Dudley building society minnow launches major makeover

Its seventh branch in Sedgley, however, is to close on August 23 with all staff moving to other positions within the 155-year-old society

The modernisation programme and the introduction of a new information technology system across the branches will also result in an extra six jobs over the next year.

The society has also just released its results for its last financial year to the end of March which saw it increase pre-tax profits from £19,000 in 2012 to £159,000.

Chief executive Jeremy Wood said that the results and plans for modernisation would be detailed for members at the society's annual general meeting at the Copthorne Hotel, Brierley Hill on July 25.

"Our figures show significant improvement on last year, but we are not yet exactly where we want to be," he added.The first branch to be given a new look was in Abbey Road, Gornal Wood.

It closed for a week before re-opening on July 8 featuring the new society logo.

Work on the flagship Dudley branch in Stone Street is then scheduled to start in September.

Mr Wood, who joined the society last year, said that the full programme taking in Kingswinford, Stourbridge, Brierley Hill and Perton branches, was expected to be completed in two years.

"The modernisation programme involves several hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment.

"It is intended to bring all the branches into conformity. At the moment every one has a slightly different look. We want to make them fit for purpose for our modern customers," he explained.

Work will include putting in new counters and audio-visual facilities.

Mr Wood said the Sedgley branch in Dudley Street had been nearing the end of its lease and the society had chosen not to renew it.

"Its location was not ideal and it did not see the level of business that our other locations do," he added.

Members will be able to transfer to whichever of the other branches suits them best.

The society, which has 28,000 members, has recruited six new staff over the last year and now employs 70 – 56 full time.

New recruits over the next year will be in IT and in the digital strategy on which the society is embarking.

"It is all about making us a progressive modern mutual that is flexible and able to meet our customers' evolving needs. Increasingly customers want to deal with their finances online," added Mr Wood.

The society is continuing to look for a new site in the borough, most likely in Dudley town centre and with car parking, to move its head office from Stone Street to. It is also looking at alternative sites for some of its branches ahead of the modernisation work.

Mr Wood said that the society was also looking to drive growth in the business and would be using the Government's Funding For Lending scheme to draw on funds to support that.

He said that it would be looking to extend residential mortgage lending for home buyers, buy-to-let and shared ownership.

He added that the society would continue to offer mortgages outside its geographical area, but every single application would be looked at individually and judged on its merits rather than using credit scoring techniques that banks use.