Published at 11:05, Thursday, 02 June 2011

THE Cumberland Building Society has recorded a post-tax profit of £5.85 million for the year to March 31.

chairman: Michael Pratt

The firm, which is now the 12th largest building society in the UK, also increased its reserves by six per cent to about £109 million.

The profit was slightly lower than the £6.34 million recorded in the previous year but that was out down to a charge of £0.21 million to a scheme used to reimburse customers of financial organisations which failed during the credit crunch.

Last year, the building society had a £0.87 million credit from that scheme.

The Cumberland also remained active in the mortgage market in the last year, providing more than £140 million of new loans.

The society’s savings balances have continued to grow, reducing its use of funding from external sources.

The Cumberland also open-ed a record number of current accounts and, as one of only four building societies offering internet banking, saw this service used by more than 10,000 customers.

Commenting on the results, chairman Michael Pratt, said: “I am pleased to report that the Cumberland continues to steer a successful course through difficult economic conditions.

“We remain a local building society run by local people for local people, and the Cumberland’s performance over what has been a particularly challenging period has shown that our business strategy is robust.

“It is clear that people value a local organisation which can provide a level of individual customer service the national banks find difficult to replicate, treats its members fairly, and provides long term value rather than short-lived offers. Our challenge is to combine this traditional approach with a range of products designed to meet the needs of customers today and take advantage of new technology to further improve the service we provide to members.

“I am particularly pleased with the growing popularity of our internet banking service and this is an area which I expect to become increasin-gly important in the future.”

The Cumberland also donated more than £100,000 to community and charity projects and has pledged to donate 50p for each vote received at its 2011 annual meeting to be split between the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association and the Salvation Army.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk