Review of the Year 2019 Including Summary Financial Statement for Year Ended 30 November 2019
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Review of the Year 2019 Including summary financial statement for year ended 30 November 2019 1849 Ipswich and Suffolk Permanent Benefit Building Society and Ipswich and Suffolk Freehold Land Society established 1969 ‘Permanent Benefit’ cut from the name, resulting in Ipswich & Suffolk Building Society Took in Ipswich & District Building Society, resulting 1975 in Ipswich Building Society 2020 Turn to page 8 Suffolk Buildingto find Society? out more Savings and branches To satisfy the demand for our online service we have continued to work on this channel, which remains one of our primary focus areas for the coming year. Our bolstered IT team continues to ensure that our digital infrastructure is safe and secure and it is right that From the Chairman 4 we take the time to deliver the project correctly and Membership 5 thoroughly. Community Matters 6 We are increasingly aware of the importance of our Suffolk Building Society 8 physical branches not just to our members but to the Summary Financial Statement 10 wider communities we serve – in both Halesworth and Directors’ Remuneration Report 14 Aldeburgh we are now the last remaining financial services provider on the high street. Our Hadleigh branch, first opened in 1979, has been treated to a makeover fit for the 21st century and returned to its Looking back original ‘Suffolk Pink’ colouring. at 2019 To celebrate Suffolk Day this year, we launched a duo of savings accounts in support of the Rural Coffee A welcome from Richard Norrington, Chief Caravan, a local charity which focuses on tackling rural Executive isolation across our county. The accounts were popular In the space of just a year the political and economic with our members and with the Rural Coffee Caravan, landscape has changed dramatically. which benefitted from a charitable donation of £3,000. Despite avoiding the expected recession earlier in the Supporting home ownership year, the economy remains in a fragile state with the 2019 has been a challenging year for the mortgage slowest growth for almost a decade. industry. In the face of this our mortgage advances were more than in 2018, despite having a small reduction in We will continue to carefully monitor if, and indeed how, the overall size of our mortgage book due to a planned Brexit might affect the savings and mortgage markets high number of redemptions. This has enabled us to here in the UK, although generally we do not expect a focus on having a high quality, low risk mortgage book. significant impact on our business at this time. Over the year we made a wide range of enhancements Members at the heart to our range of mortgage products. We improved our I am delighted to report that our customer satisfaction products for expats purchasing UK property by being rate stands at a record 99.4% (2018: 98.6%) and our able to accept a range of foreign currency earnings and Net Promoter Score, an indicator of how likely members also deposits saved up in a foreign currency. are to recommend us, stands at 83 which is unchanged from last year. Supporting first time buyers to get a foot on the housing ladder is one of the reasons we were founded all those Strengthening our member proposition continues to be years ago. To that end, early in the year we brought in of great importance to us. In November we embarked some exclusive first time buyer mortgages for borrowers on a new partnership with the East of England Co-op, in our area and improved our shared ownership offering giving our members access to a range of exclusive – a part buy, part rent scheme that allows borrowers to offers and discounts for three months over the Christmas get on the housing ladder with a smaller deposit. period alongside our existing range of member offers. 2 Nurturing employees At the start of the year we welcomed Suffolk Mind to provide their ‘Your Emotional Needs Met’ training to our staff, helping Key results to raise awareness of mental health in the workplace and create an environment where people feel confident in their ability to talk about and deal with mental health problems. Alongside this, all managers across the Society are Mortgage undertaking a rigorous training programme to help them assets £523m confidently develop our staff and ensure that every one of our (2018: £536m) employees gets the support and recognition they deserve. A sustainable Society In October we were delighted to welcome Elaine Lenc to our Board with more than 35 years’ experience in financial Retail services. Trevor Slater, our Finance Director, has given notice savings of his resignation which will take effect in May 2020. We balances have begun a thorough and rigorous selection process to find £603m a replacement and undertake a comprehensive handover. (2018: £572m) Being increasingly aware of the threat climate change poses, we have put in place an Environmental Action Plan and set up a green working party amongst staff. We have also strengthened our risk and compliance team to Profit before ensure we have full oversight of all procedures and to help us tax £1.9m stay abreast of increasing regulatory requirements. (2018: £3.3m) On a final note, you will be aware of the Special Resolution proposing that we change our name to become known as Suffolk Building Society, and you can read more about our plans on page 8. We have been called Ipswich Building Society for about a quarter of our 170-year lifetime, and Management we feel the time is right to return to our roots as we look to expenses £9.9m broaden our wider appeal and cement our reputation as a (2018: £9.3m) strong, growing, fiercely independent building society. Tier 1 capital 15.0% (2018: 14.4%) Richard Norrington Chief Executive 3 Chairman’s summary Our strength is our simplicity - we deliver what we This strong and stable structure has supported the promise as a focused regional building society, developing regulatory agenda which, among other embedded and participating in our communities and things, brings an increasing focus on the important dedicated to meeting the needs of our members. areas of operational resilience, stress testing and credit risk in this extended low interest environment. I report on another busy year where our simple business model has again helped us to deliver a Our governance and oversight are all about healthy profit, albeit reduced from the previous ensuring that the Society takes risks within year. This profitability allowed us to largely appetite and that these risks are understood and maintain savings rates in a market where rates effectively managed. This brings me to the outlook have generally been reducing, which has helped for the next year and the risks and issues we are us to build savings balances at a far higher rate currently considering. than 2018. During the year, the Society’s financial We anticipate another challenging environment position was such that we were able to repay early in 2020, although the December general election the Society’s subordinated debt (external support which delivered a decisive result in Parliament may obtained a number of years ago to increase our eliminate many of the uncertainties associated capital base). This has enabled us to significantly with Brexit. reduce future interest costs whilst maintaining a strong balance sheet. This situation and reduced activity in the housing market has seen lower overall house price inflation As a strong and committed mutual, delivering only and even, in some areas, a house price decline. for members informs our approach to managing Linking this with the depth of competition in both costs and risk. We carefully managed our mortgages and savings, we again anticipate strong operational cost base again this year, ensuring all price competition and a pressure on margins. development in IT and new technology is carefully thought through. This approach to costs and our low In such a time of change it is important to thank all risk business model naturally aligns to the interests of the Society’s employees for their valued personal of our members. and team contributions. During a demanding year our members, intermediaries and communities During the year we said goodbye to two have been well served thanks to their dedication experienced members of the Board, Michelle and support. Tennens and Valerie Dias, and in October we were delighted to welcome Elaine Lenc to the Board. Elaine’s wide experience in banking, IT, strategy and change management will be invaluable as we invest in the future of the Society. Alan Harris Governance and sound management remain key Chairman areas for our Regulators. The Board uses the outputs from the Society’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework (ERMF) to give oversight to its scrutiny of operations, finances and overall decision making. 4 Making membership more meaningful We were founded 170 years ago as the Ipswich and Suffolk Permanent Benefit Building Society and the Freehold Land Society. While the world may have changed a bit since then, the way we work has remained essentially the same – we lend out money to help people buy a home and provide a safe place for people’s savings right across the region. As a mutual organisation we’re accountable to our members. We don’t have shareholders – instead, every member owns a share in the Society, and voting members have a say in how we are run. We think membership of a building society should mean more than simply having a home for your money, or getting money for your home. That’s why we developed our membership proposition that ties together the strands of our community outreach, volunteering, events and exclusive discounts into one unique package.