ADVERTISING FEATURE
BUSINESS ADVERTISING REVIEW OF THE FEATURE YEAR
STRICTLY SERIOUS by Kevin Gray , Chief Executive of Bath Building Society .
Most Saturday nights in the Gray household in 2022 have experienced disputes over what television programmes should be watched .
My two daughters have repeatedly ganged up against me to demand the watching of Love Island , Eurovision and other various forms of ‘ rubbish ’. What is worse is that they are now usually aided and abetted by my girlfriend who does not share my sad fascination for history programmes , war films or anything with a Hobbit in it . As we approach the end of 2022 , matters have deteriorated further due to the onset of the annual television extravaganza , otherwise known as Strictly Come Dancing . What I find peculiar is that I have three television sets at home and all of these could be on different channels to keep everyone happy . However , the household consensus is that I don ’ t know what I ’ m missing and that I ’ m being a bit weird and unsociable for wanting to lock myself away to watch my ‘ boring ’ stuff . For the time being , I have capitulated in order to keep the peace in the run up to Christmas . As a result , Anton , sequins and the Argentine Tango are now all as familiar a feature of my Saturday evenings as is takeaway curry .
Putting aside my inability to take charge of the TV remote control , I thought that it may be appropriate to reflect on the high and low points of 2022 as seen through the business lens of Bath Building Society ( BBS ). Although BBS has had it successes , 2022 has been a rather frustrating year . The Omicron variant of Covid actually resulted in more sickness and colleague absence in 2022 than in either of 2020 and 2021 . This occurred at a time when the Society has been engaged on numerous projects aimed at improving productivity and customer experience . The heavy business change workload and our relative shortage of people meant that we
had to restrict our new lending activity during the first half of the year . BBS only seriously went looking for volume new business at the end of Q2 . Across the UK , there have been unusually long delays in 2022 between the granting of mortgage offers by banks and building societies and the advancing of loans . These delays were outside of lenders ’ control and have been caused in the main by conveyancers and local authorities who have themselves been struggling with Covid backlogs and shortages of staff . The UK average delay peaked at around five months .
These post offer delays have meant that much of the business that the Society took in Q2 / Q3 will not in fact advance until late 2022 or even 2023 . This has resulted in an unusual situation where the Society ’ s level of new mortgage applications are in line with its budget but where its level of mortgage advances has fallen short of our original expectations . Despite this , the Society will deliver a significant increase in profitability for 2022 .
The post Covid world has undoubtedly seen a reduction in the number of people seeking work in the UK . The tight labour market has occurred at a time when BBS has been trying to expand its workforce . The good news was that the Society managed to recruit excellent people but the bad news was that most vacancies took much longer to fill than we had desired . The cost-of-living crisis has meant that pay and benefits are now very important influencers on recruitment and colleague retention . BBS has had to award interim salary increases to certain of its colleagues in order to retain vital skills and experience and thereby reduce risk to
“ Life isn ’ t about waiting for the storm to pass ... it ’ s about learning to dance in the rain .”
the business . The Society also awarded every colleague below Executive level a £ 1,000 award in Q3 to help them with cost-of-living issues over the coming winter . The Society ’ s people are its major strategic asset and it is going to have to invest more in them . To this end , BBS is engaging in a major salary benchmarking exercise which aims to maintain its competitiveness as a local employer of choice . The Society has also committed to improve its holiday allowances and its employee pension contributions in 2023 .
The Society has introduced several new features to its operations over 2022 . These included website improvements such as a comprehensive mortgage affordability calculator and an AI chat bot that can accurately answer questions about our mortgage lending criteria . BBS has also launched a mobile app which offers our customers a modern way of transacting with the Society , and which will be particularly attractive to younger Members . Now to be strictly serious about the economic future . The Bank of England has just communicated that the UK economy will be in recession for almost the next two years . Inflation will remain high over 2023 and interest rates will climb much higher to subdue inflationary pressures . Business failures and unemployment are both set to increase . Property prices are likely to fall and mortgage arrears and repossessions will most possibly ( and sadly ) rise . In summary , it is undoubtedly going to be a very rough ride over 2023 and 2024 . As the storm clouds gather , I am reminded of the phrase ‘ Life isn ’ t about waiting for the storm to pass …. it ’ s about learning to dance in the rain ’. To steal a Strictly quote , I hope that we all ‘ keep dancing ’.
To find out more about Bath Building Society and its offering visit : www . bathbuildingsociety . co . uk
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