“ Applications for mortgages have been running at record levels and our net lending for the first six months is double what was achieved in the whole of 2019 .” |
In many respects it has been ‘ business as usual ’. Applications for mortgages have been running at record levels and our net lending for the first six months of 2020 is double what we achieved over the whole of 2019 . All this has resulted in our profitability being ahead of budget . Not half bad bearing in mind the huge economic turmoil that has been created by the lockdown . Although I am naturally delighted that the Society is continuing to deliver the solid financial success that it is renowned for , things are definitely not ‘ usual ’. Some major changes have already taken place . The familiar social distancing features for retail businesses also apply to our branches i . e . limiting numbers , hand sanitisation , face masks and staff behind protective plastic screens etc . Similarly , our telephone contact centre remains fully operational but our staff now work from the comfort of their own homes . Like many businesses , we have found that home working |
has been a major success and we have changed our policy to permit more home working in the future . This will undoubtedly change our Head Office requirements .
Some changes are not so obvious . Over the lockdown , our customers naturally wished to avoid leaving the safety of their homes to get cash preferring instead to use a reliable and secure means of transferring money from their savings accounts with BBS to their current accounts with their banks . A medium-term trend for customers to subscribe to our online system , Bath Online , has been supercharged by the lockdown . Many parents and grandparents have also become very familiar with online technologies such as Zoom , Skype , Teams etc in order to keep in contact with their loved ones . This may have removed some of the mystique of using online systems and may have encouraged a permanent shift away from traditional cash and cheque transactions towards
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favouring online money transfers and card transactions . Only time will tell .
Someone once said that change in business is the only constant . However , there are some things that do not change . BBS will remain a mutual business that is owned by its customers and it will continue to put those customers at the heart of everything that it does .
@ BathBuildingSoc
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