Scarborough Building Society was a UK

building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdo ...

, which had its headquarters in

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North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

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. Scarborough Building Society was formed in May 1846 - It was a member of the

Building Societies Association The Building Societies Association (BSA) was originally established in 1869. It is the voice for all 43 UK building societies as well as six large credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is ...

. On 30 March 2009 the building society merged with the

Skipton Building Society The Skipton Building Society was established in 1853 in Skipton, North Yorkshire, where it remains headquartered. It is the UK's 4th largest building society and has over 1 million members and 100 branches. Its most important subsidiary is the ...

and now operates under the Skipton brand.

History

The Society was founded as 'The Scarborough and North and East Yorkshire Permanent Building and Investment Society' and it wasn't until 1903 that the current name was adopted. The Society's initial objectives were to provide a safe haven for investors' money - and the finance to enable people to build or buy their own homes. The original investment rate was 5% and the first mortgage was for £120. In 1939 the Society opened its first Head Office, when York House was built in York Place, Scarborough, providing both office accommodation and a full branch. York Place remained in the business as a branch until 2006 when Scarborough's premier town centre branch was relocated to the former Burger King store in Westborough. The first Scarborough Building Society out of town branch was opened in

Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...

in 1955, and from then onwards new branches were opened throughout

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and into

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

and the

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. The present 9-strong branch network continues to be a central part of its expanding business. Direct postal and telephone services were embraced in the early 1990s and the Investments Direct Service was created in 1991, taking the Scarborough investment brand to the whole of the United Kingdom. In 1998 direct service for mortgages was formalised with the opening of a Direct Mortgage Centre. The assets now exceed £2.8 billion, making it the 17th largest

in the UK. In July 2008 Scarborough Building Society announced the appointment of Robin Litten as its new Chief Executive, to replace John Carrier who retires from the post on 31 December 2008.

Merger with the Skipton Building Society

Scarborough Building Society - 90-92 Albion Street - geograph

Due to pressures of the credit crunchBuilding societies set to merge

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. 3 November 2008 and poor lending the Scarborough needed to find a 'safe' building society to be taken over by. On 3 November 2008, Skipton and Scarborough Building Societies announced their intended merger in a joint statement: "This is a real opportunity for the two North Yorkshire-based societies to create an enlarged Society that is even better placed to deal with any future uncertainties in the financial marketplace. The two societies are well matched, having similar business models, a strong geographical fit and shared commitment to mutuality, their members, their people and their local communities. "Scarborough Building Society has seen difficult trading conditions leading to a substantial impact on profit and a resultant weakening capital position. In addition, the board of Scarborough has considered the possible impacts of continuing house price falls and the impending recession in the UK, and has concluded that the effect would be an unacceptable reduction in its capital resources and that, to fully protect the interests of its members, it should approach Skipton Building Society as its preferred merger partner". David Cutter will become chief executive of the enlarged Society, which will be called Skipton Building Society and will be headquartered at The Bailey, Skipton. As previously announced, the current chief executives of both societies, John Goodfellow and John Carrier, will continue with their planned retirements on 31 December 2008. The enlarged Society is now the fifth largest building society with approximately 860,000 members and over £16 billion of assets. During the take over, all employees from the original Scarborough Build Society were made redundant and the headquarters was moved to Skipton.

References

External links

Scarborough Building Society (Skipton BS website)Building Societies AssociationKPMG Building Societies Database 2015
{{2008 economic crisis Banks established in 1846 Banks disestablished in 2009 Companies based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire 1846 establishments in England