Building society axes 150 jobs

More than 150 jobs are to go at the West Bromwich Building Society, it was revealed this afternoon. Staff were told the news at meetings today.

The jobs will go from the main administrative offices in High Street, West Bromwich, and The Minories, Dudley.

The West Brom would not confirm whether the society's Dudley office, Falcon House, would close, but the 47 branches will not be affected. A scheme to build new offices at Castlegate business park in Dudley was also scrapped today.

Some staff said they had been asked to leave the building after being told their jobs had gone today. The redundancoes total 152.

More than 1,000 people currently work for the building society, the biggest in the Black Country.

The West Brom's new chief executive Robert Sharpe said this afternoon: "We are not immune to the impact and uncertainty of current market conditions."

Blaming the credit crunch, he said it was the worst mortgage market he had seen in 30 years in the industry. "Both supply and demand have seized up," he said. The news comes after the sudden departure of the West Brom's former chief executive and finance chief and its first fall in profits for more than a decade.