Scottish Building Society, which claims to be the world’s oldest remaining building society, has posted record results.
Established in 1848, the mutual has seen its balance sheet grow by nearly 40% in the last two years, leading to a pre-tax profit of £2.4m and mortgage assets of £454m for the financial year ended January, 31 2022.
The society, which only offers savings and mortgage accounts, ascribed the growth to customers "seeking both value and purpose" when joining SBS.
Paul Denton, the society’s chief executive, said: “We are as committed to our wider purpose today, as we were back in 1848.
"As a mutual society, we reward our members with fair interest rates whilst responsibly using those funds to provide flexible mortgages, enabling Scottish people to buy homes and get on the property ladder.
“The environment has changed over the years, but that simple strategy has helped the Society survive and thrive towards its 175th anniversary next year.”
Mr Denton continued: “Despite the historic low base rate, we have continued to pay savings rates above the market average, whilst our income has benefitted by growing our mortgage balances more than 36% in the last two years.
"We are now helping more members buy their homes than ever before, which is something we are incredibly proud of in today’s fierce mortgage market.
“As a mutual, unlike the high street banks, we do not have shareholders, so all profits are reinvested into the business, in areas such as in new digital technologies, improving our member experience and increasing our capital base to support future growth.”
Mr Denton credits the staff at SBS for their “immense work” during the pandemic "as one of the reasons why the society has performed so strongly".
Argyll gold miner to ‘fast-track’ production ramp-up initiatives
The company developing the Cononish gold mine near Tyndrum in Argyll has struck a deal aimed at securing up to £3 million of loan funding to support the ramping up of its production at the site.
Scotgold Resources said yesterday it had entered into an agreement with Swiss group Fern Wealth to “arrange the procurement of loan funding” of up to £3 million from a syndicate of high net worth investors.
Footfall in Scotland’s shops sees steepest fall out of all UK nations
A decrease in the number of people visiting stores in Scotland throughout March has led to pleas from experts for swift action to generate footfall.
Figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) showed that footfall in Scotland’s shops dropped by 21.1% in March – 0.5 percentage points better than the performance in February.
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