The past year has been one of record performance by Nottingham Building Society (known as The Nottingham), Chief Executive David Marlow has announced this week.

The Society has delivered strong financial results in a year when it has also seen the opening of seven new branches and carried out over £2m worth of improvements in its branch network.

This performance has also been underpinned by the Society’s mutual ethos to provide expert financial advice to its customers as well as being the only building society in the UK to offer all its customers whole of market mortgage service.

Key achievements and financial highlights for 2014 include:

• In 2014 The Nottingham welcomed 43,000 new customers across its 55 locations.
• Customers continue to value the products and services offered by the Society. Of 5,000 independently surveyed, more than two out of three existing customers rated their experience as ‘excellent’.
• Customers are also happy to recommend the Society. The net promoter score, which enables the Society to directly compare its performance against a range of different companies across the sector, is 67%, placing The Nottingham among the very best organisations in all sectors across the globe. (Average net promoter score for all financial service firms is 28%).
• Branch savings balances have increased by 16% during the year and are now in excess of £1.5bn for the first time.
• Record mortgage lending and retention during the year saw the Society continue to grow. Over the year the mortgage book grew by 9.3% increasing the balance sheet to a record £3.27bn.
• The Society has recorded a strong profit before tax performance of £17.4m – a 36% increase on 2013, another record for the Society.
• Continued expansion of its building society network at Harrison Murray locations, with branches opened at Leicester, Melton Mowbray, Market Harborough, March and Wisbech. In addition, the Society also opened branches in Groby and Rothley following the exit of Santander.
• The Society has continued its strong support of local communities with a range of activities under its ‘Doing Good Together’ banner including grants and fundraising of over £85,000, the sponsorship of 25 young local SportsAid athletes, hundreds of hours of volunteering from its staff, a further £100,000 investment in its philanthropic endowment fund – which will benefit local groups in the future to in excess of £35,000 and continued support across a wide range of activities with their charity partner Framework, who continue to fight hard to combat homelessness in its communities.
• A key facet of a successfully run building society is to lend its members’ money carefully and prudently – this is reflected in The Nottingham’s arrears performance which remains at sector leading levels, with only 88 accounts out of a total of over 22,000 being three months or more in arrears. This places the Society at less than a quarter of the CML (Council of Mortgage Lenders) industry average for arrears, demonstrating its responsible approach to lending. Repossessions too fell in the year to 15 (2013: 30).

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive David Marlow said: “Throughout 2014 we have continued to work hard to develop and promote our unique proposition; combining excellent customer service with expert advice, great value and choice delivered by a local mutual organisation that people can trust.

“We believe that the role of a modern vibrant Society in the 21st century is to help its’ customers navigate a steady course through the management of their financial affairs – and to do this successfully we believe the majority of people would benefit from receiving expert advice from a trusted source. At a time when access to advice is becoming harder to find and public trust in the big banks is at an all-time low, we are proud to be the only building society in the UK to offer whole of market mortgage advice to all of our customers.

“The response from customers to our proposition and our strengthening performance and profile in recent years demonstrates the popularity of a service led advice proposition, based on the high street and increasingly available through digital channels. This has been a major underpin to our record breaking performance in the year.

“We know we can do more and are energized by the positive reaction from customers and staff alike. Overall it has been a record year and I am proud to lead the team at The Nottingham. We remain focused on continuing to strengthen, develop and improve our offering and service to our customers and members.”