Let’s rewind to 1775, poverty is widespread across the country and nobility remains powerful. For your everyday worker of humble origins - times are difficult. Owning property and saving money is impractical and merely only an aspiration for many.
Something needed to change… step forward Richard Ketley, landlord of the Golden Cross Inn in Birmingham. Here he launched Ketley's Building Society, the first ‘mutual’ building society: an organisation created by working people to help other working people buy homes by collecting their savings together.
Ketley’s Building Society ignited the emergence of mutuals, providing the chance for everyday working people to become homeowners and savers. Like many good ideas, it caught on. By 1910 there were over 1,700 societies supporting over 600,000 members nationwide.
As we fast forward to today, building societies across the UK and the Building Societies Association are celebrating the 250th anniversary year of the first known building society. This provides us with the opportunity to reflect on our origins and how the purpose of building societies and mutuals has evolved over time – and we are still growing.
Here at Harpenden our drive to serve our members and to help them secure their financial future so that their dreams and aspirations are made possible has never faltered. We are extremely proud to be independent Mutual Building Society - one which supports, values and cares about its members and local communities.
Building societies are different
The culture, behaviour and decisions at building societies are different to banks because they are customer-owned organisations. This means that their customers, more than 25 million of them, are the owners, known as members. Borrowers and savers automatically become a member when they take out a mortgage or open a savings account.
Building societies do not have any external shareholders. This is the key difference to banks whose driving force is creating profits to pay out to their external shareholders.
The different ownership means building societies are run purely for the benefit of their customers, which is reflected in their rates, products and service. Whilst not driven to maximise profits, building societies make enough profit to ensure they remain safe and sustainable. However, unlike banks, building society profits are reinvested back into the business and local communities, giving their customers overall better value and service.
The first known building society was set up in 1775 to help ordinary working people to own their homes and to provide a safe home for people’s savings. Two hundred and fifty years later and building societies are still protecting people’s savings and using these as the means for others to buy a home, ultimately creating thriving communities.
Tracie Pearce, CEO, Harpenden Building Society - “At Harpenden Building Society we have never lost sight of our purpose to help our members to save and to become homeowners. I am proud that our way of doing business is different to the banks.”
“We’re on the high street for those who value our face-to-face service, while also offering the technology to support customers who prefer to connect with us online or by phone.”
“We were founded by everyday working people, for everyday working people - to support local communities and help them thrive.”
“If you're looking for a financial organisation that truly puts its customers first, it's worth thinking carefully about who you choose to work with. Like all building societies, Harpenden Building Society is here to support homeownership, help you make the most of your money, and strengthen your local community.”
For more, visit our dedicate page here.
