West Brom chief's pride in great service

The chief executive of the West Bromwich Building Society is proud of the 166-year-old business's efforts to do the best for both its savers and borrowers.

With the West Brom set to move into its new head office in the town in the new year he said its latest half year results demonstrated a sound performance.

"We continue to make funds available for homebuyers, advancing £295m of gross prime residential lending during the period, and are well on track to exceed the full year figure of £446m in completions for 2014-2015.

"Much of this is down to our increased presence and growing reputation in the intermediary market, which enables us to broaden our lending to a wider geographical area," he said.

Mr Westhoff said completion of the multi-million head office at Providence Place was expected shortly, after which the fit-out and transition phase would begin.

"We won't be occupying the building before Christmas and the move will take place in the first quarter of next year," he added.

The society now employs 740 across its operation which takes in 37 branches and Mr Westhoff said the key to the society's success was that it delivered great service.

"We pride ourselves on delivering a high standard of service to our intermediary partners so that they can recommend the society's mortgage products to their clients with confidence. This is reflected in the four-star rating we achieved in this month's Financial Adviser Service Awards," he added.

Mr Westhoff said that with a strong capital position and low base rates it was striving to do its best for savers.

"It is a delicate balance to do our best for both savers and borrowers, but we are holding s savers' rates up and satisfying the home buyers' market," he added.

Savers are also making use of the current opportunities for tax-free saving, with an increase of just over 15% achieved in ISA balances amongst members.

"In light of this, we anticipate members will welcome changes scheduled for next year to the rules governing taxation for savings income. The government estimates that 95% of the population will no longer pay tax on their savings once the new Personal Savings Allowance is introduced in April 2016.

"Looking ahead to the coming months, the West Brom will stay focused on delivering all round member value and we expect to see further growth in our residential lending. We will continue to invest in our mortgage and savings systems in order to facilitate this," added Mr Westhoff.

The society saw a £5 million fall in gross residential mortgage lending in the first half of its financial year to the end of September from £300m to £295m, but is on track to beat last year's full year lending figure of £446m.

The West Brom's profit before tax was flat at £6m and members' savings balances grew from £3.99 billion a year before to £4.05bn.