies are at the heart of their local
communities and their websites usuallyreflect this with prominent photographs oftheir beaming chief executive handing overcheques to local good causes.Characteristically societies with localstrategies are very much branch-focussedand these societies tend to favour add-onservices like will-writing or funeralplanning which are distributed through athriving branch network. It is in societiesdeploying the local strategy that theconcepts of mutuality and memberengagement are most actively promoted.
• e niche strategy is quite a different kettleof fish. Here societies focus on generatingsuccess through niche lending,characteristically using the competitiveadvantage of manual underwriting to reachparts of the market that the factoryunderwriting processes of larger lenderscan’t reach. ese societies tend to havehigh margins, but also have a relativelyhigh costs base to reflect the ‘high touch’required to service the niche markets. Someare innovators in the lending world. esetend to be ‘head office’ businesses wherethe branch is less important.
Perhaps this difference in focus explains alittle bit why some ideas are well received bysome societies and resisted by others.
In practice no small society is simply anarchetype of just one of these three positions.Many niche focussed societies are also doingtheir bit in the local communities, forinstance. And, also by way of example, manybranch-centred societies deploying the ‘local’strategy are getting into more niche lending.
And, of course, superimposed on these threebasic positions there are nuances broughtabout by a society’s particular history, or ahost of other factors, not least the backgroundand unique style of the chief executive!
Viva individuality!
For further details about Bath Building Society, visit their website at
www.bathbuildingsociety.co.uk
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» SOCIETYmatters initiative
PAul wAlSh, ChiEF ExECuTivE,CunA MuTuAl EuROPE diSCuSSESThE GROwinG ‘PROTECTiOn GAP’ inThE uk, And ThE nEEd FORlEndERS TO PROvidE COnFidEnCETO BORROw.
Media reports about the squeeze on everysocietal group due to stagnating incomes, risingredundancies and spiralling living costs arealmost a daily occurrence.
Despite this, there’s a great story to tell.Consumer spending, including homepurchasing is a cornerstone of the Britisheconomy, and the mutual sector’s share oflending that is going on is increasing steadily,but we could be doing better. ere are ofcourse sides here - the supply side of providingmortgages, but also the demand - and this iswhat we can increase - by providing consumerswith the confidence to borrow more.
At CUNA Mutual, we surveyed more than1,000 people, and discovered that 42 per centof UK residents would find themselves in severefinancial difficulty within one to three months.
Of those, on average 17 per cent would be introuble within the first four weeks ofunemployment. Alongside this, 83 per cent ofUK residents do not have an insurance policyin place to cover loss of income due tounemployment, accident or sickness, revealingthe extent of how vulnerable we are.
We have presented these figures to Parliament,via an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)on Insurance and Financial Services, and theMPs present were unanimous in their attitudethat the industry needed to seek a new, innovative approach to protecting the
public following the PPI mis-selling scandal. ey each conveyed concern whenconfronted with figures about the ‘protectiongap’, especially as the risk of unemploymenthasn’t left us.
Just one in ten UK residents feels secure intheir job, and half do not have savings to fallback on should they become unemployed. A telling 44 per cent say they are cutting backon heating despite us having seen a long, cold winter, and more than half of thepopulation - 59 per cent, are cutting down on food to save money.
Our research has been matched by Which?and countless other consumer agencies - it’sbecoming abundantly clear that pockets acrossthe UK are stretched.
Over the past three years, CUNA Mutual hasdeveloped a product, the CM Waiver, for theUK market where the burden of insuring riskagainst sickness and unemployment istransferred onto the lender. e CM Waiverprovides a forgiveness period for a set amountof time, at no additional cost to the borrower.
Our debt waiver product was pioneered in theUS, and has been widely adopted there by big lenders including the Navy Federal
Credit Union, one of the nation’s biggestlenders, with currently $35,257,130,618 in loans.
When people aren’t spending on everydayessentials, insurance is something peoplecannot afford, but it is something that theyand critically, lenders need.
It is time we take responsibility, and offer away for British people to be financiallyprotected without having to dig deeper intheir empty pockets. is is why our CMWaiver product works, it protects borrowers,but lenders absorb the insurance risk andfinancial burden.
British consumers want and need to be able toborrow, and the evidence shows thatconsumers want to be able to complete thatlending with the mutual sector. If we couldoffer confidence and support to our customers- the market share of the sector could groweven more significantly, while giving itscustomers the break they deserve, and thepeace of mind they need in an increasinglyuncertain world.
Paul walsh is on Twitter. Follow him @PaulJWalsh_CUNAfor Tweets about “insurance
mutuals and the odd rugby game”.
FINANCIAL FRAGILITY AND ‘THE PROTECTION GAP’ RISK
BUILDING A MORE ENERGYEFFICIENT FUTUREBy PhiliP SEllwOOd, ChiEF ExECuTivE, EnERGy SAvinG TRuST
REduCinG CARBOn EMiSSiOnS, dEvElOPinG SuSTAinABlESOuRCES OF EnERGy, MAkinG wATER uSE SuSTAinABlE AndkEEPinG PEOPlE wARM And COSy OvER ThE winTER iS ACOMMiTMEnT MAdE By ThE EnERGy SAvinG TRuST, whO nOwElABORATE On whO ThEy ARE, whAT ThEy dO And whAT ThEyBEliEvE ThE FuTuRE hAS in STORE.
e Energy Saving Trust (EST) has one cleargoal - to help everyone save energy. To fulfilthis goal, it’s vital for homes across the UK tobe energy efficient. Not only will this reduceenergy bills for the homeowner but it will alsoreduce carbon emissions too.
