The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 8: Summer 2018 | Page 13

FINANCE
by Kevin Gray, Chief Executive of Bath Building Society
A NEW ERA FOR
BATH BUILDING SOCIETY
Having only taken over as Chief Executive a few weeks ago,
my feet have hardly had a chance to touch the floor as I have
attempted to settle into my new role during what has been a
very busy period for the business.
My predecessor, Dick Jenkins, has passed the leadership
of the Society over to me at a time when the business
is in good health. We all thank Dick for his enormous
contribution over the last 14 years and we wish him every
success for his semi-retirement.
The good news is that we now have one of the
strongest capital ratios in the sector. This offers an
opportunity to grow the Society’s mortgage business
more rapidly in the future. With regards to its deposit
taking business, the Society continues to grow its loyal
base of savers. It also continues to expand its range of
savings products supporting local businesses, professional
partnerships and pension administrators.
However, storm clouds are forming. With the recent
creation of many ‘challenger banks’, the UK mortgage
market is now served by over 150 lenders with the largest
six lenders having 80% of the mortgage market. That
leaves the Society and 144 or so others to fight it out for
4855-Businessexchange_Halfpagelandscape_210x122_OUT.indd 2
the remaining 20%! With market conditions likely to only
get more competitive, we will need to stick to our niche
lending strategy of delivering innovative mortgage products
to customers that are assessed on an individual basis by
specialist underwriters rather than by automatic credit
scoring. The Society’s key strategic goal will be to expand
the distribution of our niche mortgage products via more
and deeper relationships with mortgage intermediaries.
The lack of supply of affordable housing continues to
push property prices higher. Latest information indicates
that the average first-time-buyer deposit for someone
buying in BANES is a huge £44k! The need to provide such
large deposits is barring more and more of our children out
of home ownership. Expanding on its current success in
this area, we aim to play a bigger future role in providing
innovative finance to young people and key workers to buy
their own homes.
We have been in business for over 114 years and the
Kevin Gray, Chief Executive of Bath Building Society
team is proud of the Society’s historic contribution to
the wider social fabric of the City. I intend the Society
to focus on delivering tangible benefits for its members
whilst keeping its social purpose in mind in order to better
the wider community of the South West. The Society will
remain a mutual business that will continue to put its
customers at the heart of everything that it does.
@BathBuildingSoc
05/10/2016
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE
2018 17:16
13