The Los Angeles Post

Yorkshire Building Society’s 2018 Society Matters Report

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Yorkshire Building Society – one of the UK’s largest and most successful building societies – has released its annual Society Matters report highlighting its work to make a lasting and positive impact on society. The 2018 Society Matters report demonstrates the organisation’s recent achievements and vision for the future aligned to the key themes of Community, Customers, People and the Environment.

Highlights include:

  • Supporting 180 homeless young people into their own homes through the partnership with End Youth Homelessness (EYH)
  • Contributing £1.4m to local communities around the UK
  • Supporting homeownership by financing nearly 7,000 home loans to help first time buyers get on to the property ladder

“Our report this year highlights the outstanding achievements we have delivered as an organisation and demonstrates our continued commitment to doing the right thing for our members, colleagues, local communities and the environment.

“As a mutual, Yorkshire Building Society is owned by our members, who are customers of our Society. We were founded more than 150 years ago for the purpose of benefitting our members. It means being there for them through the different stages of their lives, whether that’s buying their first home, helping them become financially resilient by saving, or using their money to help the next generation.

“It also means running our organisation responsibly and sustainably, in a way that our members, colleagues and partners can be proud of. This purpose continues to run through the heart of our organisation today as highlighted by our Society Matters report.

“Our Society Matters strategy is helping us achieve our four aims of becoming market-leading for financial inclusion and delivering tailored outcomes for all our customers; being a leading employer, where our colleagues feel respected, valued and proud to work for us; playing an active role in the communities we serve, using our expertise and passion to maximise our impact; and finally being respectful of our planet by continuously reducing our environmental footprint.”

Mike Regnier,

Chief Executive of Yorkshire Building Society

Society Matters 2018 key achievements:

Community

  • £1.4 million contributed to local communities through fundraising, direct donations and volunteering hours.
  • Supported 180 homeless young people into their own homes through the partnership with End Youth Homelessness (EYH).
  • Provided 5,091 pupils with financial literacy support through the Money Minds financial education programme.

People

  • Awarded 34th place in the UK’s Inclusive Companies ranking and awarded the Investors in Diversity Accreditation.
  • Signed the Women in Finance charter; reinforcing their commitment to working towards a more balanced leadership team by setting a target of achieving 50/50 men and women at senior leadership level by 2023.
  • Named for the second year running as one of the top 30 UK employers for building flexible, family-friendly workplaces by charity Working Families.
  • Recruited 17 new apprentices – Society apprenticeships are permanent roles and pay the Real Living Wage.

Customers

  • 0.37%* better average savings rate than the rest of the market average in 2018, benefiting 2.7m customers who chose to save with the Society.
  • Helped homeowners by providing over 36,000 mortgages, including 6,960 to first-time buyers.
  • 197,000 new savings accounts including 56,000 to new customers were opened in 2018.

Environment

  • 16% carbon footprint reduction compared to 2017.
  • 97% of waste diverted from landfill.
  • CarbonNeutral® status maintained in 2018.