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Record lending for Dudley Building Society

Dudley Building Society achieved a record volume of lending in its latest financial year.

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Chief executive Jeremy Wood

Mortgage lending was up from £82.2 million in 2017-2018 to £92.6m for the year to the end of March

Savings balances were up by £26.6m in the year, taking overall deposits to a record £362.2m.

Pre-tax profit improved from £1.52m to £1.60m on a year-end total asset base of £438.5m for the society, which was founded in 1858 and has its head office at Harbour Buildings, The Waterfront, Brierley Hill, and branches at Brierley Hill, Dudley, Gornal Wood, Kingswinford and Perton.

Chief executive Jeremy Wood said ”I am delighted with the progress we have made in the last year with record lending and increased profitability. Dudley continues to grow as can be seen by an increase in our workforce from 89 to 110.”

He added “The society is widening its coverage and just completed its most successful ISA campaign ever. The award we received in March – customer service champion at British Bank Awards 2019 – was a very fitting acknowledgement of the effort we put into the service we provide to our members.”

The society has historically championed underserved areas of the mortgage market such as later life lending and has recently made significant progress by adopting a holistic approach to family lending, seeing parents supporting children and vice versa.

In the latter part of the year, in celebration of its 160th year anniversary, the society made a bumper donation to the Black Country Food Bank and gave £4,000 to seven organisations across the Midlands as part of its annual community support fund.

As the financial year came to an end, feedback received on independent review platform Smart Money People resulted in an overall satisfaction rating of 98 per cent from society members.

The society’s annual general meeting for members will start at 2pm on July18 at Himley Hall.