Our role in achieving this goal is to be adefinitive source of information for the UKpublic so they can make an informed decisionabout how they can reduce the amount ofenergy they use in the home. is could bethrough advising them how to be moreenergy efficient or what energy efficiencyimprovements could be made to their home.
Now more than ever there is a need forhouseholds to be informed so we can enablethem to deliver carbon and financial savingsto benefit their situation. is is especiallyrelevant at the moment, with energy billsmaking up a significant proportion of atypical household expenditure. isproportion is likely to increase, as fuel prices in the UK continue to rise.
At the same time, domestic energy efficiencyschemes such as the Green Deal are receivingmore interest each day, with homeownersbeing able to pay for energy-efficiency
improvements through savings on theirenergy bills rather than one up-front cost.is is designed to encourage the take-up ofmore energy efficiency measures in homesacross the UK for homeowners to save moneyon their energy bills.
With this in mind, it’s perhaps surprising thathome buyers do not necessarily take accountof future likely energy bills when choosingproperties. It’s common sense that a moreenergy efficient home should be a cheaperhome to run. erefore, the energy efficiencyof the home and, as a result, the likely futureenergy bills should surely be considered aspart of any home purchase.
A counter-argument to this point is that it’sdifficult to provide home buyers with thisinformation. Mainly because the amount paidin energy bills is the result of an interactionbetween a variety of complexities whichinclude the homeowner’s behaviour, thephysical characteristics of a property and thedifferent energy saving measures (heatingsystems, appliances, etc.) installed in that property.
Despite these complexities, the Energy SavingTrust believes there is a need to gain a widerunderstanding of the amount of money thathome buyers will be likely to pay on energybills for a new home. is will help provideadditional information to buyers when theyare in the process of purchasing a home,which could prove vital when considering thelong-term costs of a property, somethingwhich is not currently considered.
It can be argued that things like energy billcosts are not at the forefront of home buyers’minds when purchasing a new home.However, the Energy Saving Trust believesthat this is only because there is currently alack of information around the likely futurecosts of energy bills. With rising energy billsand a greater awareness of these future costs,it’s highly likely that this will become more ofa priority for home buyers and will be asource of information that they actively seek.
For more information on improvingenergy efficiency in your home, visitwww.evergysavingtrust.org.uk
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«SOCIETYmattersopinion
» SOCIETYmatters diary
DIARYThROuGhOuT ThE yEAR, wE ORGAniSE nuMEROuS knOwlEdGE ShARinG, EduCATiOnAl And nETwORkinG EvEnTS FOR MuTuAl lEndERS And dEPOSiT TAkERS.
PLEASE VISIT BSA.ORG.UK/EVENTS TO SEE THE FULL PROGRAMME.
An Introduction to FRS 10217 June, Birmingham and 20 June, LondonFRS 102 is the new accounting standard thatcomes into force from 1 January 2015. Itreplaces UK GAAP, the accountingframework currently used by those buildingsocieties not required to use IFRS. ese twohighly practical seminars provide an overviewof the new requirements and a guide to whatsocieties should be doing, and when, in therun-up to their introduction.
Tax Webinar with KPMG -FATCA is coming19 June 2013, 10.30 - 11.30amis webinar will discuss the action buildingsocieties, big and small, should be taking nowin anticipation of the 1 January 2014implementation date. Particular attention willbe paid to what societies should do, and bywhen, if they wish to take advantage of thedeemed compliant financial institutionexemption (“Annex II”). Areas to beaddressed include changes to customer forms,onboarding processes and returns.
Stress Testing - An Evolving Approach27 June, London e financial crisis showed that manyfinancial institutions’ stress testing was weak,even unfit for purpose. Since then, thePrudential Regulation Authority hasintroduced tougher requirements. Stress andscenario testing must now demonstrably forman integral part of the tools used by seniormanagement in making robust integratedbusiness strategy, risk management and capitalplanning decisions. is event will updateBSA members on regulatory requirements,domestically and internationally, and discussbest practice in the sector.
Vulnerable Adults Seminar28 June, Londonis seminar will feature presentations by arange of external organisations to givedelegates a better understanding of thesupport that vulnerable adults need both interms of helping them manage their financesand of protecting them from criminalspreying on their vulnerability. Delegates willalso be able to hear from BSA members onhow they are tackling the challenges ofsupporting their vulnerable account holders.
The Future of the Conveyancing Market2 July, London is seminar will provide detailed insights into how the provision ofconveyancing services continues to changefollowing the conclusion of the FSA’s Fraud thematic review. It will also examinethe new business structures beginning to form since the implementation of the Legal Services Act 2007.
Seminar on Prudential Risk and Regulation16 July, London Supervisors have, since the banking crisis,been raising the bar in terms of tougherprudential standards - capital, liquidity, riskmanagement - and even the recently passedCRD 4 may be not the end but more like thebeginning. is BSA seminar will examine thestrategic implications for BSA membersarising from all aspects of the evolvingprudential regulation agenda. You will hearfrom Deloitte experts in prudential regulationand be able to discuss strategic issues withthem, and your colleagues within the sector,in a safe space.
Audit and Accounting Seminar10 October, Leicester Regulatory, auditing and accountingrequirements are constantly changing and thisseminar provides a summary of the keyimplications of such changes for buildingsocieties with presentations from specialistswith extensive regulatory, financial sector andbuilding society experience.
